A review by carolynnjeann
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
3.0
Was absolutely enamored by the summary of this book, excited to read but dismayed by the negative comments I read online. Nevertheless I decided to give the book a shot. There were a few things I liked, and many more things I did not like.
Starting with my pro list; I loved the setting and plot of this story. Time era fiction is literally my weakness. Renée Ahdieh uses beautiful descriptions to paint vivid pictures in the readers mind. The plot was also very interesting and unlike anything I’ve ever read before so I could never expect what was coming, thus why I finished the book so quickly.
However, here begins my cons list. I did not like the way the chapters switched POVs so quickly, as I got confused often and couldn’t paint a picture of the mystery killer in my mind.
Second, while I liked Ahdieh’s use of description to paint pictures, sometimes it became too much. It felt like I was in Celine’s head for pages upon pages. I graduated with a minor in creative writing and one thing my professors always taught was to show, not tell. I couldn’t help but think of that over and over again as I read.
Third, with the amount of time spent in Celine’s head, you would think I would have a better understanding of her character. I wish I could have seen more depth in her character, more than just a strong independent woman. She’s experienced a lot of suffering, I want to feel that through the pages.
Fourth, Bastien fell a little flat to me. I am an absolute sucker for an enemies to lovers novel, but their chemistry came on too quickly for me. They were flirtatious by their second (technically third) meeting and it just felt really wishy washy to me.
Lastly, either I read the ending way too fast or it felt confusing. I had to google a few different summaries and read the ending again to somewhat grasp what happened. I feel as though there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I know there are two more books that will probably answer some of those questions, but some of the things I am unsure about should have been answered at the end of this book.
TLDR, while this book isn’t a home run slam dunk in terms of depth, it is still a fun read. I definitely recommend giving it a chance! Never let a book’s reviews make up your mind for you, I’m glad I didn’t. While I genuinely wish I could have peer reviewed this many times before it was published, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy reading it!
Starting with my pro list; I loved the setting and plot of this story. Time era fiction is literally my weakness. Renée Ahdieh uses beautiful descriptions to paint vivid pictures in the readers mind. The plot was also very interesting and unlike anything I’ve ever read before so I could never expect what was coming, thus why I finished the book so quickly.
However, here begins my cons list. I did not like the way the chapters switched POVs so quickly, as I got confused often and couldn’t paint a picture of the mystery killer in my mind.
Second, while I liked Ahdieh’s use of description to paint pictures, sometimes it became too much. It felt like I was in Celine’s head for pages upon pages. I graduated with a minor in creative writing and one thing my professors always taught was to show, not tell. I couldn’t help but think of that over and over again as I read.
Third, with the amount of time spent in Celine’s head, you would think I would have a better understanding of her character. I wish I could have seen more depth in her character, more than just a strong independent woman. She’s experienced a lot of suffering, I want to feel that through the pages.
Fourth, Bastien fell a little flat to me. I am an absolute sucker for an enemies to lovers novel, but their chemistry came on too quickly for me. They were flirtatious by their second (technically third) meeting and it just felt really wishy washy to me.
Lastly, either I read the ending way too fast or it felt confusing. I had to google a few different summaries and read the ending again to somewhat grasp what happened. I feel as though there are still a lot of unanswered questions. I know there are two more books that will probably answer some of those questions, but some of the things I am unsure about should have been answered at the end of this book.
TLDR, while this book isn’t a home run slam dunk in terms of depth, it is still a fun read. I definitely recommend giving it a chance! Never let a book’s reviews make up your mind for you, I’m glad I didn’t. While I genuinely wish I could have peer reviewed this many times before it was published, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy reading it!