The Beautiful
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4.1 • 208 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the heart of 1872 New Orleans, a seventeen-year-old girl finds herself seeking refuge in a city dealing with a supernatural serial killer.
“Decadent, slow-moving horror that feels like a dream slipping to nightmare.”—Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves
“Nail-biting, swoony, satisfying, and tense all at the same time. And of course . . . VAMPIRES.”—Sabaa Tahir, New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The first book in Renée Ahdieh’s romantic vampire saga delivers all the scary-sexy fun you’d expect. Seventeen-year-old Celine is a French refugee who finds solace in a New Orleans convent and temptation in the form of debonair bad boy Sébastien Saint Germain. Fantastical rumors swirl around this dashing scoundrel, and a series of violent murders makes Celine suspect the worst of them are true. Which somehow makes Bastien…even hotter? We know from her previous series (The Wrath and the Dawn) that Ahdieh is brilliant at building fantastical worlds and strong female heroes, and The Beautiful delivers on both counts. The spooky supernatural vibe is there from the first page, and with her sassy mouth and stubborn independent streak, Celine is no damsel in distress. If you’re into vampires, this decadent romance is one you won’t want to miss.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Seventeen-year old dressmaker Celine Rousseau fled Paris with a bloody secret, arriving at the Ursuline convent in 1872 New Orleans to begin anew. But after a woman is found dead with her throat torn out and another corpse turns up, Celine's willful spirit and attraction to the enigmatic, striking S bastien Saint Germain make her the serial killer's focus. Drawn to La Cour des Lions, the New Orleans underworld that S bastien leads, Celine is fascinated by his glamor and brutality and his circle of uniquely skilled, criminal friends and unsure whether they're entirely human. As she plots to outwit the killer, biracial Celine (her father is white and her mother is East Asian) contends with her own secret past and her undeniable attraction to danger and power. Ahdieh's New Orleans is lushly atmospheric, permeating this series opener with an undercurrent of violence within a seductive underworld around Mardi Gras. Though the dialogue is flat in places, readers will champion Celine's wit and incredible grit even surrounded by powerful, supernatural protectors, Celine fights for herself and those she loves. Ending on a spectacular cliffhanger, Ahdieh ensures that fans will clamor for the continuation to this captivating volume. Ages 12 up.)
Customer Reviews
Good
I thought it was a good book that had an ending that I did not see coming. But it felt like it took forever to get there. I also really liked that the book encorporated other languages, but sometimes the book did not tell you what it meant.
Hard to Put Down!!!
Okay as a lover of The Originals, Twilight and Historical Fiction, The Beautiful checked all of my boxes. While this was the first novel in the series it sucked me in and sets up well for the continuation for the next book.
While there are still so many unanswered questions, which are all annotated in my book, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to put the pieces together as more and more was revealed. Even the main character, Celine, has secrets that are not spelled out until later on into the series.
The characters that we meet such as Bastien and Odette are intriguing. While we only see a few of them on a regular basis, it is hard to not notice the love and loyalty they share.
Mediocre Writing
Not enough character development. The flowery writing lacks depth and emotion. The characters seem 2D. Needs to worldbuild without lengthy, useless descriptions. Show us more action, less exposition! Bastien & Celine didn’t have enough time or action to fall in love.