A review by sabrinainbookland
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh

lighthearted 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? Yes
This was a book that I was extremely excited to read when it was announced. It took me a long time to pick it up. That being said, I think that I am starting to get a bit old for YA. Which pains me to admit. I just don't think it works for me how it used to. And that makes me upset 😢.

Here is what I thought about the book: 

- The characters didn't have a background and when you went to learn about them it was just a sentence with 5 lines. I couldn't connect with them and honestly? Didn't care for them. 

- The romance was very fast and without development. They were sawing to each other how well they know each other when we don't even know the main character that well. 

I usually don't mind a fast kind of thing (when it makes sense) romance, but this comes out of the blue. There were just two scenes of them and by the third, they were already almost declaring themself's to each other. And because of that, I didn't care about what happened in the end. 

- The writing was good. I liked how fast it was to read and how the story kept a moderate pace. The thing relative to the plot moved at a good pace, nothing too fast or too slow (although I didn't like how easy it was to defeat the "villain"). 

- I liked the friendship and wished we had gotten more of it in the book. I think this is something we will see developed more in the following books?!

- The end was very underwhelming. I was expecting a lot more from it and the villain was just bla. 

- The story was very lighthearted and easy to follow. There weren't too many characters to remember and the plot was nice. 


Overall it was a book that I read in one sitting and the end made me want to think about picking up the sequel, although I think it will be a while until that happens. 

I believe that a younger audience will love this book and appreciate it more than I did.