I didn't love this book. I get where the author was trying to go with her discussion of gender, physical appearance, and identity (which are all awesome things to tackle--and are all things that need to be tackled in YA) but this book just kind of left me feeling indifferent at the end. I also felt like I was reading two separate books, because towards the end a few of the characters take a hard right into crazy-town and everything goes ham.

There was also a lot of world building that took place, but it often seemed like there was information that the author was expecting the readers to know (even though very little and sometimes no explanation happened--so I often felt lost and slightly confused).

I don't know, maybe weird steam-punk-y, dystopian whatever just isn't my genre. I'll be adding this to my library collection and hopefully it will find an audience with my teens.

I read this book in an entire sitting and was pleasantly surprised at its unpredictability.

Camellia is part of an elite squad of beautiful women known as Belles who have an inherited magical ability to change others' appearances. This gift is highly valued, as all people have been cursed into a sort of zombie/wraith appearance, with sunken, wrinkled gray skin, red eyes, and dull, straw-like hair. People spend exorbitant amounts of money for monthly maintenance sessions with a Belle to keep up their artificial beauty.

Camellia's new glitzy world of beauty is hiding dark secrets, however, and the more she learns, the more she realizes that she can no longer move through this world as a passive observer, but must use her abilities to try and make things right.

This book's only weakness was that it occasionally got caught up in its descriptions -- while extended descriptions of outfits, makeup, and hairstyles may be necessary for screenplays or scripts, I'm not especially invested in what kind of outfits the characters are wearing. These parts were easy to skim through.

I was also disappointed to discover that this is book 1 in a new series. I was under the impression it was a stand-alone novel until I reached the final few pages and it began to dawn on me that there was no way the plot was getting resolved anytime soon. Book 1 offers no resolution. I am, however, looking forward to book 2, whenever that may be.

*I was provided this book by NetGalley in return for an honest review*

"Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful."

This was quite an interesting fantasy book that had me hooked from the very first chapter. While this is a book that focuses on beauty and outward appearance the main character is able to change from the person she is meant to be and grow strong and independent. While I started off disliking the love interest an event happens later on in the book that made me change my mind. I really enjoyed that there was a diverse array of skin tones though the society was still one who preferred skinny figures and who worked to change the original skin tone of the society.

Overall, this book was interesting in the society it created and how it was different from this world. I would have liked to have more of a back story into the Goddess of Beauty and how the Belles were created, but I enjoyed my read of this book.

a fine read. at times it leaves gaps int he world building

I adored this book. It was the perfect beginning to a series that I'm sure will take us further than we ever imagined possible. The Belles introduces a world that is lush and exotic and brimming with excess, yet is uncomfortably finish to the reader. It's just enough of our own world to draw you in and watch the brilliant elevations of the world be created. I loved the intracies that Clayton set up to be explored in later books and can't see what is yet to come.

This book was not what I was expecting; instead it was so much more. I thought the Belles would be portrayed as "beauty fairies" who were tasked with fulfilling the beauty wishes of the kingdom and that the story would be about the Belles' conflicts/and or love interests. Entertaining fluff. Instead the book tackled topics such as body image, the price one is willing to pay for beauty, court intrigue, jealousy, and sisterhood. Clayton's world building skills were incredible. I want to live in a world with teacup animals.

If I had read this book as a teenager, I know I would have been obsessed with it. The setting is so exciting and colorful and richly drawn, it definitely takes me away from wherever I am. I like when a story surprises me and the mystery behind the Belles was well-thought out without being obvious. I know my YA group will love these characters and go wild over seeing a black girl on the cover. I can't wait to recommend this to so many teens.

OMG, you need to go read this book immediately!
I had heard all the fuss, but I honestly wasn't sure why people were raving about this. And then someone handed me an advance copy. I was hooked from the very first page.
Strong female characters? CHECK.
Gorgeous and rich descriptive language? CHECK.
Amazing storytelling and world building? CHECK.
There is absolutely nothing to not love about this book, except for the fact that I have to wait wayyyy too long for the next one! This book was seriously addictive and I cannot recommend it enough. Go preorder it. Now!

This book had a lot of fun elements and enjoyable characters. The writing style was fun and the book was a good read. The worldbuilding was amazing and the main character was inspiring. Would recommend to fans of steampunk and fantasy!

Thank you, NetGalley for this advanced reader copy.

