I really enjoyed The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. She’s definitely one of my top favorite authors and will continue to read everything she writes. It’s a beautiful, slow pace book and definitely worth the read. It’s a character driven story filled with romance and slight magical elements.

I am always awed by Moreno-Garcia’s writing and her ability to put you in the world that she’s created. She’s also a master of making you feel deeply for her characters and once you finish reading her books, you want to continue to live in their world. I would definitely be recommending this book to a variety of readers.

This story is the perfect combination of Pride and Prejudice-esque angst, magic, and high society drama. The first part was a bit slow, but the slow burn was worth it. I will read literally anything Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes, and I'm pretty sure it'll be perfect every single time.

‘The Beautiful Ones’ was indeed a beautiful book! Riveting, engaging, with well thought out and executed plots and storytelling, and characters that made you forgot you were reading a book! Really hit the spot for me!

4/5 stars

I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My curse with ARCs is broken!! Thank you, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I wasn’t sure what rating I’d give until the last twenty pages. The first third felt like it was shaping up to be 3 stars (which would’ve been incredibly disappointing to give, since Moreno-Garcia is one of my favorite authors) but there were some parts where I was sure I could give it five. I settled on four stars because while the plot and the characters captivated me in the end, I can’t forget the boredom I felt within the first 100 pages.

PROS:

Antagonist: Goddamn was Valerie a FANTASTIC character! By far one of my favorite antagonists of all-time now. Moreno-Garcia is great at capturing negative emotions; couple that with an ambitious antagonist and you’re bound for a good time. Valerie had so much personality, so much depth, so much contempt and resentment and possessive welled up inside her beautiful, porcelain frame. Sometimes I thought “yeah, you know, if Valerie got what she wanted I’d be okay with it honestly.” Her motivations are clear, her ambitions are clear and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say she's a tragic villain, I’d claim that the choices and sacrifices she made at the expense of her family’s continued livelihood sent her down a tunnel she could not escape. Of course, had Valerie made the best of her circumstances rather than drowning in pessimism and jealousy, she could have easily avoided her befitting fate.

Romance: It took me a while to really get into it – as I wrote before, the first third of this book outside of Valerie can lull you to sleep. But once you get to the climax of Part 1, the narrative shifts, feelings change, and the way Hector and Nina revolve around each other without even knowing it definitely enticed me. I found Nina to be particularly believable in her naivete and romanticism. On the other hand, Hector’s slow-growing feelings for Nina were a little harder to swallow, partially because his feelings of friendship so quickly shift into feelings of desire. The narrative can explain it away given Hector is so consumed by a toxic devotion he doesn’t understand what a tender and kind truly love feels like, but I don’t completely buy it.

Themes/Narrative: I LOVED how Nina and Hector’s telekinetic powers are a literary conduit for outcasts in a society that values rules, manners, tradition, and old money above all else. I would have liked a bit more explanation of their powers and perhaps another character with telekinetic powers outside of the romance, but mostly, it worked for me. Narratively, their powers were a great fit for the story and I loved how they could reflect their true thoughts and feelings. Just great stuff.

Secondary Love Interest: He was great fun, and his ending suited him.

CONS:

Pacing: As I said, the first third of this book is a bit of a bore. Nothing really happens outside of Valerie's plotting against Nina, Hector doing everything in his power to win Valerie over, and Nina completely oblivious to it all. While I understand Moreno-Garcia is giving us a better sense of who the core characters are and what motivates them, I would have liked a bit more activity.

Repetition: Happened more than it usually does in a Moreno-Garcia novel, but it is a pet peeve of mine. I’m not a fan of uncommon words being used twice in five pages. It just throws me out of the story and I’m left to wonder why that word twice and then never again. Some of Valerie and Hector’s thoughts recycled as well, and it could drag the pacing down.

Nina is young, innocent and wants to find love like the novels she read. she leaves her town and goes to the city for her debut on the Grand Season. And she is really different from the other girls, she is telekinetic, but can't control her power.

One night, at the ball she meets Hector Auvray, a telekinetic like her, but unlike her, he has the control of his power, and travels around the world creating illusions that amaze everyone.
Nina thinks that she finds her match in Hector and soon he starts to woo her, but he has a secret and when Nina finds out she'll feel betrayed.

I adore the atmospheric, very world upper-class lifestyle, reminded me classics like The Age of Innocence, the balls, the forgiven romances, and secrets. All the drama.

Even though Nina is telekinetic, the magic in the story its subtle, its not the important part, but I love read how Nina learn more about how control her powers.

This was a fun story. Nina is a likeable character. The book have different POV, but she was my favorite.

Scandalous witches, dark gossip, glorious atmospheric writing. It wasn't as earth shattering as Mexican Gothic but I still found this hard to put down. Very well done!

I went in this expecting a dramatic romance with a small sprinkle of telekinesis-- and that was exactly what I got! I really enjoyed the characters, each of them are so vibrant and full of depth and I as the reader felt well-integrated into each of the points of view. The story moves along at a decent pace, each dramatic reveal creates more tension, increasing until the final third of the book I just could not put down and had to keep knowing what happens next. A complete review will be written and shared closer to the release date. Thank you so much Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!

