A fascinating look at the value put on beauty. I loved Camellia and am dying to know where this will go in book two. Can't wait!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of “The Belles” by Dhonielle Clayton. What a beautiful story. I love the characters, the lush world building, and plot that had some unexpected twists. The writing style has the perfect blend of speed and detail. This book is perfect for fans of “The Selection” series.

An absolutely stunning addition to the young adult pantheon of dystopian fantasy, this time coated with confectioner's sugar and magic. Belles are essentially magic workers, used (and abused) for their powers of transformation, both physical and emotional. They can whittle your waist and boost your mood in the same session, albeit with some pain on the receiver's part. With such high demand and emphasis on keeping up with the fashionistas of the time, a Belle named Camille becomes a pawn in a high stakes royal cat-and-mouse game.

While it takes a few pages to get acclimated to this very strange, yet very familiar in an unsettling way, world, Belles is not a book soon to be forgotten. The ending leaves plenty left unanswered and sets up a sequel (or even a series) nicely.

Great story. Will definitely be adding this one to our collection.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did; the concept is great, but the execution was iffy. I felt like there was an overabundance of description, which may have been intentional, since it's consistent with the obsession with luxury that is such an important theme in the book, but it got to the point where it was consistently pulling me out of the story. I was also not crazy about the present-tense narration. Even so, I can see where this book would appeal to fans of the Selection series by Kiera Cass and the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and would recommend it to those readers.

Dhonielle Clayton has created the magically beautiful and dangerous world of Orleans. The world is so well created and written that it sucks you in and sends you on a wild ride. The story begins with the myth that explains how the people of Orleans have been cursed, by the God of Sky, with gray skin. To counteract this curse the Goddess of Beauty created the Belles who possess the power to change a person's appearance. The Belles ability is basically temporary cosmetic surgery combined with the ability to dye a person's skin, eyes, and hair.

Our main character Camellia is one of the current generation of Belles. She is desperate to be the best and selected as the favorite who works in the palace. However, Camellia doesn't want to just make people 'beautiful' on the outside; she wants to make them embrace their inner beauty and enhance what is already there. During her journey, she learns that life as a Belle isn't quite as easy as she was taught; dangers and mysteries lurk around every corner.

The side characters are equally fascinating and turn the story into a wild ride, which is full of twists and turns. Her Belle sisters who are also learning that there is more going on inside their tearooms than they are being told. Amber, one of the other Belles, who is Camellia's closest sister and rival. Princess Sophie who is possibly the most dangerous person at court. Auguste the boy who seems to be drawn to Camellia. Remy her unhappy bodyguard who often seems to dislike her; however, there are moments when he seems to really care for her.

I can't wait for the follow-up novel to see where this crazy ride ends.

I got this as a wish granted on Net Galley - for which I thank the publisher. I'm not normally a fan of novels that obsess over looks and fashion, because those things are as shallow as the people who focus on them to the exclusion of all else, but this one was more of a dystopian novel where beauty was a magical power given to some to bestow onto others. In fact, it was almost a weapon.

This interested me initially, but by the time I was about three-fifths through the novel, I became thoroughly disappointed as I learned this was essentially no different from any other of the LCD young adult novels I've read and the author was in fact betraying her own premise. Instead of being different, the novel was just the same, and employed the same tropes and clichés, as all the other poor YA novels, the most egregious of which was the triangle between the first person narrator, a 'bad' boy, and a 'good' boy, and it was truly nauseating to read.

In very general terms, the novel was set in a quite well-realized world, with some beautiful writing and elegant descriptive prose, but the more I read, the more this was sadly let-down by some glaring holes in the logic, and some truly nonsensical and clunky inventions. The novel was also far too long. This was caused by a rambling tone in which everything took forever to get underway. This wasn't so bad in the early pages, but the more I read, the less I wanted to be swamped with yet more descriptive prose as another page went by with literally nothing happening unless you count strutting, and preening and posing as events.

Additionally, there is only so much mystery and so many unanswered questions you can heap upon your reader before your reader starts to suffocate, and you need to start offering answers - or at least look like you're about to do so - but by sixty percent in, there continued to be questions, and not an answer in sight. This was deeply disappointing and made me feel, since this is the start of a series, that no real answers would be forthcoming until the final volume of the trilogy or whatever this ends up being.

