🦋The Ruined 🦋
Author: Renèe Ahdieh
Pub Date: December 5, 2023

Thank you @penguinteen for the #gifted copy of this book.

Welp I am going to say this is totally a fail by yours truly. 🤣 I didn’t realize before I started that this was the 4th and last book in this series. I do think this would have worked out to be much better had I started with book one. All of that being said, I did find this book enjoyable and entertaining. I don’t often read vampire books so this was a little out of my normal comfort zone. I liked watching the conflict between the two groups trying to follow what happens between the allies and rivals. I think my favorite part was the traveling mirror. What a cool concept! This book had a great mix of many genres, fantasy, romance, paranormal, vampires and young adult. I would say after having finished this book I took the time to look at the first 3 books and they certainly sound amazing. So don’t do what I did and start at the end. 🙈

WHAT DID I JUST READ?!! The only positive thing I can say about this book is that it is aptly titled. She has ruined the entire series with the book. The entire book felt off to me but the last 25% was like a bomb went off. What happened to these characters? Especially Celine who first is a weak shade of herself, then slightly mentally unstable, then becomes a crazed spoiled brat who doesn’t listen to anyone or stop to assess a situation. I think Ahdieh was trying to really push a message of power corrupting, but her story got lost in the message. The plot and characters are unrecognizable in this installment. New plot points are brought in and then never resolved. There are so many questions that are still unanswered….how is this the last book? I honestly feel like this is some kind of a prank. This cannot be how this series ends. I’m shocked, sick to my stomach, and so sad about one of my favorite YA vampire series.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I AM UPSET.

I have loved reading this series and I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on the final book and now I’m sitting here super cranky and not wanting to even write this because of the last 30%.

The first 70% was great, I love the writing style and the ease of the reading. The world building is intricate and I love the combination of vampires, werewolves, and fae.

BUT HERE WE GO (which is spoiler free, but you can probably read between the lines too).

The ending y’all. We spent four books leading up to this????? To a complete breakdown of a relationship over a dumb miscommunication that spiraled into total destruction. Causing the end of way too many things to ever recover. And the last few pages were this sorry attempt at saying well maybe things do work out, when NO. That foundation has crumbled. To spend so much time on some of these characters to throw it away. I just…I’m upset…to put it mildly. I feel duped.

There was a clear route this could have gone that would have brought true peace and reconciliation (and where I thought the book was headed???). And there were other characters we didn’t even get to see closing story lines for?? THAT WERE MAIN POINTS OF VIEW? The rushed ending was another nail in the coffin.

I’m losing my cool all over again. This one has really bummed me out.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy
Language: a little
Romance: closed door
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: battle themes, loss of loved ones, murder

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. The Ruined was a STUNNING conclusion to The Beautiful series. I thouroughly enjoyed Ms. Ahdieh's writing and pacing throughout the entire series, it didn't feel like anything was dragged out, or not explained well enough. My review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads closer to publication date.

THE RUINED is the conclusion the The Beautiful series, and I hate to say that I'm a bit disappointed. I haven't loved any of the books as much as I loved the first, mainly because I felt that the plot of the first didn't necessarily reflect the plot in future books; things kept escalating, the world kept growing, and I felt like there wasn't much groundwork initially laid for it. This one kind of went off the rails a bit in particular. It wasn't a horrible book, and it was actually quite quick to read (when I would actually pick it up, that is; I lacked motivation to do so haha), but the plot itself was lackluster. Nothing really happens for the first 75% of the book, it's just a lot of random events and buildup for the last 20% of absolute mayhem. We have lots of loose ends that weren't tied up and events in the beginning that just kind of happen, then aren't revisited later in the book. Celine's character is also farrr from my favorite at this point; her direction wasn't one that I expected, nor did I like it. My main issue is that there is no way I would have expected *any* of this from the first book--it was supposed to be a historical fantasy vampire YA book, and I think the purpose (soul might be a better word) of the series was lost over time. Would I recommend this? Maybe, for closure, but I just wish the series as a whole had gone in a different direction.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year because I really enjoyed the three books of the quartet.

As for the finale, I enjoyed it but also found some issues with it.

First, the positives. I loved the prose in general. It was vivid and evocative. That along with scene setting and how the characters described their feelings were a major strength of this book. I loved that there is a lot of introspection from the characters as well. Since The Beautiful, I grew attached to them as they triumphed and failed. So while there are external plots, there is also a strong emphasis on each of the personal journeys of each character that I appreciated. I also enjoyed that there were multiple perspectives in this book, as with the three published before. I got insight into how other characters feel, along with how they thought about each other and the world around them.

