The Beautiful Review - Becca In A Book

Summary

In 1872 New Orleans, Celine Rousseau escaped her past in Paris to start a new life. When she arrives in New Orleans, she is dazzled by the underground of the city and she meets some intriguing and mysterious people. When murders happen around the city, she starts to become suspicious of the new people she meets and ends up fearing for her life.

My Thoughts

So the reviews for this book have either been extremely raving or very poor so I have been holding off on reading this book for awhile. However, the book grabbed me from the very minute that I started and wouldn’t let me go until about 1 AM.

First of all, the setting of this book was just everything! I love everything about New Orleans and it took me to a time when the city was magical. The sights, the smells, and the food drew me in immediately to the story and I enjoyed reading about Celine experiencing these wonderful pleasures. The setting also led to many different languages being spoken in the book, even though I had to Google Translate a lot of the words and phrases, I enjoyed it because it added to the overall ambiance of this gorgeous setting.

The characters were also very well developed and well written. Celine is such a strong and fierce character and I really enjoyed getting to know her as I read. Her sarcasm and the strength of her dialogue was one of the reasons I loved the book and what drew me in. I also found Bastian to be so yummy. He was such a great leading man and he brought out a feistiness in Celine that I loved to read about. Got to love that enemies to lovers dialogue! So what was interesting was that the character of Michael really intrigued me as well. I like both Bastian and Michael for Celine so whoever she ends up with is totally okay with me!

I also loved that the author included some very real and important issues of the time that we still deal with today. It created a realness to the book that I did not expect in a fantasy so props to this author! She slid some feminist issues and diversity flaws in this historic society in a way that was important to demonstrate, but well researched. It added a depth that is important for us to remember even though we are reading a fantasy.

The only slight problem that I had with the book was the book world. A lot of things were not explained and I thought it felt almost rushed. The dynamics of the Le Cour des Lions gang was not explained at all! I honestly thought that the uncle was dead until he showed up at the very end of the book. I thought Bastian was in charge so that threw me for a loop. Also, what exactly are they? I don’t understand the supernatural element of this book at all! Are they demons? Are they vampires? Are they werewolves? What is happening!?

The ending of this book SHOCKED ME TO THE CORE! The twist was amazing and it ended on such an amazing cliffhanger. I bought the next book right after I was finished and I can’t wait to read it!

Overall, it was a great read that I can’t wait to continue!