At one point early in the reading, I'd been prepared to suggest that there's a raft of YA writers who seriously need to read a few books like this before they write any more of their own, but I changed my mind quite quickly. I know this is an ARC, and so is unaccountably sent out for review with no guarantees and insufficient vetting, but this author has a masters, and some of the issues I came across made me despair for our education system. And they had nothing to do with it being an "uncorrected proof" and everything to do with being poor writing or poor word choices by someone who should know better.

While I readily acknowledge that language is a dynamic thing, especially in this era of sound-bites and texting, I think there are some things which didn't ought to change so readily! How many times have I read an author (particularly in YA writing) using 'bicep' (as this one does) when the term is biceps? There is no excuse for this, not even the ever-convenient UPE (uncorrected proof excuse).!

Chaise longue is dyslexically rendered into 'chaise lounge'. Now I have come to grudgingly accept this as an Americanism which isn't going away, and normally I would just roll my eyes and read on, but here, in a novel which is explicitly set in a heavily French-accented milieu, I found it inexplicable that the author should resort to the lazy Americanism instead of the French original!

In another instance combining poor writing and bad French, I read what was supposedly a note from Camellia's mother in which she instructed her in the use of a magic mirror (more on the 'borrowing' habits of the author later!), "Prick your beautiful little finger and drop the blood onto the handle, and it will show you what you need to see. I love you, ma petit."

The first problem with this is that it read so false to me to suggest that Camellia's mom would write "beautiful little finger". It was quite literally sickening to read, and it felt completely unrealistic. Maybe there are some idiot moms who would write such flowery prose like this while trying to convey something of vital importance to their daughter, but it made me laugh because it was so bad.

It was not as bad as the wrong-gender French in a novel set in a French-flavored world. 'Petit' is masculine. It goes with mon as in: mon petit. The phrase the author needed here (since the message was addressed to her daughter) was the feminine: 'ma petite'.

I've never seen fleur-de-lis rendered as fleur-delis, which makes it sound like the name of a sandwich shop! After consulting this same novel in Bluefire Reader though, I discovered that it had been rendered correctly as fleur-de-lis, and it was Amazon's crappy Kindle app which had randomly deleted hyphens (and spaces, I discovered as I read on), so this was not the author's fault at all, except in that she and the publisher had placed far too much faith in Amazon not to mangle their hard work. Amazon had, with its usual disregard for literature, once again let them down. This is merely one reason why I have neither time nor patience for Amazon, and partly why I quit posting reviews on Goodreads, Amazon's unholy-owned tributary.

The story itself began as an interesting one. In the fictional Kingdom of Orléans, a tiny subset of young females, known as Belles have special powers known as Arcana. In this story, the Belles, only six of them, are considered sisters even though they are unrelated, and they all adopt the same last name: Beauregard. The first names of the other five are: Ambrosia, Edelweiss, Hana, Padma, and Valeria. I saw a writing opportunity here which was badly wasted. More on this later.

Camellia is the sixth girl and the first person narrator. She bears the name of a flower, but it's an Asian flower, so why she had that name in a French-influenced novel, I do not know. She does go by Camille, but this name, storied as it is in history and literature, has nothing to do with the name of the flower (which is after a guy named Kamel! LOL!). This is why names are important, so this whole naming thing was a bit confused in this novel.

This was one of many things which started tripping-up the world-building for me. To me, names mean things and far too many authors ignore that in their blinkered rush to choose either a trope name, or an overly-exotic name for their character. In this case I wondered if the author had chosen the name like I would do, to represent something, since Camellia is known for the tea which can be made from the leaves, and the oil which can be pressed from its seeds. I guess I'll never know! For me though, I could not hear that name without thinking of a camel which, and this is just a wild guess, is probably not what the author had intended.

On the brighter side, the first person voice wasn't awfully bad in this novel for which the author has my sincerest thanks. I've read some truly horrendously-written first person voice novels. Why authors, particularly in the YA world, are so sheep-like in their addiction to this voice is a mystery to me since it's so limiting and so fake. I guess I'm just going to have to quit reading any YA novel told in first person if I am to escape it.

Anyway, each of these six girls has within her some sort of ill-defined blood-power, which evidently resides in proteins they get from leeches, which begs the question as to why anyone cannot slap a leech on themselves and get the power. We're told the girls are born to be Belles, but we never learn how or why that is so, or why there are so few of them. And why only girls? Maybe this comes to light in a future volume. Although it's denied that these girls perform magic, this is exactly what they do, employing blood-magic to transform people's physical appearance.

