Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

6 reviews

liza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

As a lover of The Originals, Twilight and Historical Fiction, The Beautiful checked all of my boxes. While this was the first novel in the series it sucked me in and sets up well for the continuation for the next book.

While there are still so many unanswered questions, which are all annotated in my book, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to put the pieces together as more and more was revealed. Even the main character, Celine, has secrets that are not spelled out until later on into the series.

The characters that we meet such as Bastien and Odette are intriguing. While we only see a few of them on a regular basis, it is hard to not notice the love and loyalty they share.

I immediately started the next book in the series and I cannot wait to share my thought on that one too!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Stalking, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Confinement, and Gore

ok7a's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Racism, and Kidnapping

emma2578's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I absolutely loved the atmosphere of New Orleans, the author did an amazing job of romanticizing the city through description. Celine was an amazing strong headed lead character, I often found myself admiring her wits throughout the novel. As for the romance, I prefer Micheal over Bastien, but I can see why so many people would disagree. The antagonist was compelling, and left me shocked during his reveal. Overall I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Violence, Stalking, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Gore

stormywolf's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Audiobook Read by Lauren Ezzo
Unabridged Length: 13.2 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, I have no complaints. A stellar narration, nailing tons of accents and emotions, was enough to put this production in my recommendations, to say nothing of its value as a pronunciation guide. With the emoting, especially in horror and action scenes, the volume and speed of reading does go up a bit, so that's something to keep in mind if you're not reading along, or at an increased playback speed. But if you're looking for an audio that offers a solid voice performance, this one should definitely be on your short list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Rape, Sexism, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, and Racism

kifirth95's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Just couldn't connect with this book. I liked Celine's personality and who doesn't enjoy a dark mysterious stranger? But for me the plot was weak and very easy to guess the reveals, don't get me wrong I know the clues were there for a reason but sometimes it felt too shoe-horned into the story. 
 Sometimes we'd get an immersive scene with wit and depth and then others it felt lost and like a forced info drop that actually didn't give much context. 
 I enjoyed the premise of this book, its seems like a good basis for a supernatural meets 'real' world story but wouldn't read again 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Violence

Minor: Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual assault

nebraskanwriter's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Stalking, and Racism

Minor: Rape