Next, the negatives. I felt like the pacing was a bit slow in the middle of the book and then it felt a rushed towards the end. A lot in my opinion felt open ended after the story was done, and I wanted a bit more closure since this was the final book.

Lastly, the in between. There were a few plot points that I didn’t care for but I still found well written prose wise. So while I did not like those moments, I still appreciate the effort that went into writing them.

What I loved outweighs what I didn’t though, so I give this book 4 stars.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for providing me with an e-arc.

This series really went downhill. This book felt like nothing was happening up until the last 10%, and still nothing was resolved. I LOVED the first book, The Beautiful, and even enjoyed the second and third, but each book strayed from the original New Orleans vampire vibe that I loved. I wish we got to see Arjun and Pippa more, because what happened with them? They get an entire book and then suddenly get thrown away. Bastien and Celine needed to have more than one page happy together! We still don't even know if they ended up together really. Celine was very out of character with her mom and not standing up for herself, which was the whole point of her character in the first two books. Disappointing read, it was okay,

Ew! What did I just finish reading?

This is the second disappointing series finale I’ve read this year.

Having done a reread of the series I was super hyped up to read the ARC. It started off good, especially with book 3’s crazy ending. Celine went from being a real strong female protagonist to completely coming undone. Celine’s hubris rivals those of the Greek gods! What a turn off.

This might be the conclusion of the series but there was so much left unresolved and so many frayed threads. Unless a surprise spinoff or 5th book is coming, some of the chapters in the end were a bit “WTF does that have anything with what we’re reading?” Because they lead nowhere.

I need to take the rest of the year off to recover from the ending of this book, and I need to charge Renée Ahdieh for my therapy bill 😭. After reading about these characters for the past four years, I'm so emotionally invested in their well-being. I loved the politics in this book and, even if it hurt my heart, seeing Celine and Bastien be on opposing sides. It was such an emotional rollercoaster seeing them want to protect one another but hurting each other in the process. Pippa and Arjun, of course, also had me screaming, crying, throwing up. All I wanted was for them to be happy together, and their character arcs definitely broke me.

Overall, this is a great series for fans of Renée Ahdieh. I do need to give a warning to be prepared for going through a tumultuous emotional journey. Although I'm sad to see these characters go, I can't wait to see what Renée writes next!

The cover is stunning, and I was thrilled to get this ARC after waiting so long for the last book to drop.

The beginning started out intriguing, but lost steam about halfway through for me. I really love Ahdieh's work and the previous books in this series, but this one fell flat for me.

The ending was a bit rushed, and in some aspects, unclear. Some characters could've had their stories wrapped up a bit neater. Hmm. This just wasn't quite what I'd hoped for as the ending of the series. Hopefully other readers enjoy it more than me.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC.

I cannot believe this is over! I feel like I just discovered this series, and yet somehow it's been four whole books, a lot of gasping, and even more waiting. I think this could have been a trilogy, but this was an interesting direction for the conclusion to take. I enjoyed it, heartbroken as I am, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. i don't want to spoil anything, but I have so loved this world and what she has done with the lore of vampires. I highly recommend this series if you have not started it!

Thank you to the Publisher for the arc!


I feel like this story started out super strong, I mean come on there were vampires and now it’s turned into a giant mess. I used to really love Celine and Bastian and now I don’t even recognize them anymore. I’m sad.

This was one of my most anticipated series endings, after four long years and it turned out to be one of the most disappointing endings. My heart hurts after this one. I was so excited to see how things turned out and it wasn't anything like I expected. The third book with Arjun and Pippa was my fav and I feel like they were done dirty in this one.

Let me back up... the beginning of this wasn't too bad. It had me desperate for more especially to see what happened with Pippa after the ending of the previous book. But I honestly started to lose all interest in Bastien Celine's storyline. They were so frustrating and had the most annoying miscommunication going on especially one BIG part. I was here SOLELY for the Pippa and Arjun scenes and there weren't enough. They felt like they were cast aside especially halfway through the book. Like now I wonder what was the point of them having their own book for it end that way?

The ending felt SO RUSHED! Like my mind is still blown over how frustrating that ending was. When I finished, I seriously thought, is this a joke? Did I miss something? Did the author just stop caring and rush to get it completed. Is there a reason this couldn't have ended happier and more clear? I was so confused in a lot of it that I ended up having to reread several parts. I'm so upset that I spent four books in this series for it to end that way. I am still shocked and trying to process things. I want a redo. I want the mirror to set things right. I am just shocked that the author who wrote the AMAZING The Wrath and the Dawn duo also ended this series like she did. *sobbing into my pillow now*