Beautiful people, decadent parties, broken hearts, and fantastical abilities come together to form an elegant novel of relationships and love. The voice of this novel provided a delicate telling of Nina, an upper class young woman with telekinesis, who falls rapidly in love with Hector, an entertainer with a romantic connection he is trying to keep secret.

Secrets, distrust, and old-school elegance provide a glamorous setting and passionate plot. The fantasy element of some characters having telekinetic powers was a unique gift to the storyline and was seamlessly part of the world. As a lover of fantasy and magic, I was hoping for more development of the powers shown by the characters, but it was not the focus of the story so it took a side role. I did find the plot was a bit slow-paced in the beginning and I struggled liking any of the characters, but soon changes happened, and I became invested in the budding relationship and the action that started bursting out. If you enjoy historical fiction, character-driven plots, and beautiful writing, definitely give this novel a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillian-Tor/Forge for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a sweeping romance with a dash of magic.

They are the Beautiful Ones, Loisail’s most notable socialites, and this spring is Nina’s chance to join their ranks, courtesy of her well-connected cousin and his calculating wife. But the Grand Season has just begun, and already Nina’s debut has gone disastrously awry. She has always struggled to control her telekinesis - neighbors call her the Witch of Oldhouse - and the haphazard manifestations of her powers make her the subject of malicious gossip.

When entertainer Hector Auvray arrives to town, Nina is dazzled. A telekinetic like her, he has traveled the world performing his talents for admiring audiences. He sees Nina not as a witch, but ripe with potential to master her power under his tutelage. With Hector’s help, Nina’s talent blossoms, as does her love for him.

But great romances are for fairytales, and Hector is hiding a truth from Nina - and himself - that threatens to end their courtship before it truly begins.

The Beautiful Ones is a charming tale of love and betrayal, and the struggle between conformity and passion, set in a world where scandal is a razor-sharp weapon."

A re-issue not to be missed from one of the hottest writers on the scene!

A delicious love triangle, almost Gothic in the intensity of its emotions. Managing to be both angsty and sweet, this was a delightful gem of a story.

I've so enjoyed Silvia Moreno-Garcia's other books, but The Beautiful Ones was just ok. I didn't find myself invested in the characters. Therefore, the ending wasn't all that exciting. I also expected more of a fantasy element to it, but that could have been taken out of the story and it wouldn't have changed the narrative much. I'd definitely recommend her other books before this one.

The Beautiful Ones follows a young woman, Nina, who has always been strange and has never fit in. It's also about her incredibly toxic and tortured relative, who has never gotten over having to marry for money. In the city, as she visits with her cousin's tortured wife, she meets and becomes friends with The One Who Got Away... from her cousin's wife (from now on, "her cousin"). Nina navigates high society's etiquette and events while discovering her telekinetic magic and falling in love with Hector Auvray, her cousin's former lover. This sparks obsessive jealousy in her cousin, who plots to make Nina as unhappy as she has been with her own marriage and life.

Will suit fans of Moren0-Garcia's work, as well as romantic fantasy and historical romance fans. It has a touch of the early 20th century romance, in the dynamics of the romance and the period that Nina spends away from the city to recover.

I really enjoyed this. ARC provided by NetGalley.

I devoured this book in one sitting. The setting is reminiscent of France and looks historical in its social customs and expectations, which seem to derive from the mid to late 1800s. The writing style flows well and is adept in its characterizations of Nina, Hector, and Nina’s cousin-in-law, Valerie. Their highly addictive dynamic definitely feels inspired by some classic literary author I haven’t read—Hardy or Wharton maybe, just not Austen for God’s sake; Austen never wrote such viscerally fallible characters.

It’s to Moreno-Garcia’s credit that I found a story about obsession and possession so moving. There are some genuinely heartbreaking moments on all three sides of the love triangle and I wasn’t expecting such an emotional gut-punch.

For all the highs and lows, though, something still feels absent. The magic element, for one, is merely a backdrop and I wish more had been done with it, particularly because I thought Nina was going to receive training from Hector. (She does, but it’s brief.) I also don’t see why Nina loves him so deeply. She’s perhaps a little too conveniently likable, but she’s his superior in a lot of ways and he just never quite feels worthy of her. I almost wish that she’d cut her losses completely and gone off butterfly-chasing to parts unknown.

Is there anything Silvia Moreno-Garcia can’t do? My first introduction to her incredible prose was in Mexican Gothic, so I was excited to read this new book of hers. When I picked it up, I had no idea what it was about. Never a huge fan of the romance genre, I was quickly swept up in a regency-like era of a fantastical society.