The Belles, a fantasy set in an indeterminate past, presents a world obsessed with beauty to the heights of dysmorphia. The God of the Sky made the people of Orleans ugly--gray skin, red eyes, and hair the texture of straw. The Belles beautify the ugly by changing their skin, eyes, and hair to any color desired.

This is the story of Camellia, a Favorite Belle assigned to the queen's palace. It's what she always wanted, but once in the palace, things immediately take a dark turn. I could go on here, but what really caught my attention is the examination of beauty, and this is what I want to explore.

The Belles redefines long held Western ideas about beauty as they pertain to the color skin, eyes, and hair. The people of Orleans value color; all colors are beautiful. Herein lies a book that wonderfully transforms the definition of beauty to include the colors of all races. But that's where the transformation ends.

In Orleans, beauty is a female's business. Only a female can have arcana in her blood (arcana gives them the ability to alter bodies), and it comes through the lineage of a goddess. The Favorite Belle works with the Beauty Minister (a female) and the queen to write Beauty Laws. This trio of women have the power to define beauty, and they sadly and shortsightedly create a culture that undermines all females. Their laws do not respect the Goddess of Beauty and only favors youth, royalty, and wealth.

The Goddess of Beauty gives each female her shape, yet this these varied body shapes do not figure into the Beauty Laws. Instead, the trio uglifies women's body shapes by writing ever changing laws for the size of waists and breasts. Women further uglify their beauty by complaining, criticizing, and altering. More disheartening still, females seek smaller waists and larger breasts because it's the only way to attract a man.

Wrinkles are not attractive even though they are a natural part of living. Older women, even the queen, ask The Belles to erase their wrinkles (perplexing because the queen has the power to define wrinkles as beautiful). And Belles with damaged arcanas may develop wrinkled faces that they must hide under a veil. Beauty belongs to young, unwrinkled faces.
Beauty is for royals and the wealthy. Treatments are expensive, and servants have beauty restrictions. Even though the queen wants to make treatments more affordable for the Gris (those individuals who still have gray skin, red eyes, and hair the texture of straw), the trio is complicit for they set the prices. Beauty is not for the poor.

The Belles is the first in a series, so it is setting the stage for additional books and, hopefully, more transforming ideas about beauty.

I only hate that I have to wait so long to be able to put this book in my students' hands!

I gave up about halfway through. I wanted to like this. I wanted to enjoy this. Unfortunately, there is WAY TOO MUCH description in this thing and yet I still don't know half of what's going on. Page after page about changing the appearances of people and all of the equipment and supplies that are needed, but the plot barely moves. So very boring that I just couldn't take it anymore.

An original idea in the world of YA paranormal. I will definately catch the rest of the series.

Wow. That is all I can say. This book was wow.

It isn't like anything I have ever read before. Yes, there's a hint of dystopia to it, but it's mixed together so well with the fantasy aspect that I felt like The Belles was brand new.

My favorite thing about The Belles was the world building. Every aspect of this world: its culture, its fashion, its design, was unique and well-thought-out. Never once did I feel like the author was making anything up. It was seamless. From the very first page, I was in Orleans. I was fascinated by the backstory and what the Belles were.

And the plot was thrilling. Full of suspense, with a villain that made my heart pound. The further I got into the book, the more the pace picked up, the more I couldn't put it down. I even had a dream about it!

The only minor problem I had was that I was a little bit confused by the Belles' powers and exactly what they could and could not do, especially at the end. Then again, by the end, I was reading it so fast that I might have missed something.

Regardless, I can't wait to read the final product, I can't wait to recommend it to my students, and most of all, I can't wait to read the next one.

Dhonielle Clayton won my heart with her book, The Belles. In a world she has created brilliantly that makes you question all you believe about beauty and the evil that some might be hiding behind their beauty, and the lengths that one will go to fight for what they believe is right. Beauty is what makes the world go round in this story. People purchase to have themselves adjusted so that their gray physic that they are born with is to be hidden by immaculate changes of beauty by group of magical ladies called 'The Belles'.

'The people of Orleans hate themselves. You must change that.'

It is the Belles who have magical blood called their arcana that gives them the magic they need to change what someone looks like from their psychical aspects to their personality BUT these Belles can't give too much of themselves at once or they can ruin their own beauty and lose their abilities.

'Always remember that emotions are tethered to the blood, and the blood is where your gifts are.'

