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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
I think this might've been the first book of Renee Ahdiedh's that has disappointed me and to think that it's a vampire book that has done this.
When I first started getting into YA, it was [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361039443l/41865._SY75_.jpg|3212258] of all things that kickstarted it. When those books came out, I was the right demographic to get really into it and I still remember the Team Edward and Jacob battle-lines that were drawn. This was sometime before the movies came out, before the trend of vampire books became huge in YA and then, perhaps due to overexposure, vampire books stopped being a thing in YA. Like many others, I was pretty intrigued to see what Ahdieh was going to bring to the table - especially because her writing in her previous efforts was just so lovely and, well, somewhat magical.
However, The Beautiful didn't live up to my expectations. Granted, the prose is still quite lovely, as she continues to really have a knack for describing the most beautiful settings and people. But for a book that's supposedly about a serial killer that's stalking our heroine, the book remained surprisingly dull. Our protagonist Celine Rousseau is a recent transplant to New Orleans, circa 1872, having swiftly escaped from her Parisian home to the New World. Like Pippa, a girl that she meets on her ship, she is nominally in New Orleans via the charity of Catholic nuns who will secure her a favorable marriage. However, in reality, Celine has left Paris before her actions could catch up with her.
New Orleans is not quite what Celine imagined, as the chaos of city appears to match her own spirits. Furthermore, she gets drawn into the La Cour des Lions, after Odette, one of its members, approaches Celine for her dressmaking skills. There, Celine gets to know the handsome Sébastien Saint Germain, whose family owns the better part of New Orleans and who Celine both admires and is attracted to. However, Sébastien's Court is hiding secrets from Celine and it soon appears there is a link between them and the killer that is stalking the city. Michael Grimbaldi, the principal detective of New Orleans who dislikes Sébastien greatly, soon becomes embroiled into the mystery of the killer's motives and Celine soon draws the attention of the killer himself.
I think part of the problem of the story is that it tries to keep so many cards to its chest that us readers feel much like Celine for the better part of the book as we are left in the dark about where the plot is really going.
Furthermore, the same few lines get repeated throughout the story, which I think I was supposed to find poetic but instead I just found...repetitive. For example, Sebastian often repeats about how he finds love an affliction. And Celine constantly finds herself daydreaming about Sebastian, despite constantly telling him not to fall in love with her.
Nevertheless, the writing in the book remains quite lovely, it's just that the plot underwhelmed me. I will leave you with one of the passages from the story, as a taster for you to determine if you would enjoy the story:
I think this might've been the first book of Renee Ahdiedh's that has disappointed me and to think that it's a vampire book that has done this.
When I first started getting into YA, it was [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1361039443l/41865._SY75_.jpg|3212258] of all things that kickstarted it. When those books came out, I was the right demographic to get really into it and I still remember the Team Edward and Jacob battle-lines that were drawn. This was sometime before the movies came out, before the trend of vampire books became huge in YA and then, perhaps due to overexposure, vampire books stopped being a thing in YA. Like many others, I was pretty intrigued to see what Ahdieh was going to bring to the table - especially because her writing in her previous efforts was just so lovely and, well, somewhat magical.
However, The Beautiful didn't live up to my expectations. Granted, the prose is still quite lovely, as she continues to really have a knack for describing the most beautiful settings and people. But for a book that's supposedly about a serial killer that's stalking our heroine, the book remained surprisingly dull. Our protagonist Celine Rousseau is a recent transplant to New Orleans, circa 1872, having swiftly escaped from her Parisian home to the New World. Like Pippa, a girl that she meets on her ship, she is nominally in New Orleans via the charity of Catholic nuns who will secure her a favorable marriage. However, in reality, Celine has left Paris before her actions could catch up with her.
