Ｔｉｔｌｅ： The Beautiful
Ａｕｔｈｏｒ： Renee Ahdieh
Ｓｅｒｉｅｓ： Book 1
Ｒａｔｉｎｇ： ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
＊Ｎｏｔｅ：I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.
At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.
"She was no lamb. She was a lion."
I thought this was such an amazing start to the series. I originally received a sample of this on Netgalley when it first came out and then quickly fell in love with the book so I got the full copy. Before I get started, I want to warn any readers that there are mentions of sexual assault in this book. If that's a trigger, just be mindful. It's only mentioned as part of a character's backstory, but I figured people would want to know.
That said, what first pulled me in was the main character, Celine. I loved how bold and fearless she was. Sometimes maybe a bit too bold haha, but she was witty and funny as well. I adored her friendship with Pippa. They were so supportive of one another and looked out for each other. I wish we had gotten to see more of it, but it felt like the closer Celine got to Bastien the more all her secrecy put strain on her friendship with Pippa.
I felt like the pacing was generally good in this book, but even though we got to meet some vampires in the book I didn't really feel like we saw enough of them. We didn't get to see any vampire powers in action, or any real fights until the end. There were a few hunts mentioned on the side, but that was it really. There were also mentions of werewolves and fey, but we didn't get to see them either really. I felt like the supernatural element was a little lacking in the story so I hope we get to see more in the next book.
The ending was definitely intense. It was... way more than I expected for a first book. I was racing until the very last page. I'm so excited to pick up the next book and see where it goes next!
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