This began a host of unanswered questions notwithstanding the world-building and in the end, the weight of all these loose threads began to drag the story down for me. For example, on the one hand science seems to be quite advanced in this nation (they know what proteins are), but there's no electricity to be had. We're supposed to believe that Belles are celebrated and revered almost to the point of being gods, but on the other hand, they're universally treated like slaves. The belles are supposed to be experts in how to mold people, literally, into personifications of gorgeous, yet these people treat them like dirt and order them around, telling them what to do instead of allowing the Belles to do their job. None of this made any sense at all to me.

These powers they have come in three "flavors" or forms: age, aura, and manner, but later there's a hint, which may be just a rumor, that there is a fourth form. This hidden fourth power is straight out of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy.

These powers enable the girls to physically transform other citizens who are known as 'gris' (the French word for gray), and who are dismissed as plain and even ugly, into what is considered the epitome of beauty. The ideas here seem perhaps to have been borrowed from the citizens of Panem, as depicted in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy, but whereas the extravagant beauty (so-called!) in Panem was merely a backdrop, here it takes center stage. There are other ideas borrowed from Hunger Games such as the 'post-balloons' which deliver items much like the parachutes delivered gifts to the competitors in Collins's trilogy.

Camellia is one of the six finalists for a position at the royal court. It's her lifelong dream since her mom held that same position, which lasts, inexplicably, only for a year. She travels with her competing 'sisters', who while they sometimes fight and snipe at each other, are like family, but only one of these Belles can take the coveted royal position.

We know it's going to be Camellia, since she's the one narrating the story in first person and you can't tell the reader what's going on if that first person narrator isn't present - unless you want to admit your poor choice of voice and switch to third person periodically, or have major info-dumps to bring the main character up to date about things which happen out of her ken. Thus the weakness of this voice.

What made me truly start feeling nauseous in this novel though, was the introduction of your standard love triangle. I had, when I began reading this, not only hoped, but also genuinely believed that here was an author who was above this sort of cheap shot. Consider my disappointment then when I saw her launch with gay abandon into proving that even she had no qualms about descending to the level of hack YA writers when it comes to asserting that every woman desperately needs to be validated by, in this case, not one man, but two.

The reason I found this so totally obnoxious here is that the whole basis of this book, so I'd been led to understand, was that it was ultimately to be an indictment of the shallowness of the beauty and fashion industries which are an appalling bane on the lives of women, and particularly young women, everywhere. These women are told that unless they're rail-thin and gorgeous, they're pretty much useless and have nothing to look forward to. That's what fashion and cosmetics are all about: telling you that your face is ugly and must be disguised if not covered with a beauty mask, and your clothes are trash and must be replaced regularly with these which we will happily sell to you, assuming you can lose enough weight to fit into them.

The sad fact is that nowhere did I see any evidence of any indictment. Even if that is still to come though, say in volume two or three, or even if it curiously took place upon the very page after I quit reading this novel, my question is: how is it to the benefit of young women (talking of getting the skinny) to rail at the cosmetic industry on the one hand whilst simultaneously undermining their independence by asserting confidently that your YA female is utterly worthless unless some guy adores her? It was sick quite frankly, hypocritical at best, and a sorry betrayal of women everywhere at worst, because here. the author is telling us that Camellia is so comprehensively useless that she needs male validation.

These purveyors of barefoot, pregnant, and in the bitchin' kitchen were Rémy the studly, upright bodyguard, and Auguste, the standard trope YA bad boy. As for Rémy, there was no reason whatsoever for his existence. There's no threat to Camellia, unless you consider someone putting old rose petals in her bathroom to actually endanger her life. So why does she need a permanent 24/7 personal bodyguard - except of course to put her into close proximity to one third of the triangle?

This was done so clunkily that it was truly pathetic. I mean it was farcical in the extreme. Poor Rémy never even gets to sleep - I am not kidding - he's on the job all day and night every day and every night. It was absurd. And how did his sisters ever get into the palace? Do they have a 'bring your sister to work day' for palace guards? The writing had gone from sublime to substandard at this point.

