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annakh16's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Infidelity
kate_arts's review against another edition
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Infertility, and Sexism
expressivekim's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Classism
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Body shaming, Gun violence, Infertility, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
samchase112's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I truly enjoyed this one! I wish I'd had the time to devote to reading this in one sitting, because it would've been better consumed that way. Hector and Nina's turbulent journey was twisted, and I did love them together, but Hector's feelings toward her did take a dramatic turn that didn't really have enough build up, in my opninon. The world was fascinating, Valerie was fascinating, the book overall was fascinating.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Suicide
praaliine's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny and Toxic relationship
Minor: Gun violence and Violence
triple_m's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Classism
dreadspawn's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Infertility and Sexual content
hjb_128's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Infertility and Infidelity
carbs666's review against another edition
reflective
slow-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? It's complicated
2.75
Ok I really wanted to love this book but I only liked it and I'm going to tell you exactly why while avoiding spoilers as much as possible!
You have to wait until you're roughly halfway thru the book for anything to really happen. Theres a difference between building tension and having no plot, but the book is very much like a classic in this way, as well with how much the writing tells rather than shows. Hector does exactly NOTHING to recommend himself until the last 5 chapters of the book so not totally sure why I'm supposed to feel like he and Nina got their HEA? Nina interested me, but I felt very keenly like she didn't belong in this book; she would have been an excellent weird little heroine for a genuine romance novel, but I just spent the entire book feeling sorry for her while everyone else played her like a fiddle. Valerie was vile and jealous and self absorbed and pitiful - a truly perfect villain. I did not predict this book would go in the direction it did and while I suppose the ending was satisfying, I think I was expecting something darker. Also, the aspect of psychokenisis was very much an afterthought throughout the book - I think it could have been replaced with basically anything else as a common ground uppm which Hector and Nina could build their relationship and the book would have been almost exactly the same, which was somewhat disappointing to me.
I will say that the narrative kept me tense and on the hook enough for me to keep reading - I was desperate to find out what the ending would be, I just think when I got there I was a bit disappointed.
You have to wait until you're roughly halfway thru the book for anything to really happen. Theres a difference between building tension and having no plot, but the book is very much like a classic in this way, as well with how much the writing tells rather than shows. Hector does exactly NOTHING to recommend himself until the last 5 chapters of the book so not totally sure why I'm supposed to feel like he and Nina got their HEA? Nina interested me, but I felt very keenly like she didn't belong in this book; she would have been an excellent weird little heroine for a genuine romance novel, but I just spent the entire book feeling sorry for her while everyone else played her like a fiddle. Valerie was vile and jealous and self absorbed and pitiful - a truly perfect villain. I did not predict this book would go in the direction it did and while I suppose the ending was satisfying, I think I was expecting something darker. Also, the aspect of psychokenisis was very much an afterthought throughout the book - I think it could have been replaced with basically anything else as a common ground uppm which Hector and Nina could build their relationship and the book would have been almost exactly the same, which was somewhat disappointing to me.
I will say that the narrative kept me tense and on the hook enough for me to keep reading - I was desperate to find out what the ending would be, I just think when I got there I was a bit disappointed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Gun violence
readwith_joy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence