The Beautiful is set in the year 1872 and revolves around a 17 year old girl named Celine Rousseau, who has run away from her dark past in Paris to rediscover herself in the city of New Orleans.
I didn’t really like Celine’s character at the start of the book. She came on a little too strong and I found her to be a little too arrogant and brash. She kind of thrust herself into situations that I felt wasn’t necessary, for example when she first met Bastien. Stepping in like that even though she was with her friend who clearly did not want to be involved just to satisfy her own need to feel powerful wasn’t the best way to make me like her. Granted she did grow on me over the course of the plot line but even still she ultimately doesn’t think things through completely and she doesn’t really take into account other people’s feelings.
The romantic aspect I actually did enjoy. I’m usually not a big fan of love triangles but the way this plot lines seems to be headed actually appeals to me. I like that hate to love trope and mixed with the star crossed lover’s piques my interests. It was a little obvious but still I liked their banter and the chemistry between all three characters involved!
Other than that I actually really liked all the rest of the characters in the story. I thought they were all very distinct and diverse. Bastien and his court of Lion’s were very intriguing. It kind of didn’t go in depth enough for me though; I could have definitely used more information on each of them. Where they come from, how their powers differ, how did they end up in New Orleans.
The pacing of the book was kind of up and down for me. The start was a little bit slow and it took me at least the first 100 or so pages before I was actually invested in the plot. The fact that Celine wasn’t a favorite of mine kind of stalled my progress for a while and made it harder for me to fully loose myself in the story.
I thought the atmosphere and tone of the book was fantastic. You are kind of transported into that time and place and it felt very realistic and what I felt was an accurate representation of the time.
⭐️4/5 stars Dark, mysterious, a slow build!
amyleighreads.com 
I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews about this one but none of them actually mentioned unlikable MCs and … the love triangle 😟 Two things that I really struggle with in books and for the latter, tend to avoid books with that content completely. I’m torn now! Haha maybe I’ll read this one day but maybe it won’t be a priority! Loved your review though 🙂
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Thank you! I feel the same way, I usually don’t see the point of a love triangle yet I think this was structured in a way it could get very interesting in the next book! I’ll just have to wait and see 😊
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