Auguste was even less explicable than was Rémy. As is tediously trope in this lower class of novel, Auguste shows up out of the blue, putting Camellia in danger, having no respect whatsoever for her, and being far too 'chummy' and familiar. In what is the vomit-inducing trope for these novels, she does not reject him out of hand as anyone in her position actually would were the story true to its roots and framework. Instead, she gets the hots for him immediately. Evidently the camel is in estrous. All-bluster continues to stalk the camel - and yes, that's exactly what it is, but the author wants us somehow to think this is playful flirting and courtship. Well there's a humongous bot-fly in that stodgy ointment: he's one of the three suitors for the princess.

Yes, there are guys in real life like Auguste, so this was not the problem. The problem was Camellia's reacting like a bitch in heat to his advances. It was her complete lack of not only morals and propriety, but her total disregard for others. Despite the fact that she knows he's Sofia's suitor, she sees absolutely nothing wrong, neither in his behavior nor in her own! If this tells me anything about her, it's that she's a moron and certainly not someone worth knowing. much less reading a whole series about.

Despite the fact that she could get fired for associating with him, Camellia is so profoundly stupid that she just swallows everything Auguste says. She purposefully flirts with him when she's not endlessly describing what are evidently Queen Alexandra Birdwing butterflies stomping around in her stomach.

The biggest fail though was that on one occasion, the stalwart Rémy was right there with her, her bodyguard, yet he did nothing whatsoever to break-up her flirting with Auguste. He's guarding her because of dead roses, yet here is a guy hitting on her right in front of him - a guy he doesn't know, and one who could be concealing a knife, yet he says not a word. That's how completely useless he is. even if the guy was not a threat to her life, he is a threat to her career and reputation. Rémy cares nothing for that? The name derives from a Latin word meaning oar, so it's hardly surprising Camellia's up the creek without a paddle.

Auguste is quite literally nothing save overly familiar and worse, controlling, and comes with not a single thing to recommend him as a viable suitor for Camellia, let alone for Sofia, yet never once does a single thought enter her pretty little head that what she is doing is not only mean to Sofia, but also self-destructive to her own career aspirations. Never once does any thought along these lines enter her empty head! That's how clueless a character she truly is, so maybe I was wrong: maybe she's one of the tiny minority of co-dependent women who actually do need a couple of guys to validate her.

This is entirely the wrong lesson to teach young women: that your ideal lover is a guy who has no respect for women, who never balks at risking Camellia's job or reputation, or at getting her into trouble, who is controlling, and who has no respect for the fact that he is potentially betrothed to Camellia's employer, The fact that this author is, on the one hand supposedly calling-out the cosmetics industry, yet on the other, is actively undermining the independence and self-determination of women is a disgrace, and I have no desire whatsoever to read any more of this novel or to read anything else by this author. I cannot recommend this by any measure.

If the author had been serious about her writing, and really wanted to make a go of this, then what she ought to have done is kept it to a single volume, told it in third person, and switched between the perspectives of all six Belles. That, right there, would have been a story worth reading, but instead all we got was a silly little palace love triangle about a vacuous girl, and it's a story that has already been done to death a billion times over.

The Belles is one of those books that I walked away from thinking, “That was pretty great”, and then a few hours later, “Wow, that was awesome”, and then a day later, “OMG that was amazing”. There are so many wonderful things I loved about this book, and "m going to tell you why I think you should read it.

Camellia is a Belle, she possess arcana magic that allows her to transform the appearances, and manners, of the citizens of Orléans. Every year the Belles are presented to the world and given their assignments in the renowned teahouses, and one special Belle will be the favorite, living at the court and attending to the royal family alone. Camellia’s dream has always been to be the favorite, like her mother. But Camellia will soon find out that the contest to become the favorite is just the least of her problems and the challenges to come. Her time at court will show her the dangers, and limitations of her power and exactly what happens when power and beauty combine.

Reading The Belles was like walking through a brightly colored magical land. If I had to describe it, I would imagine something similar to the fashions from Pan Em, The Hunger Games. There are extensive descriptions of the clothes, the colors, and the whole arcana magical process. Characters in the book are as vivid as the clothing.

The obvious favorite, Camellia, is compassionate, intelligent, and brave. However, she’s far from a perfect fragile flower instead being incredibly witty and not without flaws. Her flaws are universal and representative of growing up. She struggles with setting limits and the desire to please in the face of corruption. But this makes her character feel more human and the journey she goes on throughout the book more meaningful.

