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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
More slow-burn romance than magic, but I enjoyed it. And beautiful writing
This one started pretty slowly for me. I had pretty much no idea what to expect in terms of plot, but what we did get at the beginning was not what I was expecting. BUT THEN. I got SO attached to these characters and felt such passionate hatred for Valérie that I was completely invested within a hundred pages. It's been a while since I've felt this strongly about characters so this one gets an easy 5 stars.
To start, I would DIE for Nina. I would also kill for her, specifically when it came to Valérie. When I say I felt passionate in my hatred for her, I mean I was yelling at the book whenever I saw her name. Straight up could not stand her. Hector, my sweet, stupid, summer child; he had his head in his ass for so much of this book, and yet I would do anything for him.
Truly not sure how I became so infatuated with a book that nothing really happened in, but here we are. Not only were the characters so real, the writing was gorgeous and so visual. I would absolutely love to see this as a movie. Get those 2005 Pride and Prejudice vibes in there, I'm sold. 10/10, recommend to everyone.
To start, I would DIE for Nina. I would also kill for her, specifically when it came to Valérie. When I say I felt passionate in my hatred for her, I mean I was yelling at the book whenever I saw her name. Straight up could not stand her. Hector, my sweet, stupid, summer child; he had his head in his ass for so much of this book, and yet I would do anything for him.
Truly not sure how I became so infatuated with a book that nothing really happened in, but here we are. Not only were the characters so real, the writing was gorgeous and so visual. I would absolutely love to see this as a movie. Get those 2005 Pride and Prejudice vibes in there, I'm sold. 10/10, recommend to everyone.
4.5 rounded up! Its been a while since I read Jane Austen but like major Jane Austen vibes for this book. With bonus superpowers!
The Beautiful Ones follows our main characters in an basically Victorian-esque society with a few twists. Though actually its like the 20s since there are cars so maybe the JA vibes were too powerful for me to properly place this in time? Uh anyways. Hector comes to the city in order to chase a long lost love, Valerie who married a rich man instead of poor Hector ten years ago. Hector on his journey to get back to Valerie meets Nina, who turns out to be the cousin of Valerie’s husband. Hector begins courting Nina in order to get closer to Valerie. Also they have telekinesis.
Nina is our absolutely wonderful main character. Her kindness and innocence shines through and I wanted to take her away from literally every character in this book who used her to their own ends. I kind of read her as neurodivergent, though that could probably be debated. Either way, she was great and interesting character to fall in love with.
Hector is Darcy.
Valerie is this character that actually started more interesting than she ended. Valerie has been emotionally corrupted by the situations she grew up in. She was forced by situation to marry for money instead of love and this left a black mark on her. By the end of the novel though she devolves so deeply into villainy to feel cartoonish. Like she could be wearing a coat of Dalmatians in the final scenes.
The love story really was such a nice slow burn and left me at times wanting them to be together forever or for Nina to run away and never see these people again. The emotional journey is powerful and pulls you along with it so easily.
There is nothing really new here but Silvia Garcia-Moreno seems to have a skill in taking well tread paths of stories and breathing new life into them with simply wonderful writing and adding supernatural twists. I really loved this.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Imani Jade Powers (wow what a cool name). It was a great audiobook and I highly recommend!
The Beautiful Ones follows our main characters in an basically Victorian-esque society with a few twists. Though actually its like the 20s since there are cars so maybe the JA vibes were too powerful for me to properly place this in time? Uh anyways. Hector comes to the city in order to chase a long lost love, Valerie who married a rich man instead of poor Hector ten years ago. Hector on his journey to get back to Valerie meets Nina, who turns out to be the cousin of Valerie’s husband. Hector begins courting Nina in order to get closer to Valerie. Also they have telekinesis.
Nina is our absolutely wonderful main character. Her kindness and innocence shines through and I wanted to take her away from literally every character in this book who used her to their own ends. I kind of read her as neurodivergent, though that could probably be debated. Either way, she was great and interesting character to fall in love with.
Hector is Darcy.
Valerie is this character that actually started more interesting than she ended. Valerie has been emotionally corrupted by the situations she grew up in. She was forced by situation to marry for money instead of love and this left a black mark on her. By the end of the novel though she devolves so deeply into villainy to feel cartoonish. Like she could be wearing a coat of Dalmatians in the final scenes.
The love story really was such a nice slow burn and left me at times wanting them to be together forever or for Nina to run away and never see these people again. The emotional journey is powerful and pulls you along with it so easily.
There is nothing really new here but Silvia Garcia-Moreno seems to have a skill in taking well tread paths of stories and breathing new life into them with simply wonderful writing and adding supernatural twists. I really loved this.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Imani Jade Powers (wow what a cool name). It was a great audiobook and I highly recommend!
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Good book and a really interesting writing style. Didn’t love the characters but they were unique with great story arches.
Awkward when you get so irritated with the main character that you start rooting against her
i surprisingly liked this. cute, low stakes and very dreamy.
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Delightful read about the growth of love