Spoiler
And that's her act of killing a man who tried to rape her. Given Celine's upbringing, she questions whether she will be considered a sinner, given the way that she not only caused bodily harm to him but seemed to enjoy the violence behind it.New Orleans is not quite what Celine imagined, as the chaos of city appears to match her own spirits. Furthermore, she gets drawn into the La Cour des Lions, after Odette, one of its members, approaches Celine for her dressmaking skills. There, Celine gets to know the handsome Sébastien Saint Germain, whose family owns the better part of New Orleans and who Celine both admires and is attracted to. However, Sébastien's Court is hiding secrets from Celine and it soon appears there is a link between them and the killer that is stalking the city. Michael Grimbaldi, the principal detective of New Orleans who dislikes Sébastien greatly, soon becomes embroiled into the mystery of the killer's motives and Celine soon draws the attention of the killer himself.
I think part of the problem of the story is that it tries to keep so many cards to its chest that us readers feel much like Celine for the better part of the book as we are left in the dark about where the plot is really going.
Spoiler
We get a lot of cryptic references to the Brotherhood and the Fallen, but we only find out that these are referring to the vampire and werewolf factions... Vampires and werewolves' hatred of each other is a well-known trope in this genre so I was surprised to find that this was what was being kept so close to chest. And I think I was supposed to find the revelation that Sébastien's sister is still alive to be an intriguing twist but I didn't find myself engaged enough by the characters to truly feel anything when this was unveiled. Finally, despite the grand proclamations of La Cour des Lions as being something magical, it turns out that they are nothing more than a glorified collection of bodyguards for Sebestian, as his uncle has made many enemies in his immortal life, such that the other members of their family were all killed.Furthermore, the same few lines get repeated throughout the story, which I think I was supposed to find poetic but instead I just found...repetitive. For example, Sebastian often repeats about how he finds love an affliction. And Celine constantly finds herself daydreaming about Sebastian, despite constantly telling him not to fall in love with her.
Spoiler
There's also this plotline about how Michael is drawn to Celine as well...which is just to set up a love triangle for the next book, I imagine.Nevertheless, the writing in the book remains quite lovely, it's just that the plot underwhelmed me. I will leave you with one of the passages from the story, as a taster for you to determine if you would enjoy the story:
Love is an affliction.
For the span of a breath, Bastien allowed himself to dream. The next instant, the dream coiled on itself like a snake, wrapping his heart in a vise. He needed to silence this foolish desire. His uncle had said it to him before. We forget our dreams, but our nightmares linger with us evermore.
Celine was the precise opposite of what Bastien's uncle desired for him in a wife. She was stubborn in her pursuits. Uncompromising in approach. Characteristics his uncle refused to tolerate in any mortal. Not to mention that she lacked the cachet of a distinguished family. Bastien's union with a pillar of New Orleans society was of tantamount importance to Uncle Nico. His marriage should be nothing more than a business transaction, and Celine Rousseau was not a wise choice in that respect, for countless reasons.
But these matters did not have bearing on Bastien's decision tonight. Celine's single month in this world had caused her irreparable harm. The kindest thing for Bastien to do would be to cast her from it, so he would not become a nightmare lingering evermore in her mind.
He would rather be a dream she once had. Beautiful for a time. Meant to be forgotten.
It always ends in blood.
I liked it... But there was just something missing. There was a huge build up that I felt didn't ultimately lead anywhere.
Just realized there will be a second book - hopefully my questions get answered!
Just realized there will be a second book - hopefully my questions get answered!
I’d give this a 3.5 and honestly I was disappointed in this book. Wasn’t a fan of all the French that was in the book, but I get why it was there. I personally no nothing of the language so I ended up skipping over those parts. I don’t know, I just felt bored throughout the book and ending up skim reading a majority of it. However, I did like the mysterious way it was written with the two narratives and you don’t discover who the second is until the very end. I did feel it was almost too mysterious as I didn’t know what was going on with Bastien and why he was ‘mortal’, but you are left thinking he is a vampire. Again you don’t find out much of anything until the end.
Say hello to my favorite book of 2021. Might write a review later, might just make some edits of the characters with Taylor Swift songs on the background and post them on tiktok... who knows.
Just a few highlights:
Though she kept still, her heart reached for the music, as if it called to something deep in her bones. It never ceased to amaze her, how she seemed to thrive under cover of darkness. How she fell more in love with the moon every night.
She possesses the look of someone who has met Death on a field of battle and managed to live another day. I am intrigued by her. I am curious about the scars Death left behind. I want to know who she is. What she’s done.
