Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy of this book for review.

I'll be honest, I didn't like this book. From very early on in this book, I considered DNFing it and I did do just that briefly. I did, however, pick it up again, out of no desire to finish the book but because I was close enough to the end that I just felt like I should. I'm not sure I gained anything from finishing it, though.
There's a (big? small?) part of me that isn't surprised I didn't like it - it's also telling me *I told you so*. I've never had an interest in vampire stories before, so I'm not sure what made me think I would like this one - except I do know. Hearing Renée Ahdieh speak at YALC about the book convinced me I would and that stuck with me.

I didn't really like any of the characters in this. They either annoyed me or did nothing to stand out. There were a lot of magical beings and, by the end, I was no clearer on what their powers were. Also, and I know this sounds ridiculous/impossible/ignorant, but there was too much diversity. Now, bear with me, I know there's no such thing. It's the kind of thing a whiny, stuck up homophobic/racist/misogynistic person might say, but that's not what I'm saying. I think there was too much diversity for the *setting*. I might be wrong, but I don't feel like 19th century New Orleans was as okay with mixed race. LGBT+ people as the book implies. I might be wrong, but...
Which leads me to my next point: why was it set in the 19th century? Maybe because vampires feel more at home in the 19th century? I don't know. But it all felt a bit too understanding and accepting of more modern ideas (towards women and racism etc.). Also, the French felt a bit weird to me for some reason?
Now, the love triangle. I thought we'd finally moved away from this ground, but apparently not. On the one hand, we have one handsome, mysterious, devilish Lucifer-esque man; on the other, we have the conveniently young, handsome, mysterious head of the police. Both lust after our heroine, of course. And. I just wasn't here for it. Both guys just seemed too handsome and mysterious and perfect and just. No thank you.

I don't know. I feel like a lot of people will like this, I just wasn't one of them.

Full review at included link will be available on 02/10/2019 from 11am.

Short review excerpt:

Celine is fierce, and takes-no-shit. She wants to do good, but also has to deal with her internalised feelings of shame around her heritage, her trauma and her belief that she is a 'murderess'. She feels a little stuck and is very aware of the way that women and POC are treated in 19th Century society. This can be a little jarringly modern. Celine's relationship with Sébastien is complicated. She spends most of the book conflicted between her attraction to him and her fear that he's involved in the unravelling murder mystery. He's nothing like anyone she knows either, rough around the edges and no kind of gentleman, and their interactions are engaging and satisfying for a YA romance sub-plot.

Odette is the character that draws Celine into La Cour Des Lions, and I loved her. She's queer and powerful, a woman in trousers in a world where women shouldn't even be showing their ankles. I liked her as a wild and feminist character. I would admit that she sometimes seemed a little too modern. Celine did that too sometimes, but this is a YA novel and I'm willing to overlook that because the experience of reading this was fun and engaging and I was still left wanting more.

I'm a sucker (ha!) for vampire novels, and I'll be the first person to admit that I was Twilight obsessed as a teenager (and okay I still love the books and the terrible movies). So when I saw this marketed as 19th Century New Orleans with vampires, I was pumped, but it's not quite as vampire heavy as I expected. The main characters aren't vampires, and while a lot of the Court are vampiric, the plot itself isn't vampire-forward. I probably would have pegged this more as 'Historical romance meets gothic fantasy meets murder mystery'. Not as snappy, but more accurate. I'm hoping that the sequel gives us a little more vampire action but overall I liked the book a lot.

*4.75 Stars*

Marceline "Celine" Rousseau just traveled across the Atlantic with six women from all over western Europe and arrives in New Orleans. they all want or need a fresh start and are staying at a convent until they find a respectable husband. Oh yeah, this is set in 1872. But nothing in life is that simple and they soon figure out that New Orleans is a city where things go bump in the night.

I try to write a summary but I could also only have wrote one single wrote to summarize this book. "ANGST." Perfect perfect angst. In every single aspect. The tension between the two main characters but also the suspicious things and really the entire plot. I was taken aback page after page. I never what was coming and I love every single second of it. I grinned, laughed and stressed the fuck out. I read this in like 24 hours, I could barely stop. It was a RIDE. I also fell for the characters immediately, they were all so flawed and deep and just plain complex, it was incredible. A special mention for my favorite girls Odette and Celine, of course.
My only real issue with this book is that it's not even out yet, so I'm probably gonna have to wait for more than a year before I can read the next one...

