
Title: The Beautiful (review copy)
Series: The Beautiful #1
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fantasy, Mystery, Vampires

Blurb from Goodreads
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris.
Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger.
She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as Le Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sèbastien Saint Germain.
When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of Le Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sèbastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart.
As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

My Review
The Beautiful is the latest novel by Renee Ahdieh. I had previously read her book ‘The Wrath and the Dawn‘ but wasn’t compelled to continue on with that series. And I’m feeling somewhat similarly about this. Don’t get me wrong, I quite liked it. But I also found it difficult to really get to grasps with.
The premise of the book is that Celine arrives in New Orleans looking for a new life as she has a secret from her past life in Paris that weighs heavily on her shoulders. She soon finds herself involved with the heady underworld of New Orleans’ society and in particular with the mysterious group known as La Cour des Lions. Celine then somehow becomes a witness to a number of crime scenes as murder seems to follow her at every turn. The book follows Celine’s interactions with the members of La Cour des Lions, in particular the dashing Sebastien Saint Germain (Bastien) and also follows her endeavours to reveal the identity of the murderer who seems to be demonic in origin.
‘The Beautiful‘ feels very intoxicating in its writing style. I think Ahdieh’s strengths lie in her abilities to make the reader truly feel as though the sights and sounds of the world she creates in her novels are 100% real. There was something incredibly atmospheric about the New Orleans that she painted in this book. I very much could visualise all that the characters were seeing and experiencing; from the descriptions of the clothing to the foods consumed, everything felt tangible and really made me feel like I was a part of this world.
However, I think the fault in this book lies with the characters. Too frequently I felt the characters were not described as authentically as the scenery. I found myself struggling to discern unique personalities and individual identities among the cast of supporting characters.
I did however very much like the main character of Celine Rousseau. She was incredibly interesting to read about as I particularly enjoyed her back story and how it moulded her into this strong willed woman.
On the other hand I felt utterly ambivalent about Bastien as a male lead. I never felt the chemistry between him and Celine and to me their burgeoning relationship felt entirely forced.
Bastien was all gloss but no substance.
This perhaps stemmed from the fact that so much of Bastien and his Saint Germain family were shrouded in mystery for 90+% of the novel and this therefore meant that he felt underdeveloped as a character. I just think I would have liked more detailed scenes between him and Celine. I needed to feel their connection in a much more tangible fashion.
One of the characters that I did enjoy reading about was Detective Michael Grimaldi. I very much liked the tête-à-tête that he and Celine shared on occasion. To me he and Celine had a much more readable dynamic than the one between Celine and Bastien.
And my last quibble with this book is that I needed more vampires!
I guess when I read a book about vampires I have some preconceived ideas about what the book should deliver. And to me I didn’t enjoy the vampire aspect to this book. I felt that the search for the vampiric murderer was too detached from the main plot of the book. I think the book would have been better served if the identity of the vampire had been revealed earlier and as a reader I could have been more invested in the story of how this vampire was toying with Celine. Ultimately I felt dismayed by the vampire reveal at the end of the story and thought that the book didn’t give a *bad guy* that I could truly love-to-hate.
Disappointingly this was a book of both hits and misses with the misses outweighing the hits. Therefore I will not be continuing with the series.
An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher, Hodder and Stoughton, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Works by Renee Ahdieh I’ve Reviewed
- Because You Love to Hate Me (contributing author)
- The Wrath and the Dawn
My Socials

very well written
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Thank you 😊
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Great review, Emer 😃How you felt about this one reminds me of how I felt about Stalking Jack the Ripper. While the atmosphere was well done, the characters fell flat. It’s always annoying when you don’t feel the chemistry between the two main characters! Sorry to hear that there were also not enough vampires lol I think I’d still be curious to read this though (especially since it’s set in New Orleans and I have this weird thing for books set in that place lol)!
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I think practically everyone I’ve talked to about this book LOVES NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!! Including me because New Orleans is love!! We just all need to move at this stage 😂😂😂 And it’s definitely the best thing about the book. Totally felt that New Orleans came alive… The characters though… A bit too dead which you’d think wouldn’t be a problem what with there being vampires and all… BUT I NEEDED MORE VAMPIRES DINI!!! Like I low key was just hoping for a little sparkly pants vampire reference or something…this was far too serious and proper really 😂😂😂
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Omg, how AMAZING would it be to visit New Orleans all together!? Although I reckon tons of people would wanna see the scary spooky stuff, but you’d have to leave me behind for that 😆 I love that books about this place always manage to infuse such life in it. Even if the story is mediocre or kinda trashy, the setting is always spot on! And books in New Orleans always make me so hungry n that’s probs why I love it too 🤤Hahaha I was just waiting on you to bring up your vampirey sparkles!!! Sorry it didn’t deliver 😂😂
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Oh I’d 100% avoid all places of spook. No thank you to spook 😂😂😂😂 And yes!! How could I not mention my fav moody vampire of them all 😂😂😂 God I love twilight. It’s just so terrible that it’s amazing 😂😂😂
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I want to read this one but at the same time I feel like its one I won’t like.
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That was so the feelings I had before reading it lol!!! 😂😂😂
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Great review! I’m still curious to read it but maybe I won’t rush out on release day to get it. Lol
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Oh definitely still read it if you’re interested because I still enjoyed it even though I had some issues :))) Thanks Yolanda
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I do love books set in New Orléans because it seems like such an atmospheric place but it’s a shame the other aspects of the book didn’t work so well for you! Great review 💛
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Thank you Christine!!! I agree with you. it’s an awesome setting for the book and really was the best thing about this read :)))
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I love atmospheric writing so this might work for me. Bastien is such a weird name though lol. Great review that covers the good and bad aspects.
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Thanks Kitty!! Fingers crossed you will like it a lot more than I did. It was short for Sebastien which I personally prefer :)))))
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I can’t wait to read this. Hopefully I like it🤞
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I hope you love it too Holly :)))
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Thank you!:))
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this seems interesting…I might have to check it out. I have a thing for new orleans lol. great review my dear!
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I think we all have a thing for New Orleans. It just seems inherently otherworldly for some reason and it is definitely the best thing about this book. If you do read it then I hope you will love it Amanda :)))
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