I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

DID NOT FINISH! Stopped at 15%

I was really excited about this novel because the concept sounded so interesting! And then we get in the FIRST CHAPTER, like mere pages in and with no artistic tension our two main characters meet. They know nothing about each other, don't know each other's names, all they know is that we look like each other....literally, that's it. But they have a quick conversation of "let's swap places because I don't want to be royalty-ish and you do." Ummm, how did she know that her doppelganger wanted her life? THEY HAD NEVER SPOKEN BEFORE! I can suspend some reality, but this was too much. Then they are both quick about swapping places and hardly know each other's names but let's switch lives and tell each other our deep dark secrets while changing clothes and still WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EACH OTHER!

Too much suspension of reality and just utterly boring otherwise. I felt like I was thrown into the novel and accidently forgot to read a prequel that sets up the story....except one doesn't exist.

I had high hopes for this book. However, multiple POVs with a slow and confusing plot just wasnt for me. Some might enjoy this, but personally I could not get into no matter how much I wanted to.

There were honestly so many things that I loved in this book that it's a little disappointing to say that, overall, I did not love it more.

Belle Revolte is a fantasy novel that features a fantastic and incredibly interesting magic system - chock full of divination, magical healing and magical letting. This was truly the highlight of the book for me. I also really admired other aspects of the world-building, such as the story of a revolt and other political intrigues.

I loved the characters and their relationships with each other, however, I definitely didn't end being incredibly invested in them. Similarly, the side characters throughout the story - while objectively I appreciated their inclusion - felt like mere props to keep the storyline going.

The pacing of the story was a little jaunty. It did not flow seamlessly and the multiple POVs did not change and fit together in a natural way, leaving me often confused about which characters I was following and where the storyline was headed.

I also felt as though the concept of this being a fantasy story based in a French setting and historic timeline was wasted. I will be honest, this is not an era or setting that I familiar with. However, it felt as though the influence was limited to French names, occasional french phrases and the mention of pastries.

This wasn't a book that worked for me overall. But the elements that keep me thinking about what this story could have been will have me keeping an eye out for other books by Linsey Miller in the future.

This book was alright, I enjoy Millers writing which can go along way, however, the story became bland and boring at points. Ultimately, I had to put it down.

I finally got around to reading this. I was really excited about it when it came out but it kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. I listened to it and it was very hard to differentiate the two voices and the story was just confusing. Lots of characters and not so much to separate them. I lost interest halfway through. I own other Linsey Miller books so I hope that they will be more intriguing and ones that I can finish because she seems to be a good author with good ideas.

In a world where working magic breaks down your body, the wealthy elite have found a way to extend their lives by using commoners as magical channels, promising those 'hacks' a very early death. At first Emilie des Marais and Annette Boucher, two girls who pull off the neat trick of switching lives so that they can each pursue the type of magic that they aspire to excel in, grudgingly accept the status quo. However, once the king declares war on a neighboring country and Emilie finds out a damning secret, the pair realize that they have to do more. Schemes, plots, and general havoc ensues.

This book has excellent, A+, superstar queer representation all over the board. Emilie is biromantic asexual, one of her colleagues is transgender, Annette is in love with another girl, and there are casually nonbinary characters. BELLE REVOLTE is the first book I have ever read that has managed to include all of these aspects seamlessly; Miller does not interrupt the reading experience to educate, but rather expects the reader to go with the flow. And despite it being the first thing I comment upon in this review, the fact that these characters are queer really has nothing to do with the plot. It's delightful.

The plot itself is told in two points of view - Annette, who is learning the 'feminine' midnight arts while impersonating Emilie, and Emilie, who is learning to work as an underling for men using the noonday arts for healing, while secretly aspiring to become a noonday artist in her own right. The plot takes a little while to spin up, but once it does, the action doesn't stop. The magic system and worldbuilding are incredibly unique and a little intense, but character motivations are clear and well-developed.

A great book for fantasy fans looking for something new and exciting, and anyone who wants to spy queer characters with complex (but understandable) identities in the wild.

DNF

The world building is messy and not well explained. Don't like the Moon Mistress lady magic and Sun King dude magic thing. It just sounds ridiculous to me. Too much knowledge dropped so it feels scattered and confusing. Voices are meh.

I love swapping stories! So I was super excited to start this one, it starts a bit slow but it picks up really fast! Sure there were some inconsistencies, which I'm sure have been removed from the finished book, and the plot was a bit confusing sometimes. But the rest is just so good! Classism and gender roles, it's so important to talk about those things! And the magic is so good aswell. I'm so happy that I've read this book! The rep aswell I almost cried, so many queer characters, and the casual use of they/them. I feel like there are a lot of people that would overlook this, but I don't think it should be a big deal, it's just normal and this book made it feel normal.

