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A review by idahobekah
Rebel Rose by Emma Theriault
3.0
Rebel Rose is a sequel of what happens after Beauty and Lio (formerly The Beast) get married. Belle always said she wanted more than a provincial life. This book takes the time to explore that adventurous side of Belle, and takes time to shine a light on how a peasant girl would adjust to life married into a prince.
A lot of this book parallels the themes and lessons of the original fairytale. That’s not to say it’s exactly the same, as this book shows it under a historical and political lens. On the surface, that premise sounds kind of boring, but as someone who never found history all that interesting in high school or college, I thought that the backdrop of the French Revolution was really well done and added to Belle’s dilemma of not fitting the mold.
This book tries super hard to incorporate the French language into just about everything. Sometimes it deepens your immersion, and other times it’s just distracting and/or confusing. You’ll want to make sure you have google translate handy or are using an E-Book that allows you to translate as you go. Once you get used to certain words and other context clues, it becomes easier to understand, but it does take some adjusting if you don’t have much experience with the French culture or language.
A Few General Notes—
SETTING- I’ve never read historical fiction, and the way that our author writes about France and “Aveyon” during the Revolution is just enthralling. I love the inclusion of real world events into this tale as old as time. It really helps bring these characters to life. Who’s to say Belle didn’t actually live through this?
PACING- There was a part early on where Belle admits that she needs to leave Paris. Within 3 chapters she still hasn’t left and yet most of the other nobles (who had no plans to leave) were already fleeing. All this to say, I think pacing was my biggest issue with the book. As much as I love taking my time with the characters, I felt like we the ready already knew how Belle was feeling- and didn’t need yet another recap. I wouldn’t say the pacing was horrendous, it was just very slow at times, and then randomly the pace would pick up only just to slow back down again the following chapter.
LENGTH- I was initially a bit intimidated by the length of this book, but the pages go by a lot quicker than you’d expect. However, a lot of the same ideas were expressed multiple times- even just within the first 100 pages. I felt like parts of this book could’ve been cut down. Cutting down the length of the book probably would have improved the pacing elements as well.
WRITING STYLE- Overall, it was fairly easy to read. There were so many things that I read multiple times— not because I didn’t understand them, but because I loved the way the author wrote it. There were so many things worth highlighting! This is for sure the part of the book that I enjoyed the most!
FOR FUN— Here’s a recap of some of the things I felt super eager to highlight as I read…
- Pretty much any time that Mrs. Potts leant Belle her wisdom. So beautifully written!
- Parallels & Metaphors.
- Belle standing up for the less fortunate.
- Belle breaking normal protocols.
TL;DR - Read this book if you would like to see Belle struggle with finding her purpose in a new social class with the French Revolution as a backdrop.
Overall: 2.75 ⭐️ rounded up to 3⭐️for Good Reads. While it wasn’t executed perfectly, ultimately I thought it was a setting worth visiting and I’m interested in reading where this series goes in the future. It did a good job at exposing me to Historical Fiction- I’m not as scared to dive into another book within this genre! Wouldn’t recommend unless you’re very interested in Historical Fiction, The French Revolution, Politics, and Beauty and the Beast.
A lot of this book parallels the themes and lessons of the original fairytale. That’s not to say it’s exactly the same, as this book shows it under a historical and political lens. On the surface, that premise sounds kind of boring, but as someone who never found history all that interesting in high school or college, I thought that the backdrop of the French Revolution was really well done and added to Belle’s dilemma of not fitting the mold.
This book tries super hard to incorporate the French language into just about everything. Sometimes it deepens your immersion, and other times it’s just distracting and/or confusing. You’ll want to make sure you have google translate handy or are using an E-Book that allows you to translate as you go. Once you get used to certain words and other context clues, it becomes easier to understand, but it does take some adjusting if you don’t have much experience with the French culture or language.
A Few General Notes—
SETTING- I’ve never read historical fiction, and the way that our author writes about France and “Aveyon” during the Revolution is just enthralling. I love the inclusion of real world events into this tale as old as time. It really helps bring these characters to life. Who’s to say Belle didn’t actually live through this?
PACING- There was a part early on where Belle admits that she needs to leave Paris. Within 3 chapters she still hasn’t left and yet most of the other nobles (who had no plans to leave) were already fleeing. All this to say, I think pacing was my biggest issue with the book. As much as I love taking my time with the characters, I felt like we the ready already knew how Belle was feeling- and didn’t need yet another recap. I wouldn’t say the pacing was horrendous, it was just very slow at times, and then randomly the pace would pick up only just to slow back down again the following chapter.
LENGTH- I was initially a bit intimidated by the length of this book, but the pages go by a lot quicker than you’d expect. However, a lot of the same ideas were expressed multiple times- even just within the first 100 pages. I felt like parts of this book could’ve been cut down. Cutting down the length of the book probably would have improved the pacing elements as well.
WRITING STYLE- Overall, it was fairly easy to read. There were so many things that I read multiple times— not because I didn’t understand them, but because I loved the way the author wrote it. There were so many things worth highlighting! This is for sure the part of the book that I enjoyed the most!
FOR FUN— Here’s a recap of some of the things I felt super eager to highlight as I read…
- Pretty much any time that Mrs. Potts leant Belle her wisdom. So beautifully written!
- Parallels & Metaphors.
- Belle standing up for the less fortunate.
- Belle breaking normal protocols.
TL;DR - Read this book if you would like to see Belle struggle with finding her purpose in a new social class with the French Revolution as a backdrop.
Overall: 2.75 ⭐️ rounded up to 3⭐️for Good Reads. While it wasn’t executed perfectly, ultimately I thought it was a setting worth visiting and I’m interested in reading where this series goes in the future. It did a good job at exposing me to Historical Fiction- I’m not as scared to dive into another book within this genre! Wouldn’t recommend unless you’re very interested in Historical Fiction, The French Revolution, Politics, and Beauty and the Beast.