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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
this one was unfortunately quite predictable but still a fun read. i just wish authors would stop making their protagonists so full of importance and destiny and blood feuding ancestry.
make ✨0815✨ great again.
make ✨0815✨ great again.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I love this series. Don't listen to Francesca by Hozier when you're thinking about Celine and Bastian unless you want to cry. Ok time for book 3.
The second in this book series is a doozy, but I loved it! Can't wait to see what happens in 3
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
So... this is NOT A DUOLOGY, RENÉE!
(Mild spoilers, mostly regarding this NOT BEING THE END OF THE STORY.)
I docked a star because there wasn't enough swoony romance for me, but this was a wild tale and the last half of the book kept me reeling from twists and turns!
The beginning of the book was great, too. Bastien dealing with his new state of being was especially well-written and I really enjoyed seeing his struggle play out on the page throughout the book. Celine remains fierce and magnificent, and even without her memories she's not willing to put up with Bastien's BS!
I'm mostly just shook that this isn't it. Once I hit 75% and there were too many loose ends, I just had a feeling... ahhhh! We also see so little of Bastien's sister here, and she's definitely going to be trouble, but on top of that we get introduced to the fey properly and that involves a whole other level of complications. There's so much to work with and I kinda hope this ends up being a quartet, because a trilogy doesn't feel like enough!
Thanks to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
(Mild spoilers, mostly regarding this NOT BEING THE END OF THE STORY.)
I docked a star because there wasn't enough swoony romance for me, but this was a wild tale and the last half of the book kept me reeling from twists and turns!
The beginning of the book was great, too. Bastien dealing with his new state of being was especially well-written and I really enjoyed seeing his struggle play out on the page throughout the book. Celine remains fierce and magnificent, and even without her memories she's not willing to put up with Bastien's BS!
I'm mostly just shook that this isn't it. Once I hit 75% and there were too many loose ends, I just had a feeling... ahhhh! We also see so little of Bastien's sister here, and she's definitely going to be trouble, but on top of that we get introduced to the fey properly and that involves a whole other level of complications. There's so much to work with and I kinda hope this ends up being a quartet, because a trilogy doesn't feel like enough!
Thanks to Edelweiss and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a good read. Not fantastic, obviously, but still good. I did feel like the start of any actual plot was at like the halfway mark of the book. Before it, it was more like the aftermath of the previous book i.e. Bastien becoming a vampire(which was most of it) and Celine losing her memories and basically everyone lying to her. Though I will admit, the reveal of the Sylvan Vale and Wylde was a nice suprise. But more importantly PLEASE DON’T LET ODETTE DIE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SHE NEEDS TO HAVE HER YURI MOMENT I BEG YOU RENEE PLEASE.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual assault
Ugh I finally finished; idk this book was better than the first one for me but still didn’t hit its mark for me ya know?
Okay but that cliffhanger though… I love the fact we got to see more of the side characters and even learn about their past such as Jae, Arjun and even Pippa. It was nice to see. We got to finally meet Celines mother the bloody lady of the Vale??? I didn’t think Celine would be magical but here we are.
Emilie just pissed me off and for good reason. She killed Odette when all Odette wanted to do was help her, Odette clearly had her guard down and Emilie used that moment to slit her throat.
Bastien was justified I think in trying to kill Emilie but of course the moral people have to turn up aka Celine. Like seriously??? Something dodgy is going on with Emilie, it’s almost like she wanted Bastien to retaliate and kill her.
It ends with Pippa over bearding Micheal transform into a werewolf. We know his family are the Werewolves but I didn’t think we’d get to see Micheal turning into one. Overall there was a lot more plot and action in this. Also a heap of internal monologue which was interesting to see. Often these characters don’t express themselves well so getting to see their inside feelings is quite nice.
Emilie just pissed me off and for good reason. She killed Odette when all Odette wanted to do was help her, Odette clearly had her guard down and Emilie used that moment to slit her throat.
Bastien was justified I think in trying to kill Emilie but of course the moral people have to turn up aka Celine. Like seriously??? Something dodgy is going on with Emilie, it’s almost like she wanted Bastien to retaliate and kill her.
It ends with Pippa over bearding Micheal transform into a werewolf. We know his family are the Werewolves but I didn’t think we’d get to see Micheal turning into one. Overall there was a lot more plot and action in this. Also a heap of internal monologue which was interesting to see. Often these characters don’t express themselves well so getting to see their inside feelings is quite nice.
3.5 Stars
Note to self, the next time you think you're reading the last book in a series, maybe check to make sure that that's actually the case? That way, you won't end up having to rethink all your opinions toward the plot of the book.
