Title: The Beautiful
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Review by: Dani Hoots
Rating: 4/5
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Back cover:
New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a safe haven after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent in the middle of the carnival season, Celine is quickly enraptured by the vibrant city, from its music to its fancy soirées and even its danger. She becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s enigmatic leader, Sébastien Saint Germain.
When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in Sébastien’s own lair–the second dead girl to turn up in recent weeks–Celine battles her attraction to Sébastien and suspicions about his guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
After a third murder, New Orleans becomes gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose–one who has now set Celine in his sights. As the murderer stalks her, Celine finally takes matters into her own hands, only to find herself caught in the midst of an age-old feud between the darkest creatures of the night, where the price of forbidden love is her life.
At once a sultry romance and a decadent, thrilling mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet.
I don’t know if you all know this, but I love vampire books 😛 So when I saw this book, I had to pick it up. Then @PenguinTeen was having a readathon with this book so I had to join.
Taking place in the beautiful area of New Orleans during the 1870s, this gem of a book (with the second book coming out in July) kept reading for hours on end. I needed to know what was going to happen next, and couldn’t put it down. It is gorgeously written and the prose is excellent. Celine is a very witty character and I love all her development. I also loved Bastien and found him to be an awesome character.
The only problem I had with this book was that it didn’t quite explain everything that happened or tie up some loose ends. Although there is going to be a second book, where it left off made sense for the second book, but we don’t have all the answers for what was happening in the first first place.
I definitely recommend this book if you love New Orleans and vampire stories. I definitely can’t wait for the second book!
~Dani
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