However, the side characters may be my favorites. Her personal guard Remy and her attendant, Bree to name a few. Even though they are smaller roles, Clayton does not allow them to be less colorful or important. They are compassionate, complex, and clever. And I am eager to see where they go in the sequel.

What I loved most was the idea behind the novel: the concept of beauty. For the citizens of Orléans beauty is coveted and expensive. It is reserved only for those who can pay and seen as the epitome of status. In this society, what is beauty? Additionally, the trends of beauty are constantly changing and there are laws that enforce exactly what can and cannot be done. The intersection of corruption, power, and a lust for beauty is extremely interesting. To me, this dystopia is am amped up mirrored one of ours – except add in some more twists – and because of that, it is fascinating. What will people do in the pursuit of beauty? And how do we become beautiful without losing ourselves?

As the plot develops, the story gets better and better, adding new elements and intrigue. The ending is especially juicy and really leaves you hanging for the next one. While there are explorations of large themes, the all-consuming quest for eternal beauty, on the micro level there is an equally important pursuit: our power to deny the desire to be accepted and accept the responsibility of doing what is right. On both these levels, The Belles excels and delivers an exciting and obsessive read that will leave you on the edges of your seat for the next installment.

The world of Orleans and its obsessive grasping toward achieving Beauty at any cost is both terrifying and magnificent. I love the play between creepy, mysterious horror and opulent, romantic beauty in this book. The world building is what propelled me through the book, which I could barely put down, and I’m very curious to see what Book Two has in store for us readers. I love that, even though the book is a fantasy, there are plenty of technology additions that really help build a well-rounded world. One criticism, which goes for a lot of YA novels, is that the end is very cliffhanger-y. I would have liked a complete ending that propelled into the next book, not one that left the reader dangling mid-conversation.

I enjoyed the characters. The heroine Camellia is well-written and has just enough flaws where you cringe at her mistakes. She has some not great traits that make her very real. I also enjoyed Remy, who I think is my favorite. Some of the characters are a bit flat and one-dimensional but it’s such a large cast that I didn’t feel the story suffered for it. I do hope the villain becomes more well-rounded in Book Two.

Now, my two-cents about the idea that this book is somehow fatphobic, transphobic, queerphobic, ableist, racist, and anti-albanism: I must have read a different book.

First, the main character is brown (see cover), the queen is black, the villain is white, and the Belles can change people’s skin color with a drop of powder. I don’t see the racism in a world where everyone can change their skin tone and there seems to be no preference for one shade over another. And, describing skin tone by comparing it to food is no different than how the author compares buildings, dresses, hair, and a ton of other items to food, which I think it meant to play up the lavishness of the setting. Second, I really don’t see how albanism, transphobia, and ableism became a thing with this book. I just don’t.

Third, I can say that the ending for the single queer character left me a bit bummed. But, what it made me realize is that Clayton has been up-front that her writing in Belles is a commentary on the way the world sees gender/racial identity and women’s bodies. There are moments in this book when you read it and go, “Wow, that is kind of how it is now, isn’t it?” Just because it’s fantasy doesn’t mean that it can’t comment on our real world. It’s not supposed to be comfortable and not all characters will have a happy ending.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher Disney Book Group, and the author Dhonielle Clayton for the opportunity to do so.

I absolutely adored this book! I started reading it with almost no idea what it was about, and I quickly discovered that I just HAD to finish it - I read it in two days! I was so completely and utterly swept up in the world that the author created, and all the details were well thought out and added a great sense of place. And that cliffhanger ending - wow! I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. A perfect book for fans of The Selection series by Kiera Cass and The Lone City series by Amy Ewing.

Reminiscent of the Capitol in the Hunger Games, this book is beautifully written with gorgeous sensory details and an intriguing premise. Somehow Dhonielle Clayton manages to write a horrifying yet intriguing story where beauty is prized above all else and people will do just about anything to get it. The MC is brave, impetuous, impulsive and kind. Other characters are complex and surprising--Camille's relationships show who she really is in a way that moves the story forward.

The world building in this story is incredible and I was so compelled to read that I finished the book in a day. Well done, Dhonielle! I can't wait to read the next in the series!