A YA vampire romance? In New Orleans? By Renée Ahdieh? Sign me the hell up for this. At least, that’s what I thought and I expected this to be really damn good. But see, maybe that’s the reason I was so disappointed in the end, my expectations just weren’t met. I’ve loved Renée’s previous books, especially the characters and their depth. The problem was that it were the characters that just fell flat for me.

I love books centered around characters and their development, I love going in deep. But this story seemed to only scratch on the surface. Celine, the protagonist is a fierce girl who goes her own way, not giving a damn about anything (at least when it’s society, because she does care about friends). She doesn’t really need anyone, but in New Orleans, she soon meets not one, but two young, attractive boys who like her immediately.

Sébastien is the apparent leader of the Court of Lions, a society of people with special talents. He is too pretty for this world, he’s fearsome and his temper is short. So, what do we know of him? He grins and smirks a lot, he has principles and he is the devil. Or devilish. Or Lucifer. He is whatever words come to mind when you think of the devil. And to be honest, I don’t really know why. Yeah, he’s a brooding YA love interest, but what has he done to be deserved the title of Lucifer?

The second boy is Michael. He and Sébastien apparently hate each other, though Celine doesn’t know why. He is also very handsome and also a detective in the police and instantly feels attracted to Celine. First, why? Second, how is someone so young so high ranking within the police? And he only ever seems to appear when Sébastien is currently unavailable or to annoy the latter.

I don’t know if this is going to be a serious love triangle (which is my least favourite trope, so let’s hope not), or if there is more meaning behind it.

Let’s put these three characters aside. I did like Odette and Pippa, Celine’s friends. Pippa arrived in New Orleans with Celine and is a gentle, pure soul and I’d trust her with my life. Odette is a member of the Court as well and damn, why isn’t she the love interest? She is sassy, has a big heart and damn, I’d definitely date her. But seriously? I didn’t really connect with any of the main characters, as much as I tried. I just didn’t get them, couldn’t feel with them, much less love them.

I did like the mystery around the murders though, as well as the inbetween chapters from the killer’s perspective. They made me curious to know more and I really like what was done in that direction.

In general this book felt more like a concept with an awesome setting, premise and ideas but the realization just didn’t work out completely. I’m really sorry to say this. This just felt unfinished in some way, left me confused more than once and annoyed on several occasions. But hey, there are vampires. I love vampires.

Such a highly anticipated title for me from an author I’ve enjoyed in the past. Although my rating isn’t a wow rating, it delivered on some aspects of enjoyment and not on others. I’ll definitely be continuing with the series however as there’s much still to discover (I’ll return to this point).

I immeditely fell into like with the tenor of the book, in pace, mystery and ambience. New Orleans in this book’s era had such a temperature of the magical that was enticing but it also sparked trepidation. The heroine Celine was running from her life in Paris, straight into the burning flames of a furnace. She courted danger in a way that didn’t seem befitting of a woman of that time but that was the kind of character she was. I was intrigued by her and the character of Bastien, as I was supposed to be.

What started out as mystery in terms of who or what kinds of beings prowled New Orleans, became a bit of a frustration as world building didn’t come but in a fog towards the end. I feel like I was possibly promised vampires but didn’t really get this. I got the measure of Celine and Michael, but Bastien, his uncle and many others were clouded and this became increasingly difficult as a reader.

The violent happenings in the story were the good part of the mystery. The unknown povs added to this. The descriptions of sights and smells, heat and darkness were vivid and alluring. There was very little romance in literal terms but the suggestion of it was threaded through the story.

I enjoyed the idea of this story but I wanted a bit more from the execution of it. I enjoy Renee Ahdieh’s narrative voice very much, she’s easy to read and her work pulls you into the story. However, I wanted more from the story in terms of the final reveal and last chapter. I will be back for more.

Thank you to Hodderscape for this early copy to review.

TW: Mentions of rape, graphic descriptions of murder victims.
This took me about a week to read mainly because I didn't want it to end. I wanted it to last.
All I knew going into this was Vampires, murder and 1872 New Orleans. But I was excited to read this. I haven't read that many vampire books before. I pretty much missed that trend somehow.
Although this felt slow paced I think it worked perfectly. Everything developed at the perfect pace. Nothing felt rushed. Instead we learnt about Celine. Saw her grow. Watched her develop relationships with people she probably shouldn't.
Celine is probably my favourite character. She is sharp witted. Doesn't have time for bullshit. She won't back down even if she should. I'm excited to see where her development goes in book two.
I loved that Odette is an openly gay woman in the 1800s where it's not really acceptable. I need more from her in book two.
I liked how Renée handled introducing Vampires. It didn't happen on page one. Instead giving you hints to who may just be human and who may be more. Don't expect too much vampire action as that is something that develops throughout the book.
The atmosphere for this is dark and with a touch of horror in the perfect places. I found myself questioning who the killer who, which I was wrong in the end. Which doesn't surprise me. Everytime I thought I knew Renée dropped more hints and threw me off.