We follow Camellia after she has trained long and hard to be the favorite Belle who services at the Palace to the Queen and her Princesses. It is a very hard position to win but she feels that she has the creativity to take it all but the hardest part is that she is competing with her sisters for the exact position!

'I want it so much there's no room inside me for anything else.'

She goes against the rules during the last competition and lets her creativity shine through but this does not win her any points for being favorite. She has a villager change to look almost identical to her.

'Imagine if everyone went around wanting to look like you. what if they'd only pay if they could have your features? There'd be millions of your lookalikes walking around. We'd be better off being gray again. Beauty is variety. Beauty is change.'

Her sister, Amber wins the favorite position and Camellia is sent to work at a Teahouse that is far from the position she wanted at the palace. She is still expected though to serve her patrons that schedule appointments to the best of her abilities. That is her business.

'The point is to show them that you're strong enough to complete your role. That you're capable, confident, and proficient in the arcana. That you can serve this great world.'

When things start going awry in more ways than one and her sisters seem to not be absolutely thrilled about being Belles and servicing the their patrons Camellia begins to worry, is this really their destiny? She doesn't realize how much things have gone awry until her sister, Amber, gets booted from the favorite position and Camellia is picked! It is not all roses and parities. Let's just say that Princess Sophia's role model may be the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland!

Follow Camellia as she learns more and more about the realistic truths of what it means to be able to purchase your own beauty and as she fights to keep her sisters safe.

I was really entertained and amazed by the world Clayton created. I just really wish that the pacing was a bit faster. There were large sections where I didn’t really know what was going on. The world was so unique, but it didn't feel well developed and hour glasses and balloon mail were the only thing that kept it from being a contemporary dystopian. There was clearly a mystery vibe, but I didn’t know enough about what was going on to even make a guess about what was happening, so I was either bored or confused for most of the book.

That all completely changed in the last third of the book. Once certain plot events happened, the hints and foreshadowing began to make sense and the anticipation of where the story could go was immense. The characters were all really well developed (though I’d argue that there are almost too many characters at times), and there were some characters that were so easy to love, especially by the end. This is definitely a solid read. The themes on beauty and vanity were explored in a way that was fresh and thought-provoking.

This cover was stunning! I first saw it on Twitter, and than came rushing over to Netgalley to see if it was on here to read! I had to wish for it, and I was excited to have been granted my wish!

I enjoyed this book, and its premise. It was a very quick read, with enjoyable, likable characters. I will be the first to admit that I typically am drawn to thrillers and suspenseful books, but I do love a light hearted YA book! My struggle however is when the names and places are just to hard to pronounce, for me, it takes away from the book, so I just give them nicknames and it makes reading flow easier for me. I do see a long writing future for Dhonielle Clayton and a very strong following of fans.

This book left me breathless. Camellia is one of my new favorite heroines. I adored her strength and innocence. Can I have book 2 already??? The end of the book left me weak!

Disclaimer: A free copy of this book was received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The people of Orléans hate themselves. They are born with grey skin and red eyes. It is up to The Belles, the only people born with uniqueness and colour, to make them beautiful. Camellia wants to be the best. She wants to be chosen to serve as the Royal Family’s personal Belle. She wants to be the favourite. But things in the outside world are not what Camellia expected. Soon the fate of her kingdom rests on her shoulders - does she have the power to save it?

This is a beautiful book. The world is crafted surrounding beauty. Over the top styles (think the Capitol in Hunger Games) produced by women whose only job is to beautify the population. There are so many fun little details from teacup pets to the postal system. Clayton has developed a full world in a single novel (though I’m praying for a sequel) in a way many authors fail to.

Camille is feisty, ambitious, kind and an excellent heroine. Sophie is an interesting character as well, although the rest of the cast could use a bit more fleshing out. Clayton’s world and details are strong enough to hold the book up on its own which more than makes up for a slightly sub par cast that will hopefully get more attention in future books.

The book takes twists and turns I never expected. For a while, I was disappointed with a certain subplot, but when everything came to light: I. Was. Shocked. And pleased that the book had taken an interesting direction. Clayton’s writing style is rich and descriptive and I loved seeing the different beauty transformations take place.

This is a book I went into with zero hopes and found myself adoring it. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel to see how this wicked cliffhanger sorts itself out.

I loved, loved this and wish book 2 was out already!! I with both post-balloons were a real thing and that Remy was real.. I really enjoyed the discussion about beauty and the things that people will do to achive it. That, with a dash or two of court intrique makes this a must read!