Hector Auvrey has returned from abroad and seeking the attentions of his former fiance and lover Valerie, finds himself courting her husband’s cousin in order to get close to her. Nina is young, naive, and new to society, but immediately falls for the older Hector. Both Hector and Nina have inherited a telekinetic ability and bond over the fact,

Intricately woven with richly developed characters and a unique world steeped in magical realism, Moreno-Garcia beautifully blends and bends genres with words as easily as Hector bends swords with his mind.

An absolute delight to read and recommended for fans of romance, magical realism, or just a really well-written story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so glad many Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books are being rereleased! As someone who discovered her work from Gods of Jade and Shadow it’s great to be getting to read her earlier stuff! I can’t say this one is my favorite, I’m not a huge fan of romances in general, but I’m impressed by the heterogeneity of her work.

The Beautiful Ones is set in a fantasy word that might be equivalent to the late 19th or early 20th century and concerns itself with a handful of aristocrats, or Beautiful Ones. It’s a novel of manners, love triangles, lies, and magic. I was captivated by the story and drawn to these characters, especially the very flawed but remarkably human villain. The story alternates between the point of view of the main characters so the reader gets a chance to really understand what drives them. If you like Austen-esq period dramas with a hint of telekinesis, The Beautiful Ones is for you.

Hector Auvray has loved Valerie for ten years, even though she has married another man. When Hector returns to the city of Loisail and realizes that he can get close to Valerie by pretending to court her cousin Nina, he takes the opportunity. However, things soon become more complicated than he ever intended.

This quasi-fantasy (alternate universe) regency romance comes with all the familiar regency frills such as manners mishaps, a focus on wealth and status, and a great concern with reputation. This is a fun read that was quick to get through.

Well this was just a fun novel to read. The author made a note that people who read it after reading Mexican Gothic shouldn't expect the same - and to an extent, that's true. Mexican Gothic is a true gothic novel, almost a horror novel. However, The Beautiful Ones has its own gothic tones as well, although similar to Northanger Abbey in that the horrors in The Beautiful Ones are almost worse for how mundane they are. And while The Beautiful Ones is largely silent on colonialism, race, and xenophobia, it does do a good job of showing the pervasive sexism that women during the Belle Epoche suffered under.

Nina makes for a pretty likeable heroine - naive but someone who generally knows her own mind and is willing to fight for what she wants. Although some people might find her a little annoying, especially in the first part of the book, I never found her so. Hector on the other hand could certainly be frustrating! Especially so in the first half. Like others, I definitely wanted to bop him on the head several times. But then again, Moreno-Garcia does a really good job showing his slow by study character development, from someone who can't get over his first love, no matter how awful she is, to someone who finally realizes what's right before him.

My one complaint with the book was the time spent with the "villain," Nina's cousin and Hector's first love, Valerie. To an extent, these chapters did help reveal more of her character, the damage that being forced into a loveless marriage did to her and how she's now continuing the cycle of abuse by wanting to see Nina suffer as well. But after a point, it just got redundant. Yes, we know, you're cold-hearted and so selfishly mean you don't want to see any other woman be happy. I get it! Other than that, a really enjoyable read. This is the third Silvia Moreno-Garcia novel I've read, and I've loved all of them. Definitely becoming one of my favorite authors!

This novel is really well-done! The genre-blending was perfectly balanced--historical romance + drama in a fictional, French-inspired setting, with just the right amount of fantasy to make it feel fresh and different.

I'm not normally drawn in by love triangle plots (typically cursing the man or woman who keeps stringing these poor love interests along), but the pacing and character development was just right to keep me interested and sympathetic towards Nina and Hector's courtship. I never set the book down to complain that Nina should certainly do better and marry someone who can make up their dang mind, nor did I feel that Hector was punching above his weight. It was just the perfect amount of gentle, swoon-able, slow-burn romance.

I really love how Silvia Moreno-Garcia handles fantasy in this book--it's a little more toned down than in Mexican Gothic, but was still believable and intriguing. Telekinesis was seamlessly incorporated into her setting in a way that made it feel balanced, but significant. The telekinetic characters had to grapple with their "talent" (as it's called) in interesting ways, neither becoming overly-powerful nor overly-persecuted.

The only thing I disliked was that the ending was a little too...gentle? I wanted a greater reckoning, truthfully! Everything is resolved quite neatly, which I didn't find overly-satisfying.

A novel of manners, magic, and unrequited love. Nina's first Grand Season brings heartbreak as she discovers that her love interest may have ulterior motives. For fans of Jane Austen and Erin Morgenstern

I really enjoyed The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. A beautiful story of love and betrayal. I was rooting for Nina throughout the entire story.

Antonina, Nina, was at the age to start looking for a husband. She wasn’t the average child though. She had a talent in telekinesis that was very frowned upon. It wasn’t very ladylike and attracted the wrong kind of attention. She finds Hector Auvrey at a party and knows he is also telekinetic. He begins to mentor her, knowing that her cousin is married to the love of his life. He has found his way back into Valerie’s life. What follows is the love and betrayal I mentioned earlier.

Thank you Macmillan-Tor and Netgalley for providing me with the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I will definitely read more of Moreno-Garcia’s books.