Overall I loved this. I'm excited but nervous for the sequel. I wish the sequel was ready. But having to wait like a year means I have the perfect excuse to reread this. I'm only nervous because of Celine and Bastien. Where it could go regarding them. Based on how it ended.
Speaking of the ending I'm heartbroken.

The Beautiful brings you into the magic and danger of New Orleans in the 19th Century. The story wraps fantasy, romance with the mystery of secrets and murder.

Celine Rousseau are leading lady is a character that I really took too. She doesn't fit what is expected of a 19th-century lady. It doesn't matter how hard she tries, it doesn't fit her. Her wish for a life built on more than being the property of a man. My favourite moments from Celine are when she is breaking the social norms.

The tense between Celine and Sebastien give some amazing heart-pounding moments. The moments that make romance lovers pick up the book.

The plot of The Beautiful is intriguing and goes in a direction that I would never have guessed. The writing is descriptive and delicate. The details of the balls and parties made me want to be there. I can not wait to see the fan art for these scenes.
There are many parts in the story that I can see being quote as they are beautiful, sentimental, funny and emotional.

The collection of characters are diverse and interesting. I love that Odette wears trousers. That Arjun is incredible smart even though his skin colour will limit his education. Also, Sebastien and Celine are both mixed-raced in a world where is seen as taboo to mix with someone of a different race.

I am looking forward to visiting Celine again and seeing the trouble she Sebastien and Micheal get up to next.

My rating for The Beautiful is 4 out of 5.

I'm afraid it's time to admit to myself that Renée Ahdieh's writing style and I do not get along. I've been wanting to love all of her books before and been left disappointed, and it's happened again with this one. I just couldn't get into it, something about the writing style makes it impossible for me to actually get into the story. Which is a real shame, because this one did sound amazing!

I so badly wanted to like this book but alas I did not. Three stars is me being generous. This book really was not for me. Look, I love vampires, so when this book was said to include them and the location was New Orleans I squealed in delight. But it was not meant to be.

Supernaturals: the supernatural world is not explained. At all. The creatures that live in this otherwolrd are not mentioned clearly. There is just no world-building at all. I do not know anything and I have truly read every word of this book.

Writing style: I could not get used to the way this book was written. The author used too many details, too many descriptions and way too few actual plot points. The entire story doesn't feel done, it feels as thought parts of this story have not been included in the novel I got.

Characters: although the characters were all vastly different I still found them boring, flat and uninteresting. Even the beautiful devil himself aka Bastien. I did not feel close to anyone, did not mourn any deaths or was outraged at people getting hurt. I just did not have a connection with anyone.

Language: this book has a lot of French in it. If you don't know any French then that is seriously taking some nuances of the book away. I speak a little French so I could understand enough of it to make sense of the sentences. The important lines are translated, but the subtle little things are not which, if you don't speak French, can be of great annoyance because you don't quite get what they're saying.

Murder mystery: this book is supposed to be about some kind of murder mystery. It did not feel that mysterious to me as the reader can read into the thoughts of the killer. The bodies are all mauled by some rabid animal which is clearly a vampire attack and the immortals in the story know that. They probably also knew exactly who the murderer was this whole time or at least its motive. Nothing felt mysterious to me, it was just several murders...

I'm just very disappointed by this book. I can see the potential. I can see why some will like it. I just didn't. It's not the book for me. Three stars is all it is getting and I'm truly feeling generous giving it that rating.

I’m afraid this was not for me - written in a very flowery style (“Bastien studied her with an odd look, his expression savoring strangely of disappointment”), but ultimately shallow: Historic New Orleans did not come to life and was not utilised as a backdrop at all, this could have been set anywhere, anytime; the heroine’s contrived main conflict left me cold and undermined her likability from the start by painting her a drama queen, the French vibe didn’t work for me and felt largely unauthentic and unnecessary and the whole thing had me pretty bored a third in. I started skipping to see if there was anything worthwhile later, but if there was I couldn’t find it.
Im sure there will be genre lovers who will lap this up, but personally I studied this with an odd look, my expression savoring strangely of disappointment.

I absolutely loved this book! Reminded me of Kerri Maniscalco’s books a bit. It was the perfect book to start off fall reading with. I couldn’t put it down until I finished it and I’m so glad I had the chance to read it before it came out! Five stars!

