Reviews

Belle by Lesley Pearse

inesfg21's review against another edition

Não me interessei pela história 

kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition

5.0

I really enjoy reading Lesley Pearse - she managed to write about realistic female characters hit by all kinds of strokes of fate - but her books never feel cliche, ordinary, cheap interchangeable to me. Every one of her books feels unique and I really enjoy her prose, that is so much better than a lot of those in similar books. Belle is a really interesting character - and I absolutely loved following her adventure through life. She didn't have it easy, and she had to keep going through all kinds of bad luck - but at times it could all have been even so much worse. I love to see the world from the different POVs Pearse offers, and to understand people I wouldn't be able to identify with, without a story as well written as her books are. Belle is no exception to it - I was sucked in right away, and could hardlky put the book down till the very last page.

joahrt's review

adventurous emotional 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? N/A

4.75

theresey01's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

jessthebookworm's review against another edition

2.0

I thought that the idea for the storyline was intriguing, however, the execution was quite poor. I found that there was a lot of repetition in the book, which made it a lot longer than it needed to be.

I also found that the main character, Belle, was badly written. I just felt that for such a young girl, who experienced such terrible things, she bounced back awfully quickly, which I found a bit unrealistic.

For example, it felt like 5 minutes after being sold into prostitution, she just goes, "I want to be the best and highest paid girl here!". That doesn't seem like an ordinary reaction to me. The character should have been a lot more damaged for me to sympathize with her, and take her a bit more seriously.

I won't be buying the sequel.

charliauthor's review against another edition

5.0

Such an emotional rollercoaster. I felt for Belle from beginning to end and it was all so very believable. A great read, a bit graphic in places but then that was the reality of the time and doesnt take away from the writing in any way.

sophiewilliams's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable story apart from the fact that Belle really doesn't seem to learn much through it - have to take into consideration she's still meant to be under 25 at the end of it I suppose

winterzeshoek's review against another edition

1.0

This book was seriously flawed. I quite liked the idea of a story taking place in Edwardian London and, later on, in the Storyville district of New Orleans, and although the writing itself wasn't that bad, I got fairly fed up with the bizarre plot twists (really, who would spend a fortune - an Atlantic crossing was expensive in those days - on a girl they've never seen and who might not be that impressive?) and editorial mistakes (mainly street names).

thelittlebookiex's review against another edition

3.0

Loved the book but hated the ending - definitely need to get my hands on the other two in this series

itskarla's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0