"Years ago I swore never to love anything more beautiful than myself.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Thankfully that leaves my options wide and varied.”
“One day, someone should tell you how beautiful you are in the moonlight,”
“C’est assez! None of us should have to wear corsets unless we decide to wear them. In the meantime, I say we take to the square and burn them all.”
Celine’s eyes sparkled. “The corsets?”
“No, the men, of course.”
Anyways, love you bestie Renée
Just a few highlights:
Though she kept still, her heart reached for the music, as if it called to something deep in her bones. It never ceased to amaze her, how she seemed to thrive under cover of darkness. How she fell more in love with the moon every night.
She possesses the look of someone who has met Death on a field of battle and managed to live another day. I am intrigued by her. I am curious about the scars Death left behind. I want to know who she is. What she’s done.
"Years ago I swore never to love anything more beautiful than myself.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Thankfully that leaves my options wide and varied.”
“One day, someone should tell you how beautiful you are in the moonlight,”
“C’est assez! None of us should have to wear corsets unless we decide to wear them. In the meantime, I say we take to the square and burn them all.”
Celine’s eyes sparkled. “The corsets?”
“No, the men, of course.”
Anyways, love you bestie Renée
Gothic New Orleans at its finest
The vibes were immaculate, the setting was so well executed, and the forbidden romance was
The vibes were immaculate, the setting was so well executed, and the forbidden romance was
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great atmosphere? Check. Amazing characters? Check. Swoony romance? Check. Tension? Double check. Vampires? Triple check. This book was everything I wanted and more - definitely my favorite of Ahdieh’s novels that I’ve read. Can’t wait for the sequel!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i was really hesitant about reading this because i’ve seen very polarizing opinions about it, and i was scared i wouldn’t like it and i REALLY wanted to like it. thankfully i did like it a lot.
i really wanted to give this 5 stars because i want to be able to call this one of my favorites of the year but i had a lot of major issues with it that ultimately had to bring my rating down which made me big sad. but i’ll talk about what i liked first.
i absolutely loved the plot. at the beginning i wasn’t too thrilled about how slow the story was. i was annoyed throughout the first maybe 80 pages because there wasn’t that much action but i think that’s only because i’d just read a super action-packed book before jumping into this one so it was very big change of pacing but ultimately i think the slowness worked well with how the story progressed. with each chapter it’s like a puzzle piece is added to the story, and over time the picture gets bigger and bigger, and i think the ending makes up for it.
i also was in love with the characters from the very beginning. celine was very courageous character, and i admired it a lot, especially after she’d run away from a horrible situation, and her development and strength throughout the story was so admirable. i loved the way her relationship with sebastien grew as well. he was very interesting and calculating character, and definitely one of my new favorite male characters. i’m sucker his type of character, and i always wanted to know more about him. his story was so interesting to me, and i loved reading about he and his family.
this book also had some of my favorite tropes. enemies-to-lovers, found family, cocky and mysterious bad-boy (i hate using that term but i don’t know what else to call him), female friendships, vampires!! i ate these up.
the side characters were just as interesting as the main characters. odette was one of my absolute favorites. she was funny, mysterious, but kind-hearted and so supportive of celine and i loved reading about her. pippa was so sweet and adorable and her friendship with celine was precious. arjun was also amazing, i loved every scene with him, and i hope we learn more about him in the sequel because i need to see more of him in the future.
now i’ll talk about what i didn’t like as much.
this specific problem i had with the book wasn’t necessarily to do with the content or the story, but it definitely had an effect on my reading experience. while looking at the reviews there were no trigger warnings on a particular detail in the story which i’ll mention at the end of the review just in case because it could be considered a spoiler however it is important to mention it! i would have liked to know about it before going in because i think i would have enjoyed it more. i’ll put the trigger warning at the end of this review :)
something else that bothered me about the book is more of a personal preference. i know i mentioned i loved most of the tropes in this book however there is a particular trope that is developing that i am not exactly a fan of. i won’t mention what it is because it could also be considered a spoiler but it is something that i’m not excited about seeing in the sequel.