The book as a whole wasn't interesting to me, the characters were very one-dimensional and the era this was set in didn't really make any sense.

This story could've easily been told in modern day New Orleans, there was no point of it being set in the 1800s. I feel like the only reason the writer chose this time was to show off their knowledge of French language, Shakespeare and French fashion.

And I think this is one of the main reason I lost patience with the book quite quickly. The characters constantly speaking in French only to have someone else translate it as a question or simply have the translation sentence afterwards. What was the point of that except making me very aware of how I spoke no French at all?

Also, the constant details! A little bit of details gives the story flavour, the constant description of a dress or a meal just bores me to death.

The final plot twist did make this better for me but am not sure if I will continue with the series. All I'm left with now is craving for a good vampire book.

This might by my first ever very negative review. I was debating whether or not to even write this review because I don't like writing long negative reviews, especially about ARCs but I kinda want to rant about this book. If you want to read this book and have high expectations, it's probably best that you don't even read this review because I don't think I'll say a single positive thing.

I was so excited for this book. I've always found paranormal romances to be a guilty pleasure of mine and I was ready for a new mainstream YA novel about vampires but this book was not good. Like at all. I've never read any other Renee Ahdieh novels but I don't think I'm going to read another one of her novels because this book really put me off.

What irritated me the most about this book was the complete lack of vampires. I think we had in total like 2 vampire focused scenes. If this wasn't being marketed as the return of the vampire, then it would have been fine. But so many people are going to go into this book expecting intense vampire content but that is not what we got. What we actually got was a confusing and boring story that I still don't even really understand.

Another major irk with me was the writing. I feel like the author was trying to write in the style of the time period but some things were so out of place such as 'I do not give a f**k' and 'you're thirsty for him'. These are modern day phrases and it didn't make sense in this book. On top of that, the general writing was badly phrased. I found it to be so confusing and I feel like we were constantly missing paragraphs and lines because it would jump around constantly. Nothing felt fully developed so I'm still not sure what even happened.

I also did not enjoy the main characters. Celine was interesting at times, but I found her actions and dialogue to be very repetitive. Also, this book mentions her boobs on like every page and I don't know why Renee Ahdieh mentioned them constantly. Bastien, the love interest, was your typical broody YA hero so there's not much to complain about with him. But he was hardly in it and their love story felt a lot like insta love. I also didn't like how most of the time, she only felt validated with her actions when he validated them for her, especially in regards to the big thing that occured to her in the past. The side characters were interesting but they were also hardly in it. This book just honestly felt like it was Celine by herself most of the time which made it very boring.

The plot twist related to the killer really irked me but I can't say why because of spoilers obviously. But it reinforces a previous complaint that I had about it. The events that occured to the main characters in the last chapter were somewhat intriguing but not enough to carry on with the series. I don't think I'll be carrying on with this series and I definitely do not recommend this book. I'm not sure if I'm the minority but I haven't strongly disliked a book this much in a while which made me sad.

Celine has arrived in New Orleans, alone and unwilling to talk about why she left her home in Paris so suddenly. Moving into the convent isn’t ideal and it’s not long before Celine feels the pull of the strangeness of the new city. When a chance encounter brings her into contact with incredibly handsome, but infuriating Sebastian and his friends life gets very interesting much faster than she anticipated. When people start being murdered around the city, Celine starts to suspect the murders aren’t as random as they first appeared.

I found this one quite hard to rate, because although I quite enjoyed the story, The Beautiful has been touted as the next big vampire book, and it just…..isn’t. I think this is one of those times hyped marketing might have done the book itself a disservice. This is not a ‘vampire story’. Vampires are barely mentioned. If you are hoping for an ‘Interview with the Vampire’ type experience, it won’t be it.

I kind of wish I hadn’t known anything about this story before I read it. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more than I did. The writing is lyrical and magical, I loved both Sebastian and Celine as characters. Sebastian was one of those characters that will stay with me for his arrogant but seductive personality. The ‘supernatural’ beings that are woven through the background of the story are elusive…a bit too elusive. We pretty much learn nothing about them for the entire book. To be honest, when the end of the book came, I wasn’t sure if it was just me missing a whole bunch of information or whether it really didn’t make sense at all.

The chapters narrated by Celine were interspersed with chapters from a mystery villain, and although I understand we couldn’t exactly have labels to show who the chapter was by, as the mystery is part of the story, it would have been helpful to have some way of knowing who’s point of view we were reading from (even by maybe labelling Celine’s chapters at least). I did read the E-Arc though, so I’m not sure if there will be some identifying feature in the final book.

