The Beautiful
Ratings46
Average rating3.4
Pre-Reading Updates:
tbh i was planning on giving this series a try this year but the ratings on the latest book... i'll wait lmao
Great read! Don’t bother with the next 3 though. They’re horrible. Should have been a one book only. Very disappointed.
This book has been on my TBR for so long so I'm happy to say I've finally read it and I buddy read it with Ali. I think a big part of why I kept putting off reading this book was because of what was being said about it when it was first released. I love books with vampires, and I thought I was going to love this but unfortunately it was just ok. I'm having such a hard time putting into words why this didn't completely work for me. Like there was a lot I liked about it. I loved what little bit of a romance we got as well as the suspense/mystery. I loved the friendships/found family aspect and how Celine could give as good as she got. I was intrigued enough to want to continue to the end but at the same time I was kind of bored. The story kind of dragged for me and I wanted more of actual vampires. Also, we needed more foreshadowing because as it is we got absolutely nothing that would lead us to suspect the person(s) it ended up being. All in all, I think I just needed more to fully love this book. I do plan on reading the next book and I'm hoping that one will be better than this one was for me.
More kick ass heroines that does not give two damn about what people think of her, please
pretty good book... thought I wasn't going to like it bc of the reviews and the ratings of it.
the audiobook is pretty good, so I recommend it
im continue on with the series though
I picked this book up at B and N with a gift card I got for Christmas as soon as I saw the words “New Orleans” and “undead.” I recently finished The Originals tv series and was craving more NOLA magic.
Sadly, it doesn't get to the grit of vampires until the end and the romance between Bastien and Celine is cliche as they have only met two or three days and already are madly in love with each other.
I did like how Celine was pretty badass and independent in her own way but that's about it.
Also, why mention Bastien has a pet snake if it's only in one or two scenes?
Overall, I say 2.5 stars out of 5.
Once again I loved this book up until the VERY END when it fell prey to the siren song of the OPEN ENDING (a cliff hanger at that?!) so the author could turn this into a damn series. Ugh. Spare me.
After reading the “Wrath and the Dawn” and absolutely falling in love with the series, I bought this book as soon as I saw Renee's name on the cover! This was a very enjoyable read. Honestly, this is what the Twilight series should have been! I love the mystery and the setting of this story, but I did feel like the characters could be a bit one-note. They weren't as well developed as the characters from “The Wrath and the Dawn” series, which was disappointing because that was my favorite part. I still enjoyed the read and there is still some mystery to be solved in the next books, so this might be rectified in book 2.
it blew my mind, despite not focusing on the vampire aspect this still managed to be without a doubt THE BEST VAMPIRE book that I have read, and have been obsessed with vampire since my childhood and picked up ALOT of Vampire books, they all sucked, they always romanticize it which I didn't have a problem with but.. they all seem to be written in the same way with the same plot sometimes with different premise but it still the same.
This is unique and beautifully written, and it a completely new way of viewing vampire, as the blood-sucking creatures everyone should fear, and I kept guessing what would happen throughout the book and I did not expect this ending. it may not be an ending I have wished to happen but it's unexpectable and realistic.
I really liked The Beautiful! The writing is absolutely amazing, even though the pace was slow at times, I did enjoy the plot, the characters and that ending... did not see that coming! There's a lot of questions that I hope are answered in the next book.
Full review coming soon
Unpopular opinion coming in...I found this to be meh. I'm sure Ahdieh worked very hard on this and I haven't read anything else by her so this is NOT a criticism of her work in general. But this one...sounded so amazing. I was SO excited to pick it up that maybe my disappointment is affecting my review. Vampire/historical-fiction/murder-mystery/romance? Sold. It just never got off the ground for me. I thought it was overwritten, and I found the main character to be inexplicably and frustratingly contrary. Ex: Declares (to herself) she doesn't care about what society thinks of her; She lets her actions be dictated by society. I found her to be a very tell-not-show type of character. I found her internal struggle (I'm dark on the inside/I'm a good lady) kind of ill-founded and repetitive. I think she was supposed to present as a strong female with agency, but it didn't come across for me. Making “surprising” comments to rich and powerful men just doesn't cut it. I thought the romance could have been very sexy, but it just never made sense to me and it was too much of a slow burn. Can Bastien please have more descriptors than “Lucifer” and “beautiful”? I found the lore/family history behind it to be vague and distracting. The ending actually had a great twist, and then left me feeling totally disappointed. Unfortunately, I don't care enough about these characters to figure it out in a sequel. Actually, I'd read a sequel if it was about Pippa or Odette. I found these secondary characters really enjoyable and more interesting than the main character, Celine. I wanted to like this so hard. My usual MO is to drop it after 50 or so pages if I'm not into it, and I did finish it. So there was definitely enough to keep me going, just not enough to keep me caring. I'm sure this book will find its crowd, and I wish it well.
Truly enjoyed this book. Started a bit slow, but it's everything I wanted when I heard of the premise being about vampires and New Orleans.