I read this book in lockdown that might tell you a lot about where my headspace was at when reading this book, though I did enjoy it. I don’t think I fully experienced the true meaning behind this story. That being said, let’s get to it.

Belle Révolte follows a young Emilie who feels more like herself when she is holding a scalpel rather than a sowing needle like many women in society would have her do. Rather than being at Luncheons and having small talk in beautiful dresses, she would rather be serving the community as a physician and getting her hands dirty. She doesn’t want any part of the sophisticate life of a noble woman.

Enter our other main character, Annette. Annette is from a poor family who is simply overworked by her family in order for them to survive. She lives a very humble lifestyle, which pretty much means basic. Emilie’s family want her to study the midnight arts (illusions, scrying and divining) rather than the noon day arts (healing and other physical uses) and so send her off to a finishing school. But a chance encounter change both of our protagonist’s lives when Emilie finds a poor girl, Annette, who looks like her and so they decide that they both want more from their life and so switch places. Emilie will pose as Annette and will become a commoner with hopes of one day becoming a physician whereas Annette, will go to the finishing school and become educated in the arts.

Throughout the book, the two keep in contact through letters and scrying making sure that the other knows what they are up to whilst taking over their life. But throughout their journey’s, they find that they are constantly being drawn together and they will look upon each other for help when society is keeping them down. The story heavily features war and how they both need to do their part and help and heal the many that are injured and what it means for their roles in society.

This book does need you to get the premise as soon as you are into the first page because within the first couple of pages, the girls have already switched lives and the story continues. You would at least think maybe 50 pages in, they would get to that but nope, it’s straightaway. This situation is the prince and the pauper essentially. That’s what it all boils down to. We just have to believe that this is a fairy tale where many things do happen and suspend disbelief in it. Like where there wouldn’t be any issues for either of the girls if they switched, like their mannerisms etc. You just have to get it within the first page and move on from it.

3 out of 5 stars.

I DNF'd this book around the 50% mark.I was incredibly intrigued by the premise as well as the promise of a f/f relationship, but I was just bored the whole time. I'm sure others will find this book valuable due to the way it handles marginalized sexualities within classic gender-based tropes, but the promise of some good rep wasn't enough to keep me going.

**Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for review**
This book took me awhile before I was invested. I must have put it down and picked it up a handful of times. I'm not even entirely sure what wasn't clicking for me, because the idea/plot was enjoyable, and the writing style was easy and fluid to read. I think perhaps if anything I had problems with it may have been the pacing. There were a few times I would hope the story would hurry up a little. That being said.. I am so happy I kept with this book, because overall it was incredibly interesting and entertaining.
What I loved most about this book was the magic, and the division of it into two separate areas of practice. The Noonday arts, and the Midnight arts. These areas were also heavily divided by gender, with the boys headed off to study the noonday arts focusing on fighting, healing.. becoming physicians.. and the midnight arts, where girls would learn the art of scrying or illusions. It is in the first chapter where we quickly are introduced to the two main characters, Emilie (a wealthy girl on her way to a prestigious school to learn the midnight arts, but who wants nothing more than to be able to study to become a physician), and Annette, a girl with magic but no money for training. There is a Prince and the Pauper twist when the two girls meet by chance and recognize their uncanny physical similarities. They both agree to switch places, to get what they want. Emilie gets her freedom to pursue an education to study the noonday arts and become a physician, and Annette will take her name and place studying the midnight arts.
This book spends a fair amount of time explaining the magic, characters, setting.. instead of showing it, but eventually it dives in and gets into politics, and a dangerous political revolution. The friendships/relationships are well explored and there is some different representations here including f/f romance, a trans character, and a main character who is asexual.
I almost view this book as two separate books in my mind just because of how long it took me to get through the first half, but honestly, I am so happy that I pushed through. I would recommend this book to people who love interesting magic, somewhat historical backgrounds (I failed to mention this book is set in a somewhat revolutionary France), Prince and the Pauper type character swaps, political intrigue, and just lovely relationships and friendships.

This was yet another book where I did a reading vlog for (along with 3 other books so 4 books total) and overall, it was a decent read. I enjoyed how fast paced it was but at the same time, I do think that the characters and the writing wasn't the greatest. I was somehow always confused with what was going on despite getting the gist. There was always something that I was somehow missing. Then in terms of the characters, I liked the character growth for Emilie but there were numerous side characters that lacked a lot of backstory and introduction that later became crucial.

3.5* review

Belle Revolte was captivating and thoroughly enjoyable for me. A couple bits of dialogue and pacing felt off but I fell in love with all of the characters. The ending was fast paced and wrapped things up nicely, though I would enjoy if this wasn't a standalone simply from the standpoint that it would allow me more time with the characters. Overall, quite an enjoyable read!

