Description:
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.
My Thoughts:
okay so i dislike this book so much and reminds me why i never read Renée Ahdieh. But i wanted to give her another chance but nope. So in the book blurb it says:
"At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful."
Sultry romance? Nope more like insta love. Thrilling murder mystery? Nope pretty easy to figure out. Potent fantasy series? What fantasy? There is only anything close to fantasy at the end of the book. If you want a potent fantasy book there are way better options.
Now i want to say this before we continue if you liked this book i'm glad. I hope you enjoy it and it ends up your favorite. Also to the author. I'm sorry but your books are not my cup of tea and i am going to give my honest opinion. But i hope that you have every success.
So lets start with the writing. At first i was liking it but eventually the pros just got weird and honestly the more you really analyze them the more confused you become. For example:
"They were like two trains set on a collision course, better for all those involved if they did not relish each others company, at least they could avoid colliding at all"
How does that make sense!? So are they going to collide or are they not going to? How does that make sense If your going to do flowery pros please please make them make sense. It's just so infuriating.
Next lets talk about the characters. Oh boy, I hated all of them except for pippa and she's not even a main character. Celine my god celine. In the begining of the book i was like okay she's not horrible, but as the book goes on i dislike her more and more. She's inconsistent, and she has a obsession with danger which is highly annoying. In the beginning of the book we find out that celine fled paris beacuse of some mysterious reason. Well that gets solved pretty quickly! But how she reacts to this versus everything else she should be reacting to is so inconsistent. Then her love of danger, it get's crammed down our throats so much. I was so tired of it. I know why the author did it. She wanted celine to be different and not like others girls of her time. The next thing we are constantly reminded of is how beautiful she is. I mean it feels like every side character is there to remind us how pretty she is. We get it!
I'm not going to waste much time talking about bastian. He's a handsome jerk but oh oh maybe not because he has a bit of a sensitive side. *eye roll*
I have a few more things i want to briefly talk about, but i don't want to waste anymore of your time and mine talking about this book. So the court of lions. Not impressive and honestly nothing special till the end. But by then i didn't care. Then the "relationship" between celine and basitian. It was the typical insta love and love triangle romance you see in ya. I'm not here for it. I've read too many of these of the years and i'm just sick of them.
So thats it everyone. i hated this book and i will not be picking up anymore from this author.
Stars: ★