Honestly, this was a weird reading experience for me. If you're familiar with Ahdieh, then you know that she's previously written two duologies. So I just assumed that it was the same with this series. I don't find out that this was only the second of four books until I finished it, realized the ending left like 50 plotlines up in the air and googled the series to see if there were going to be more books. Which there were because this was never planned as a duology!
At the end of The Beautiful, we left Sebastian turning into a vampire and Celine having her memory of anything relating to him erased. And Michael deciding to be an opportunistic douchebag by taking his chance with the girl without her memories. I really don't like Michael, something that doesn't change throughout the novel.
Now, the way I thought the story would go is that we'd deal with the memory issue, Seb's new vampirism, and his evil sister. Then there would be a happily ever after. Instead, the book introduces a bunch of new elements relating to Celine's past, potential new villains, and just a whole other major plot. And I couldn't figure out why the author was doing that because I thought this was the last book! But, having thought about it now, there were some very interesting developments. And I loved getting to know some of the side characters more. Arjun, for example, played a much bigger role.
The rating is still 3.5, though, because the book took some time to get interesting. It was always easy to read, but some parts felt a bit unnecessary. Like Odette's POV. I don't know what it had to offer to the story. And it was so ridiculously overdramatic that I couldn't take it seriously. I also thought certain parts were rushed, and why was Bastian's sister barely mentioned for over half the novel?
Also, the book's take on vampires is nothing new. It reminded me of The Vampire Diaries (the show), and it's not as if we haven't read about or seen vampires in media before. They're kinda old news at this point. So the whole I-am-darkness, I-am-a-monster stuff was tedious and took me out of the story. Odette's POV was the worst, but Sebastian's wasn't great either. Though the latter got much better and Odette only got two or three chapters.
My favourite POV was Celine's, except for the love-triangle. Which wasn't actually a love-triangle because there was no way Celine was gonna chose fucking Michael. So it was just annoying. Also, Celine made a few choices, regarding Michael, that I didn't agree with.
Overall though, this was a fast, engaging read. I do wish the book took itself a little less seriously because the purple prose-y ness was a bit much this time around. But for the most part, I liked the book and I'm looking forward to what'll happen next. I'm hoping that the next two installments will be better paced and, with plot intro out-of-the-way, more cohesive.
Note to self, the next time you think you're reading the last book in a series, maybe check to make sure that that's actually the case? That way, you won't end up having to rethink all your opinions toward the plot of the book.
Honestly, this was a weird reading experience for me. If you're familiar with Ahdieh, then you know that she's previously written two duologies. So I just assumed that it was the same with this series. I don't find out that this was only the second of four books until I finished it, realized the ending left like 50 plotlines up in the air and googled the series to see if there were going to be more books. Which there were because this was never planned as a duology!
At the end of The Beautiful, we left Sebastian turning into a vampire and Celine having her memory of anything relating to him erased. And Michael deciding to be an opportunistic douchebag by taking his chance with the girl without her memories. I really don't like Michael, something that doesn't change throughout the novel.
Now, the way I thought the story would go is that we'd deal with the memory issue, Seb's new vampirism, and his evil sister. Then there would be a happily ever after. Instead, the book introduces a bunch of new elements relating to Celine's past, potential new villains, and just a whole other major plot. And I couldn't figure out why the author was doing that because I thought this was the last book! But, having thought about it now, there were some very interesting developments. And I loved getting to know some of the side characters more. Arjun, for example, played a much bigger role.
The rating is still 3.5, though, because the book took some time to get interesting. It was always easy to read, but some parts felt a bit unnecessary. Like Odette's POV. I don't know what it had to offer to the story. And it was so ridiculously overdramatic that I couldn't take it seriously. I also thought certain parts were rushed, and why was Bastian's sister barely mentioned for over half the novel?
Also, the book's take on vampires is nothing new. It reminded me of The Vampire Diaries (the show), and it's not as if we haven't read about or seen vampires in media before. They're kinda old news at this point. So the whole I-am-darkness, I-am-a-monster stuff was tedious and took me out of the story. Odette's POV was the worst, but Sebastian's wasn't great either. Though the latter got much better and Odette only got two or three chapters.
My favourite POV was Celine's, except for the love-triangle. Which wasn't actually a love-triangle because there was no way Celine was gonna chose fucking Michael. So it was just annoying. Also, Celine made a few choices, regarding Michael, that I didn't agree with.
Overall though, this was a fast, engaging read. I do wish the book took itself a little less seriously because the purple prose-y ness was a bit much this time around. But for the most part, I liked the book and I'm looking forward to what'll happen next. I'm hoping that the next two installments will be better paced and, with plot intro out-of-the-way, more cohesive.