this next problem is something i both loved and disliked. the writing in this gorgeous. renee ahdieh is so good with words, and i love the way she strings sentences together, and she’s so creative with the way she describes things. but it almost felt like her descriptive and atmospheric writing was just being used to cover up how slow the story was. i mean there was at least a page and a half of her describing the food at a restaurant like PLEASE i didn’t need that i was nodding off during that section. it felt like when she was getting to parts where not much was happening she just threw in a bunch of irrelevant random descriptions of the setting or something and obviously it’s good to have a perfect picture of the world the story takes place in and the surroundings, it makes me feel like i’m in the story. but do i need a page and a half of you telling me about the kind of food that is being served at a restaurant especially if the characters were only in the restaurant for thirty seconds? NO!
overall, this book was solid. i needed a vampire book. in fact, i tweeted like two years ago saying how badly i wanted a vampire book with the found family trope. this is exactly what i wanted. i’m so excited for book 2, and i cannot wait for more!
trigger warning: sexual assault
i really wanted to give this 5 stars because i want to be able to call this one of my favorites of the year but i had a lot of major issues with it that ultimately had to bring my rating down which made me big sad. but i’ll talk about what i liked first.
i absolutely loved the plot. at the beginning i wasn’t too thrilled about how slow the story was. i was annoyed throughout the first maybe 80 pages because there wasn’t that much action but i think that’s only because i’d just read a super action-packed book before jumping into this one so it was very big change of pacing but ultimately i think the slowness worked well with how the story progressed. with each chapter it’s like a puzzle piece is added to the story, and over time the picture gets bigger and bigger, and i think the ending makes up for it.
i also was in love with the characters from the very beginning. celine was very courageous character, and i admired it a lot, especially after she’d run away from a horrible situation, and her development and strength throughout the story was so admirable. i loved the way her relationship with sebastien grew as well. he was very interesting and calculating character, and definitely one of my new favorite male characters. i’m sucker his type of character, and i always wanted to know more about him. his story was so interesting to me, and i loved reading about he and his family.
this book also had some of my favorite tropes. enemies-to-lovers, found family, cocky and mysterious bad-boy (i hate using that term but i don’t know what else to call him), female friendships, vampires!! i ate these up.
the side characters were just as interesting as the main characters. odette was one of my absolute favorites. she was funny, mysterious, but kind-hearted and so supportive of celine and i loved reading about her. pippa was so sweet and adorable and her friendship with celine was precious. arjun was also amazing, i loved every scene with him, and i hope we learn more about him in the sequel because i need to see more of him in the future.
now i’ll talk about what i didn’t like as much.
this specific problem i had with the book wasn’t necessarily to do with the content or the story, but it definitely had an effect on my reading experience. while looking at the reviews there were no trigger warnings on a particular detail in the story which i’ll mention at the end of the review just in case because it could be considered a spoiler however it is important to mention it! i would have liked to know about it before going in because i think i would have enjoyed it more. i’ll put the trigger warning at the end of this review :)
something else that bothered me about the book is more of a personal preference. i know i mentioned i loved most of the tropes in this book however there is a particular trope that is developing that i am not exactly a fan of. i won’t mention what it is because it could also be considered a spoiler but it is something that i’m not excited about seeing in the sequel.
this next problem is something i both loved and disliked. the writing in this gorgeous. renee ahdieh is so good with words, and i love the way she strings sentences together, and she’s so creative with the way she describes things. but it almost felt like her descriptive and atmospheric writing was just being used to cover up how slow the story was. i mean there was at least a page and a half of her describing the food at a restaurant like PLEASE i didn’t need that i was nodding off during that section. it felt like when she was getting to parts where not much was happening she just threw in a bunch of irrelevant random descriptions of the setting or something and obviously it’s good to have a perfect picture of the world the story takes place in and the surroundings, it makes me feel like i’m in the story. but do i need a page and a half of you telling me about the kind of food that is being served at a restaurant especially if the characters were only in the restaurant for thirty seconds? NO!
overall, this book was solid. i needed a vampire book. in fact, i tweeted like two years ago saying how badly i wanted a vampire book with the found family trope. this is exactly what i wanted. i’m so excited for book 2, and i cannot wait for more!
trigger warning: sexual assault