Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

27 reviews

annakh16's review against another edition

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

3.25

This is an impressive piece of craft. The prose is closely written with nice insights into each character. The characters remain unlikeable throughout (imo), but there’s some empathy for everyone. It felt to me like the kind of text you’d want to analyse. 

At the same time, this book fell short for me emotionally. It felt like it was moving too slowly, even though a lot happened. I can’t say I was convinced by the romance.
Nina is too good for Hector
. Valerie is the “star“ of the show if you ask me. However, I don’t think The Beautiful Ones were actually well elaborated. The end
i.e. Valerie‘s downfall was also overdone - the now cartoonishly evil woman is banished from all of society. This lacks the nuance the book has otherwise
. 

Overall, I wasn’t as hooked as I hoped to be - but I still mostly enjoyed it, and hats off to the writing. 
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expressivekim's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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triple_m's review against another edition

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emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

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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hjb_128's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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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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ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was drawn to this because I thought it was a fantasy read but I ended up feeling like this story could have been told just as well without the small fantasy element’s inclusion. I found myself loving this even though it’s not my usual read and not what I anticipated when I chose it! 

A beautiful (non-spicy) romance story perfect for February! ♥️
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blakeandbooks's review against another edition

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emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

I am just such a fan of Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This was a bit different than other books of hers that I’ve read. This book didn’t focus so much on magical realism as it did the romance and the meaning of what being loved feels like. (There’s still magical realism though!!) It’s definitely a slow burn, but I felt like it was the perfect amount of anticipation.

I’m looking forward to continuing to read through SMG’s works!
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dejah_sowells's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed the story, but I do feel it dragged in some parts.
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mjwhitlock18's review against another edition

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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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