As I mentioned, this is a hard one for me to review. Do I want to read the next book? Yes. I need to know what on earth happened at the end, and I’m hoping maybe we’ll get more vampires in book two? Did I enjoy the actual writing? Yes. But the pacing, confusing aspects and lack of actual vampire characters kept it from being a five star read for me.

I may have taken a little while to get into this book, but I think that was the beauty in it, it slowly lulls you into the read until you are hooked and you don't even realise. I've always thought that you no longer see enough good vampire books these days, and this book brings in some mystery and intrugue as well, which is just what you need to really get you interested. Add in the historical fiction side of it, and I'm sold - you should be too.

Definitely one to read if you love a bit of romance, mystery and fantasy all mixed up into one beautiful book.

Why do I do this to myself? I had a feeling The Beautiful might not be for me – even though I read and enjoyed the Twilight books in my teens, I’ve never really been into vampire stories – but I so wanted to give it a chance because so many authors have stayed clear of vampires since Twilight‘s rise and fall.

The Beautiful has been marketed as the rebirth of YA vampire novels, and even though vampires aren’t my favourite fantastical/paranormal creatures, this book caught my attention because of it’s setting: 19th century New Orleans.

I love me some historical fiction, especially if it has a speculative twist, and New Orleans is a place I desperately want to visit, so I was ready to be whisked away to a world of blood and carnivals. With its fairly Twilight-ish cover, I was pretty sure this one wasn’t going to be a new favourite (though I’d’ve loved to be pleasantly surprised!) but I was ready for a fun, self-aware story. And that’s not what I got.

First thing’s first, I don’t think Ahdieh’s writing style is for me. This is the first book of Ahdieh’s I’ve read, so if I’d read previous books by her I probably wouldn’t have requested this one. I can see why a lot of people do like her writing style, but even for me it was a little too flowery and sometimes she over-explained which completely ruined the metaphors she was trying to make, so my not being a fan of the writing style has a lot to do with why I disliked this novel.

Unfortunately I thought the plot and the characters were all a bit of a mess, too.

Dressmaker Celine Rousseau is one of several young women who travels to a convent in New Orleans where the nuns will help them find work and also make good matches for themselves. Celine is running away from her previous life in Paris, but there are other women, such as Pippa from Yorkshire (my neck of the woods!), who are travelling to America to start new lives for themselves because there’s nothing waiting for them back home.

We know from the get-go that Celine is hiding a dark secret, and we soon learn that she killed a man in self-defense when he tried to sexually assault her. This being the 19th century I could totally believe that Celine would be scared to tell anyone what had happened – 200 years since this period of history many women still aren’t believed when they tell their stories – and I could buy why she would want to run away and start a new life.

What bothered me is that Celine calls herself a ‘monster’ throughout the entire book. Her guilt doesn’t match who she is any of the rest of the time, because throughout most of the novel Celine presents herself as a very typical YA heroine; she’s naturally stunningly beautiful, she’s not afraid to say what she really thinks and she stands up for herself whether she’s confronting a man or a woman. That made it difficult to believe that she could think of herself as a ‘monster’ for killing a man she knows was trying to sexually assault her.

If she was a different kind of heroine, if this was a story about Celine having to learn that what this man tried to do to her was wrong and that she’d been conditioned to think that she’d led him on, then it would make more sense, but this didn’t. She doesn’t have any remorse for what she did (nor should she) and she does acknowledge that she was only standing up for herself (and I completely agree with her), but it made all these ‘there’s a darkness in me, alas I am a demon incarnate!’ moments just plain eye-roll-worthy.

(Okay so she never actually says that, but you catch my drift.)

In other parts of the novel, though, Celine was an outright snob. At one point she’s invited to a party with the theme of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Celine is a huge fan of Shakespeare, but when she arrives at the party and sees people dressed as random fae creatures, such as satyrs, she says: ‘Had they even seen or bothered to read the play?’

You SNOB, Celine. It’s a party. Lighten up!

When she arrives at the convent the Mother Superior asks Celine to assist one of the other women with teaching the children and asks if she’ll teach them French, and Celine believes that being asked to teach the children French is the Mother Superior’s way of trying to ‘shame her’.

Um, why? You’re French, you’re the perfect person to teach these children French. Get over yourself.

Later, Celine meets a new friend who confides in her that she’s queer and Celine immediately assumes that it’s this woman’s way of telling her that she fancies her. Are you serious, Celine? To Ahdieh’s credit the friend in question points out that Celine is being a narcissist, but it just makes her so unlikeable – particularly to me. A friend of mine came out when we were in school and the amount of people who said they were fine with it ‘as long as she didn’t fancy them’ was gross. Celine was told something personal about someone else and managed to make it about herself.

