Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Beautiful Ones

A unique romance where we get 3 POVs, one of them being the villain of the book. Romance almost takes a back seat to the overall story of growing up, moving on, and staying true to yourself.

Listen, the first 100 pages of this book are an absolute slog to get through. It’s hard to “Nina” be so played and made a fool out of. Once the jig is up the book gets infinitely better and I breezed through the rest of it.

I do think Nina and Hector are a well matched couple and even though he’s made serious mistakes, he was redeemed to me and I think deserved Nina’s love.

The world building could’ve used some work, I don’t really get the full idea about The Beautiful Ones, aka the namesake of the book.

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dreadspawn's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

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yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I LOVED this hot mess of a love triangle. For historical romance readers, I would highly recommend this to lovers of Sherry Thomas. We have a cast of deeply flawed and self-absorbed characters caught between naivete and cynicism and heartbreak and hope. Nothing actually happens, except they ruin their lives and break each other's hearts. If you love character-driven historical fiction with a strong romantic through-line (and a happily-ever-after) and don't mind messy, often unlikeable people, this is a compelling and honestly gripping read (again, this is largely plotless, but if you love character work, this is delicious).

Be warned, romance readers, this is a heady love triangle, with a slow-paced build in the first half, some repeated light infidelity (betrothals in historical romance often feel more transactional, but I do know crossing even this line is a deal-breaker for some in Romancelandia, and I get that!). We also have a capital-V-villain/Other Woman with a dedicated POV throughout - again, a choice not all romance readers will care for, but I loved it.

I would also note how timeless and ethereal this feels. It's set in an imagined city that draws on the structure of European aristocratic society and la Belle Epoque era (though it feels really worldless in a lot of ways). I loved this decision to deny the reader a sense of being truly historically grounded, as it makes the romance feel that much more consuming and isolating. And the light touch of magical realism (the characters each have telekinetic abilities in a world where this is rare but not unheard of). This cemented Silvia Moreno-Garcia for me, looking forward to reading more of her backlist!

Note for audio readers: I loved the narration by Imani Jade Powers and how it brought to life Silvia Moreno-Garcia's vivid scene-setting and prose.

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alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing slow-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

3.5

Typically, historical romance isn't my thing, but I really enjoyed the slow-burn romance. I liked the incorporation of magical realism with telekenesis.

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theotheleo's review

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emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Very good but too slow until the last 50ish pages

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deluna's review

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funny hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

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mjwhitlock18's review

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emotional medium-paced

3.5

Regency romance with a dash of magical realism. Overall entertaining and I love the character of Nina. In the end, I like Hector and the way he cares for Nina, but I spent 60% of the book just wanting to scream at him and shake him. My main gripe with this book is that so much of the conflict hinges on miscommunication/lack thereof, which I don’t usually like. But in the end

I love to see a bitch get what is coming to her.

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