The beauty aspect was hard for me to get into, but that was more of a personal preference than a fault of the book. The mystery was enough to keep me reading and ultimately it had a good payoff. I can't wait for the sequel. The story is vivid and well-written. I hope to see the books delve into some of the other characters thoughts (like Edel and Amber).

Dhonielle Clayton has a way of writing that is rich and layered, and my goodness, does she have a way with similes and metaphors! The way she utilizes words results in vivid, colorful imagery that is perfect for the world of The Belles, a society that prizes beauty above all else. In the country of Orleans, everyone is born with gray skin and red eyes – everyone except for The Belles, a group of girls supposedly blessed by the Goddess of Beauty. The Belles are trained in the arcana to utilize their gifts to cosmetically enhance everyone else – a sort of magical plastic surgery. It is a fresh, new concept that Clayton has clearly enjoyed exploring.

Clayton could have sat on her laurels with this concept and made the rest of her world-building derivative, but she did the exact opposite. Orleans is a fantasy world that makes use of a mixture of magic and technology, reminding me of a hybrid of Harry Potter and Legend of Korra. There are magic mirrors that reveal truths when given blood, but there are also flashing words on paper, clever “post balloons” that deliver mail, and of course the arcana itself, a mixture of art, science, and magic.

Our protagonist, Camellia, inadverdently begins to discover the dark underbelly of her world as she becomes mired in the lives of royalty, including the cruel Princess Sophia. As tensions mount and stakes rise, we learn more and more about the origins of The Belles, and things get more disturbing by the page. Greed and cruelty come out to play in this world.

I only had a few issues. First, I would have liked for there to be a clearer explanation of class hierarchies in this book. Getting your appearance altered seems to be very expensive, but never do we see hordes of gray commoners hanging around. Does everyone have enough money to be altered? Is there a huge underclass of people who can’t afford to do so? How does this further affect their status? However, this is a small issue, as in this first installment Camellia is quite sheltered and barely leaves the palace. I am guessing that we will see more of this in the second book.

My second issue was with the portrayal of the fat characters in the novel, of which there are two: Claudine, the Princess’s lady-in-waiting, and Prince Alfred, who assaults Camellia. When we first meet Claudine, she is essentially described as stuffing herself with food, and the way she is introduced seems to want to convey disgust. Pairing fat characters with gluttony is a tired trope that I would really prefer to never see again. Prince Alfred is, I think, the only fat man in the novel, and his fatness seems to contribute to the overall disgust Camellia has of him. When he is revealed to be a womanizer and a rapist, descriptions of his corpulence are abundant, implying that the two are related.

The third is the presentation of the few queer characters in the novel. First there is the Fashion Minister Gustave, who is portrayed as rather flamboyant. While there is nothing wrong with this, we never really get to know Gustave beyond his flamboyancy, thereby reducing him to a one-dimensional stereotypical character. He also has a staff of similarly flamboyant “dandies.” Now, I could be wrong regarding this, but I could have sworn that “dandy” is in some circles a derogatory homophobic term? Let me know if you’ve heard differently, as I’m not totally sure, but I did a sort of double-take when first coming across the word in this context.

The other queer character is Claudine, who is in love with her female servant against Princess Sophia’s wishes. I won’t reveal her fate because I like to keep my reviews spoiler-free, but suffice it to say that what happens to her gives off some ugly connotations about the cost of queerness. This wouldn’t have been an issue had there been other queer characters in the novel who were given equal space, but there weren’t, so Claudine sticks out, as does her fate.

Another not so much issue but question I had was regarding the friendship between Camellia and Amber, who is supposedly her best friend. For best friends, they are more competitive and jealous of each other than anything else. I’m wondering if this is meant to be a commentary on the sort of lives the Belles lead and how they are raised, but it seemed like Camellia’s friendship with the other Belles was much more supportive. So this was somewhat confusing.

My final issue was with Princess Sophia, who is portrayed as cruel and unhinged. So far she seems like a one-dimensional and cartoonishly evil villain. There is one instance in the book that humanizes her, when she seems to be in a panic about her older sister, Charlotte, but it is forgotten rather quickly, and barely acknowledged when it does happen, even though it would have belied various beliefs about Sophia’s character. In any case I certainly hope we see more layers to Sophia in the following book because as of now she’s not very interesting or believable.

These are, however, minor grievances in what was a thoroughly refreshing and entertaining book. Ending with an absolutely wicked cliffhanger, the second installment promises to be exciting and fast-paced as the Belles continue to unearth more seedy secrets about their origins.

Deliciously different than the rest of its genre. The Belles was truly a delight.

*full review to come closer to publication

I am halfway through and the mystery is driving me crazy! I have no idea how this book is going to end up, which I love. A bright and refreshing view on a world created and cursed by gods, this book really stretches your imagination to the extreme with vivid details and outlandish characters.

First off, the book was AMAZING. I was sucked in from page one and finished this in three days in the middle of a sixty hour work week because I couldn't put it down. 

However, there is one thing keeping it from being five stars. Princess Sophia (well delightfully terrible) is coded (to me) as being mentally ill, probably with Bipolar I Disorder. The words manic and mania are used to refer to her.
This is problematic since those words are used in conjunction with Sophia's episodes of public humiliation, violence, and domination over her subjects. While the words "manic" and "manic" have meaning outside of mental illness, having grown up with someone in my family who has Bipolar I (and myself most likely having Bipolar II) using those words was disheartening. Especially near the end of the book when one of Princess Sophia's ladies actually tells Camellia "She's manic" and then the following scene of violence and power is the catalyst for the rest of the plot. I've used that exact phrase to describe my cousin's moods (and for some of my own even though it's technically hypomania). Using that phase, followed by violence, makes it appear that mental illness (more specifically bipolar) is linked to violence, and it simply isn't true that people with mental illnesses are violent. Some are, some aren't. Mental illness does not equal violence, but Sophia's narrative and character arc reinforce this false narrative. At best, it's problematic; at worst, it's harmful. 

The only other thing that gave me pause was the scene in the market when Camellia accidentally catches the curtains on fire after Sophia is poisoned by a wedding dress. I didn’t have any indication of what Camellia was feeling in what should’ve been a tension filled scene, especially since Camellia was looking for a way to escape to the teahouse to see her sister. It was more like a list of sequences (which can work and did mostly), but I just really wanted some insight into how everything in that scene affected Camellia.

Now that I've talked about the only things I didn't like about the book, let me gush about all the things I did love. 

The prose is lush, sensuous, evocative, and rich with details. It's the kind of prose that old white men usually get the most praise for in all the classical fantasies with rich world-building. So, it must be mentioned because it was delightful. It's been a long time since I'd read such full, rich prose that quickly and seemingly effortlessly sucked me into a world and kept me there with food and fashion laden description without losing the tension of the narrative. 

The world-building was on point. Layers upon layers slowly and expertly revealed throughout the novel. Nearly every aspect of the world is considered. The pets! OMG, I WANT TEACUP PETS OF EVERYTHING. Teacup tigers?! And elephants?! A freaking teacup elephant! Can you imagine the hipsters in our world with freaking teacup elephants? The food described in this book was beyond. I could practically taste all the delightful morsels. 
 I love Camellia, the main character. She was a little sassy, not afraid to break some of the rules, and fiercely loyal to her sisters. The fight with Amber didn't feel fully real to me at first, but all of their other interactions did, and it's good to see a complicated yet still loving and ultimately positive relationship between sisters, especially sisters who are competing against each other for something they both desperately want. 

I was worried it was going to turn in a love triangle, but it didn’t! There was very little romance to be found (more on that in a minute), but I was, for once, totally fine with the kinda mysterious, super flirty dude because of Camellia’s reaction to him. Yes, Auguste was cute, but she liked talking to him so much because was challenging and she had to use her brain to keep up with their conversations. I mean, he tired out to be pretty terrible, but I liked their banter.

So, more on romance and feelings and power. Holy crap. The subtext here about woman’s feelings, beauty, and emotions in regards to power is STRONG and beyond applicable in America’s society. Their arcana (their gifts) can get out of balance is there is too much strong emotion. And the arcana can take away those emotions, can smooth out tempers and unpleasant dispositions. And pretty all woman know “unpleasant disposition” is code for a woman who isn’t obedient. Plus, the only way to keep their powers is to stay calm, to not feel things strongly, and to never love. And exactly how many times was Clinton criticized in the campaign to not showing emotion or showing too much of it? How often are women in power (the few times they get there in American society) critiqued on what emotions they’re allowed to show? How often are boys told to hide their emotions because crying is weak? Loved, loved, loved it. Clearly, beauty is more than an outward appearance even in a beauty obsesses world like Orleans.

While the process of the beauty treatments seems barbaric at time and gross and painful, it’s really not that different from plastic surgery, minus the magic. Even the beauty boards! Some surgeons want that to know what a patient wants and some people have those boards in their homes (like Sophia had the portraits) as beauty goals.

I was surprised to see all the food descriptions in regards to people, especially skin tones. From my reading, this is generally considered a no-no and is completely problematic because it is usually reserved only for non-white characters and most often done by white writer. Now, the author isn’t white and her main character’s skin is brown, so that changes the context, and the food descriptions were used for almost every skin tone. Plus, the critique of this method is because it can dehumanize character (and therefore, POC in real life), but in the world beauty obsessed world she’s created, this people seem like they view themselves as less than people. That beauty is the only way to be a person (I mean, literally, basically since it seemed like if they didn’t keep up the beauty treatments they turn gray and die; plus, THEY COULD MAKE ORGANS YOUNGER AND EXTEND YOUR LIFE CAUSE THAT’S TOTALLY A THING), and it felt intentional by the author. Not like some newbie relying on tropes to describe skin tone. I think it’s supposed to add to this world and equate beauty above all else, even viewing yourself and others are full human beings.

This novel deserves all the starred reviews from professional journals. This is a treatise on the intersections of power, race, beauty, and health wrapped in a veneer of a glittering, delightful, original city with a sassy main character perfect for fans of The Selection, Rebel Belles, and alternate history. The cliff hanger will leave readers wanting the next book IMMEDIATELY while they parse through the expertly handled layers of the deeper subjects.

Conceptually, I think this book is a lot of fun and the visual descriptions are stunning and ethereal. However, there is something very stilted in the execution, particularly in the storytelling itself as well as the development of the characters. There were also issues with pacing - the beginning started out with a bang and then proceeded to drag in the middle before picking up in the last 20 pages. Essentially while, yes, this book is very pretty, it doesn't hide the mechanical and pacing issues. Additionally, this is a long book and it doesn't really need to be. There are moments that can feel repetitive and redundant while other aspects of the novel are quickly rushed or explained too conveniently. I'm reluctant to say too else much because the release date is so far away and much can still change, or at least I hope it does. Clayton is a talented author (I loved "Shiny, Pretty Things") and I know she has it in her to create something more compelling than this. Additionally, like I said, the mood. the setting and the description of the treatments are all outstanding, it's everything else that needs a bit more development, a bit more fine-tuning, a bit more something in order to create a more balanced read. I'm optimistic for this one though - and will definitely re-read the finished product. Additionally - in terms of teen readers - I can definitely see them picking this one up. Despite my laundry list of negatives, there is a lot of good here and Clayton's world is one that is interesting, unique, and extremely relevant to today's hard-hitting issues. For that alone, I applaud the author. Also - there's that cliff-hanger! Sheesh! :)

Sumptuous, lovely and evocative, The Belles is the kind of novel that begs you to dig in like a midnight snack. With careful strokes of her pen, debut Dhonielle Clayton has created a world both dangerous and beautiful, intriguing and daring. Our MC, a wide-eyed, courageous 'Belle' named Camellia dives right into the world of Orleans, where beauty is bought and prized above all else, and discovers secrets in the cities depths.

Fans of Roshani Chokshi and Victoria Aveyard will love the stunning writing and brilliantly crafted world Clayton has created.

Being born a Belle is a great honor--beauty and power handed down by the Goddess of Beauty. Beauty is a commodity, and in the isles of Orleans it comes at a high price. But because the people of Orleans are grey otherwise the price of being beautiful feels worth it. Belles are the ones that create that beauty.

It isn't magic-- it is an ability in their blood. An ability that can move the structure of bones and change the color of skin and hair. Belles can change most anything about a person and they are highly revered for it... but what happens if their power is harnessed or bottled?

Camille and her sisters have trained their whole lives, each with the hope of becoming the Favorite, the personal Belle to the Royal family. And Camille receives that honor, but she quickly realizes that the ideals that she lived with for so long may not really be how the world really operates. And as she uncovers a sinister reaction to beauty she attempts to save her sisters and the kingdom.

This was an excellent book! It had a lot of heavy imagery on beauty and alterations of self.. I wouldn't suggest this book for anyone under a high school aged person.

I cannot wait for the next portion to come out!