To be honest, that’s what this whole novel is. This whole book is Celine making all the drama about herself.

This friend that Celine makes is a member of Le Cour des Lions, New Orleans’ mysterious underworld, and Celine soon begins to suspect that they might have something to do with a series of gruesome murders that have been occuring in the city. I was so excited to follow a 19th century murder mystery with vampires, but nothing’s really offered to the readers so we have a chance to figure out whodunnit; we just have to sit back and watch Celine and the people she meets do very little until another character we don’t really care about dies.

Particularly at the beginning of the novel, when our three major characters are introduced, the scenes felt as though they stretched on forever. As well as Celine, we meet Sèbastien Saint Germain of Le Cour des Lions and Detective Michael Grimaldi.

That’s right, kids. It’s a love triangle.

Michael is incredibly hard to believe. There’s no way a detective investigating a series of murders would express an interest in courting a woman who’s a suspect in the murder, because Celine just happens to be nearby when one of her fellow women from the convent is killed. Sèbastien is also a suspect, and Celine herself is convinced he has something to do with it, but that doesn’t stop her from swooning over him.

Considering her own history, I found it kind of gross that she was interested in pursuing a relationship with a man she’s fairly certain has something to do with a series of violent murders of women.

Out of the two of them, Celine does have more chemistry with Sèbastien than Michael (I just found Michael incredibly irritating) but their relationship was kind of ridiculous. Literally about three hours after she meets Sèbastien properly, Celine thinks, ‘She’d never heard him laugh like that before’.

You’ve known him for three hours, Celine. There are a lot of things you haven’t heard him do.

And naturally, because there’s a love triangle, it turns out Sèbastien and Michael were childhood friends but now they’re enemies because they fell out over a girl. SNORE. This is incredibly frustrating from a novel that keeps trying to be a feminist novel; Celine (rightfully) hates that the best thing she can hope for is to make a good match and have children, rather than to set up her own business and be a successful dressmaker in her own right. That message doesn’t really work, though, when you fall back on tropes like that.

In fact the two characters who had the best chemistry in this novel were Sèbastien and Michael, so if Ahdieh could maybe just make the next book in the series queer that’d be great. One of the problems, though, is that we never really learn enough about Michael or Sèbastien to care about why they’re no longer friends. We do have some chapters from Sèbastien’s point of view, but they don’t start popping up until about halfway through the book which is a little jarring.

We have a few chapters from the point of view of our murderer, too, but they’re flowery, Bond villain-ish passages that I couldn’t find threatening. My big problem with this whole novel was that I just didn’t care. I didn’t care why the villain was doing what they were doing – and in all honesty, when we discover why the murderer is doing what they’re doing, none of the earlier murders made any sense to me – and I didn’t care if any of the protagonists succeeded.

Sadly, for me, this novel was all style and no substance. I feel like I’m being really mean and I don’t want to be, because there are good things about this novel – particularly how racially diverse it is – but Celine doesn’t even learn about vampires until about 90% of the way through the book. Don’t market a book as a vampire book, and then have barely any vampires in it.

I like my reviews to be honest so I have to be honest, and sadly this book was a flop for me and I’m so disappointed. If you’re already a fan of Ahdieh you’ll probably enjoy this book a lot more than I did – I do think Ahdieh’s writing style had a lot to do with my enjoyment of this – but personally I think this book has been marketed as a refreshing YA vampire story, only to fall into all of tropes that put readers off YA vampire stories in the first place.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing and eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Oh, boy... I don't know how to sum up my feelings about this book. I guess let me start with my expectations...
I have read Reneé Ahdieh's The Wrath and The Dawn duology and I loved every second of it. The writing was beautiful, the story intricate and magical, and I even liked the romance, which is almost unheard of from me. I thought that will be the case with The Beautiful. I hoped to love it. I didn't. I guess I set the bar too high.

The first couple of chapters were intriguing, but soon I realised that the writing didn't mesh with me whatsoever. It felt forced and quite pretentious. The amount of French in this book is ridiculous. Now, I understand New Orleans was a French colony. I understand Celine is French. I don't think the amount of French was needed in it, though. It took me out of the story, having to constantly look up what certain phrases mean. It got very annoying very fast.

Celine herself wasn't my favourite character, though she grew on me eventually. Pippa, on the other hand, while very likeable at the start, turned out quite bland. Bastien was every single brooding bad boy love interest I've ever read about, he had no personality of his own. I'm sure many will love him. I didn't. Michael was better, in my opinion, though the whole not quite love triangle got on my nerves quickly.

Only about 70% did the book take a turn for the better. The plot was stagnant for most of the book. Although things happened, it really felt like it didn't have much impact on the overall story, it was a waiting game. I was really invested in the story in the end, though, once the plot stopped dillydallying and had actual structure instead of a lot of filler. Once we started getting answers, I definitely enjoyed it more.

As you can see, I'm conflicted. I am also disappointed. I wanted the vampire revival to be grand and amazing. It flopped.
Low 3/5 stars.

Renee Ahdieh expertly presents the underworld of 1872 New Orleans, a city ruled by monsters and the dead; she captivates her reader with gloomy descriptions of shadowy alleyways alongside the contrasting glamour, vibrancy and extravagance embroiled in the inhabitants of La Cour des Lions.

Celine Rousseau is a strong-willed force to be reckoned with. Hiding from her sins in the safe haven of a Parisian convent, for the monsters of the night are not the only ones capable of killing. When a body is discovered in the lair of La Cour des Lions its owner, the enigmatic Sebastian Saint Germain, is the most likely suspect. Secrets and suspicion become tightly entwined as Sebastian and Celine both grapple with their inner demons to stop the serial killer terrorising the streets.

The blurb is incredible isn't it? Renee Ahdieh's novels always have beautiful blurbs. Beautiful blurbs with disappointing contents beyond them. I saw a reviewer compare Celine to the protagonist of Ahdieh's previous novels, particularly that of The Wrath and the Dawn, and that pretty much is the most important thing you need to know about this novel - if you liked The Wrath and the Dawn, if you liked Shahrzad, then you'll love Celine. She has characteristics which really do her justice - she knows what she wants, she's a feminist's wet dream and she's the perfect blend of inwardly reflective, self-critical and proud. She's just realistic. But unfortunately she still suffers from the age old problem of falling for monstrous people because they're beautiful, and I just can't get behind that.

Her two potential love interests in this book are instantly attractive to her, despite both being reasonably pretentious and unlikable. On top of that, she herself proclaims that Sebastian is devilish, repeatedly referring to him as Lucifer. It isn't a compliment. Yet she still finds herself weak at the knees for him in, literally, the next sentence. It's contradictory and just plain illogical for a character of such a strong mind. Equally, the overuse of the words, "devil" and, "Lucifer" about finished me. It was good the first few times, fitting even, but the constant reference made me start to genuinely question if Lucifer was another character I'd somehow missed. He wasn't.

Despite this, Ahdieh has perfected truly exquisite period writing. She consistently presents her prose in a beguiling, lyrical way which is commensurate with the darkly deceptive atmosphere of the book but also in keeping with the language of the time; it's just beautiful. So whilst I didn't really like the characters or the plot all that much I did love being lost in a world as well drawn this one.

5 "need the sequel now" stars

“Don’t fall in love with me,” she warned again, her words breathless. “You’re not good for me. And I’m not good for you.”


This will begin with a bunch of spontaneous thoughts and reactions.
Just bear with me as I have to get it out of my chest before forming proper sentences and a semi organized review.

- Damn that ending!!! I need the second book!

-I never guessed who the killer was. Renée you totally took me by surprise and I so love it!

-that writing Mon Dieu! Just perfect for that era and that story!

-either Renée you know your French, either someone checked everything (maybe your friend Alwyn?) but I didn't find any mistake! C'est franchement rafraîchissant et tellement rare. That's honestly so refreshing and unusual!

-Bastien is the perfect devil and roguish gentleman who is not a gentleman and I want him to have his way!

- I am team Céline! Atta girl that's the way to go and scandalize all these matrons!

Now that I have managed to get my feelings under control let's try to give you a review worthy of that story!

I think the tagline used in the synopsis is a perfect choice: "At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful"

Renée's writing is once more exquisite. Totally different from the Wrath and the Dawn and perfect to make us live and feel that particular era in history!
From the first sentence you will see New Orleans around 1870, when that buoyant city was cleaved between proper and corseted young ladies abiding by strict etiquette and daring exotic beauties masquerading as nymphs clothed in translucent veils. You will encounter severe nuns, strict matrons, meek young ladies as well as defiant young women choosing to wear men's clothes and proclaiming their lust for women.

From balls to appalling murders, from handsome detective to rakish rebel heir, from convent to places of debauchery you will experience New Orleans contrasted faces, understanding why Céline fell in love with that city like none other.