This is such an exciting fantasy book. I couldn’t stop turning each page as I was reading. The author did a fantastic job developing the characters and the world they live in.

This took me SO LONG to read, and although I enjoyed it when I was reading it, it sometimes felt like a bit of a chore to pick up.

It was good, but it took me over a month. I can't quite put my finger on why either, because this is the type of book I should like and I can't think of anything glaringly bad.

3.6/5 starts strong, then drags a bit, liked the overall concept, though. A bit slow going for my taste, but very much enjoyed the setting.

I truly do not know how to review this book.

I read it 3 months ago and I don't think I can form words that appropriately explain this book.

Let's get the not so good parts out of the way first.

It was kinda confusing. I love a good dual POV narrative! And we get two, both from girls fighting in a resistance??? I'll eat that shit up any day of the week.

The problem that I had was that the timeline between the POVs didn't always seem to sync up and I did get confused often because of this. Normally I would put this down to me just missing things because that happens often but I spoke to another person who read it and they had a similar experience so I know it's not just me!

It was also kinda slow for the first 15% but that could have been bad timing on my part! I picked it up at a shitty time. Sometimes it's hard to tell if it's the books fault or mine and I'm not 100% certain either way with this one.

The magical element of the story was exactly that, magical. It was vast and vibrant and exciting...but yeah I did sometimes get confused with the descriptions. Honestly a lot of the time I kinda only had a 70% understanding of what was going on and I don't think it was because of how intricate the plot was, though I do think it was intricate. I don't know, it was just all a bit confusing and then you add in the long ass names everyone has, and they each have like 3 different names people use to refer to them and half the time I don't know who the author is talking about.

Do you see what I mean when I say I don't know how to put what I think about this book into words. So you're probably wondering, Grey, if you had that many problems with this book then why did you rate it so highly???

Because i couldn't let myself rate it any lower. Honestly this is one of those books that earned its high ass rating because of how it made me feel. And it made me feel a lot.

For starters it's diverse as heck. One of our main characters is ace and sapphic!!!! Her love interest is a POC and sapphic!!!! and they're so stinking cute I can't deal with it. And if you're thinking oh boo what about sexual tension then one fuck you because not everyone needs that but also they still have great tension!!! It's romantic tension and I don't know why we don't talk about that shit more?!?!? The angst is PRESENT.

We also get a trans love interest and I would protect him with my life. He is both sharp and soft and I just want to wrap him up in blankets and tell him everything will be okay, but also get into so many debates and word fights! And our other main character??? Girl after my own heart. I saw so much of myself in her that it was super painful to read but in the best way??? also if you really need sexual tension then these two are for you. Bucket loads. Sexual tension spilling all over the place, it's very unsanitary.

Both of these main characters and their relationships were so dynamic and meaningful and I just want them to be happy forever.

Also the dynamic between their mentors is so brilliant I would like a whole book just about them and all these little rumours everyone keeps spreading about their past interactions thanks. I just want my own misunderstood genius best friend and we just continually challenge each other and get on each others nerves forever until we die because actually we really love each other and would die for each other.

Also also there are so many characters who use they/them pronouns and like it's not a big deal, like it's not a deal at all, it's so seamless that you don't even notice it the first few times. And by the time you do you're like ah yes, it should always be like this.

Oh OH!!! And the communication between the characters????? 100/10. Like there's the obvious secrets and miscommunications to be sure there's actually plot happening but that's gonna happen in the most healthiest relationships in a society that's broken and needs to be fixed. But these characters just care about each other so much and take the time to really make that known and oh no my throat is closing up I am allergic to feelings.

Plus the story deals with how patriarchy affects everyone and also classism. I was ready and prepared for someone to yell out 'let's just eat the fucking rich' at some point and I was here for it. It's just so current and relevant while feeling like you're thrown back in time to like Paris 17-something but there's magic. (Actually I don't know when or where the inspiration came from for this books but I'm pretty sure it was France at some point in the past. Could very well be wrong though.)

This book is just so important and I already know of at least one person this book means to world for and also like it kinda means the world to me to?? I just can picture so many teens reading this and being like hey this character is like me and looks like me, they share the same heart as me and OH NO my throat is closing up again.

I cannot express how important it was to read a novel that featured an asexual character. The setting was beautiful and I enjoyed the storyline well enough, but the best thing about this book was seeing that diversity front and centre.

The synopsis was more intriguing than the book was. My expectations going into this book were high but this book didn't meet that bar. It could be the fact that I've been reading amazing fantasies recently so this one caused more disappointment.

It is rare to find a stand-alone fantasy book, so I always enjoy a complete story. This book is a bit of a slow-burn for me, and uses a common plot line: switching places (a la Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain). However, I think it still has important things to say about going after your dreams and female empowerment. I enjoyed the characters, and the cover is lovely. I would be happy to have this on my classroom bookshelf.