Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
There was a little bit of repetition of important past plot points that got a little old and some of the fantastical elements didn’t get to be fully expanded but with this in mind i still loved this book and am very excited for what’s next!!!
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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:
Yes
Listen, I don' know about you, but the first chapters gave me major Twilight-vibes!
The whole thing about how one changes into a vampire and what gifts or abilities one gets... it's just. Try and tell me it's not similar. I challenge you.
But overall it was great! I enjoyed it immensely!
This time we get more character POVs and I loved it! It was fascinating to get into their heads and see some suspicions about them confirmed or rectified. Yeah, Celine takes a step towards the side-lines, but that is to be expected when adding more narratives.
And, oh my god, Bastien's character growth and realizations? I think he just became my new favourite. It was such a joy to see him evolve and come to certain conclusions. And the way he told Celine what he found out and gave her the chance to decide for herself what to do next? *chefs kiss*
I just have one quarrel,
And the ending/cliff-hanger was absolutely well done. Can't wait to get my hands on the third book :)
The whole thing about how one changes into a vampire and what gifts or abilities one gets... it's just. Try and tell me it's not similar. I challenge you.
But overall it was great! I enjoyed it immensely!
This time we get more character POVs and I loved it! It was fascinating to get into their heads and see some suspicions about them confirmed or rectified. Yeah, Celine takes a step towards the side-lines, but that is to be expected when adding more narratives.
And, oh my god, Bastien's character growth and realizations? I think he just became my new favourite. It was such a joy to see him evolve and come to certain conclusions. And the way he told Celine what he found out and gave her the chance to decide for herself what to do next? *chefs kiss*
I just have one quarrel,
Spoiler
and that is every time a character tries to push another one away to protect them, because there is this big looming reason over their heads why they can't be together, but it's not them, it's because of outside forces, I just want to smack them over the head. It's so frustrating I could scream. I mean, please, we all know they will be or end up together at some point, just save us all the suffering!And the ending/cliff-hanger was absolutely well done. Can't wait to get my hands on the third book :)
I find myself really enjoying this world and the characters, but I struggled finding any one coherent plot. All the small plots seem a little all over the place and it didn't feel like this book concluded any of its plotlines, which was disappointing. It was also a little jarring to suddenly follow so many povs, I wasn't all that mad at it but it made it more difficult to pay attention to the main characters. Nevertheless, I find myself wanting to read on!
A fantastic read! I immensely enjoyed reading this second installment to The Beautiful series, and I cannot wait for book three! There were so many parts that I loved, and Celine and Bastien's continued story is so well written, although I felt like the ending was slightly rushed because there were so many new parts that were introduced which left me with tons of questions about what will happen next. I am so thrilled to read about what happens next!
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book felt like a completely different entity from The Beautiful, and while I did enjoy most of it, it did leave me feeling quite flat. We mostly follow Bastien and his immortal counterparts as they navigate the consequences of the first book (i.e. a big old war between the vampires and pretty much everyone else). Celine felt mostly like a side character to me, and I missed the agency and tenacity we got to see in the first book (though we do get still get hints of it here). Bastien was going thrrroough it in this one , he went from prepubescent emo vampire to, well no spoilers, but something else. Overall, not much to offer in terms of novel content, but an alright ya supernatural book.
After really liking the first book, I was really looking forward to this one. At the end of "The Beautiful" Bastien is turned into a Vampire and Celine loses all her memories of him.
So, that promised to become an interesting book.
Well, surprisingly, it was anything but.
All the build up, story wise and romance wise, went nowhere. I was hoping for relationship development and a lot of Celine/Bastien time. Unfortunately Celine was very absent in this book. She seemed more like a side character.
When she finally appeared and interacted with Bastien, it was a highlight. But those moments were spare and they didn't really advance their relationship.
Bastien was more present, but boy, was he annoying. He went from mysterious to whiny and his self loathing was not really believable. I mean, seriously, he didn't even do anything bad. I didn't really feel for him and just wanted him to get over himself.
Celine was still a great character, but like I said, she was barely there.
Her whole story ark was done with quite quickly and I didn't really understand the point of making her lose her memory, if it has no consequence.
We get a lot of POVs from side characters I didn't care about and who didn't really bring anything to the story. One, was simply an inner monologue and really had no useful information in it. I mean, why.
Michael, who was a great contrast to Bastien in the first book, was just boring. I really liked him before. He was a real rival and could have been a real love interest for Celine. But he was pretty much sidelined here and lost all his allure.
The book wasn't bad, but really disappointing.
I felt rushed and disjointed.
The next book won't even be about Celine and Bastien anymore, at least not primarily. It feels like the author wanted too many things at once, to make it more "big". But the simplicity of the first book was the good part. Not too many characters, no overarching plot, a promising romance. I don't know, if I will read the next book. Maybe, to get some closure on the story.
There is no explicit content.
So, that promised to become an interesting book.
Well, surprisingly, it was anything but.
All the build up, story wise and romance wise, went nowhere. I was hoping for relationship development and a lot of Celine/Bastien time. Unfortunately Celine was very absent in this book. She seemed more like a side character.
When she finally appeared and interacted with Bastien, it was a highlight. But those moments were spare and they didn't really advance their relationship.
Bastien was more present, but boy, was he annoying. He went from mysterious to whiny and his self loathing was not really believable. I mean, seriously, he didn't even do anything bad. I didn't really feel for him and just wanted him to get over himself.
Celine was still a great character, but like I said, she was barely there.
Her whole story ark was done with quite quickly and I didn't really understand the point of making her lose her memory, if it has no consequence.
We get a lot of POVs from side characters I didn't care about and who didn't really bring anything to the story. One, was simply an inner monologue and really had no useful information in it. I mean, why.
Michael, who was a great contrast to Bastien in the first book, was just boring. I really liked him before. He was a real rival and could have been a real love interest for Celine. But he was pretty much sidelined here and lost all his allure.
The book wasn't bad, but really disappointing.
I felt rushed and disjointed.
The next book won't even be about Celine and Bastien anymore, at least not primarily. It feels like the author wanted too many things at once, to make it more "big". But the simplicity of the first book was the good part. Not too many characters, no overarching plot, a promising romance. I don't know, if I will read the next book. Maybe, to get some closure on the story.
There is no explicit content.
This had so much more in it than The Beautiful did. I liked The Beautiful but I loved The Damned. So good. There were a couple things that predicted would happen but the second book is rich in world building for this series.
This book starts a little slower than I expected. I think a little too much time was spent on one of the main characters feeling sorry for themself. I get wanting to communicate the impact recent events have taken, but it made it drag a bit. Once it picked up, I thought it was pretty good. I was missed the female friendships that we find in The Beautiful.
The book did have some interesting elements. I had to smile bc one scene gave me serious Goblin King vibes.
I also wish she built more of NOLA's history and culture in. She brings in a little Santeria, but I think she really could have integrated more of the indigenous, African and Caribbean influences from the city.
The book did have some interesting elements. I had to smile bc one scene gave me serious Goblin King vibes.
I also wish she built more of NOLA's history and culture in. She brings in a little Santeria, but I think she really could have integrated more of the indigenous, African and Caribbean influences from the city.