Céline Rousseau hides a dangerous secret and chose to flee France for New Orleans in the hope of a new beginning. She is determined to atone for her sins and behave like a proper young lady, always walking the line and respecting the rules. So far she has played many roles, what society expected from her : “The diligent worker. The obedient daughter. The pious young woman. Someone who floated with the current, rather than making her own waves.”

Yet Céline is too spirited and determined to be a lamb. Despite her best resolutions Celine is no lamb but rather a lion!

When she is faced with a serial killer who seems to fixate on her she will not wait for New Orleans best detective Michael Grimaldi to catch the killer but she will take matter in her own hands.

Céline is a conflicted young woman. She knows what is expected of her and of women at that time but rebels as the idea to just follow a designated husband's will. She is independent, sharp, quick-witted and courageous. Selfless she won't hesitate to risk her life if it can spare her loved ones.

“You wanted to know who I really am.” She bit her lower lip. “I’m a girl who’d rather experience life than watch it pass by from my window.”


In her path to find the truth she will duel with Sebastien Saint Germain, prince among La Cour des Lions. Feared by everyone, hated by detective Grimaldi he will admire Céline's courage and her wits.


Bastien is “A ruthless fiend who could slay an armed dragoon and attend Mass the next morning.”

He is also very much a mystery and I tried to guess what he was all along, what part he played in this story. There was no denying that Bastien and his Cour des Lions were something else. But what?

And what was their link with the murderer?


All along the story their attraction is obvious but their relationship very complicated.

The tension is mounting with every new dead body discovered creating a constant feeling of impending doom. I was constantly wondering what secret everyone was hiding, what were these people’s back stories, who killed these people and if Céline and Bastien had a future together.

I never saw that ending coming and it leaves us on a blank page and many possibilities for the sequel!

Clearly Renée Adhieh wrote another hypnotic tale and I need more!

2,5 stars

This was an average read for me. After reading the description I started thinking about a forbidden romance, filled with scary and eerie scenes, magic and a beautiful setting in New Orleans. This wasn't the case here.

I am going to start with the things I liked about the book.
One of my favourite aspects of the book was that it was set in New Orleans a little before a carnival of a sort. So the descriptions of the city, the food and the few scenes in the carnival were beautiful. In fact, almost every single description in the book was good. But, personally,I would prefer to see more of the city, more of the world, because even though Renée Ahdieh writes beautifully, it felt like we saw very little of the city.

Another thing I liked was that there was no detailed information about the Court of Lions. We know they are supernaturals, we have an idea of what they might be, but there is no name for any of them. The only character we learn enough information about is Odette. The court and the supernatural characters are so elusive, that I'm not even sure the book should be marketed as a vampire romance, because none of the main characters are vampires and there is not enough romance..

The final thing I liked is the side characters. I loved Odette, I loved Pipa, I even loved Michael and his grandmother! I actually would love to read a short story about the backstory of each of these characters, more than I care to read anything about Bastien or Celine.

Moving on to the things I didn't like.
The pacing was really bad, the first 60% nothing happened. I'm not talking about just the plot, I mean we didn't know anything about anyone, except Odette and maybe a thing or two about Celine. I learnt more about Panama hats, the weather and the hair colours and ribbons, than the main characters. This is a problem, because personally, If I know nothing about the characters I feel detached and bored.

The other thing I actually hated was the constant changes in the language. I am from Greece and I know both English and French, I even understand some phrases in Italian.. I actually love learning different languages, but the book had too many phrases in French, some in Spanish and Italian and even though there was no explanation for every single one of them, the answers were in English and in the end I lost my concentration.. I was thinking more about the right translation and forgot about the plot. I guess the writer wanted to make the setting more authentic, since as far as I know, in New Orleans there are a lot of people speaking the language, but it was too much... and since I was already detached, this made it even worse.

The setting was another problem, since there were very few things that made you feel like you were in 1872. Honestly, besides the clothes I can't remember anything else to point the time period, and despite the fact that I liked how The Court of Lions approached sexuality and ethnicity as they should, it felt very modern for the time. It's the south of America in the 1870, the main characters are of mixed heritage, and there is not one remark from anyone except some of Celine's one thoughts... I would think that there might be something related to that, since our one heroine fears it...

Lastly, I didn't like the constant inner thoughts of the main antagonist, even though I didn't expect the twist of who was behind the murders. Both of the main characters were not interested or likeable and there was no chemistry whatsoever between them.. I did enjoy how Celine was smart enough to notice the details of the murders the others didn't..This is something she could do more frequently in the next book.

All in all, an average read, with some interesting aspects and quite a lot of issues.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc