The History of Orleans
The God of the Sky fell in love with the Goddess of Beauty after the world began. Sky showered Beauty with gifts of his loveliest objects -- the sun, the moon, the clouds, the stars. She accepted his offer to be his wife, and together they had the children of Orleans. But beauty loved her new children so much, she spent all her time with them. After she refused to return home, Sky sent rain and lightening and wind to drown the first humans. When Beautiful protected the people from harm, Sky cursed them with skin the color of a sunless sky, eyes the shade of blood, hair the texture of rotten straw, and a deep sadness that quickly turned madness. In return, Beauty sent the Belles to be roses growing out of the dark and ravaged. soil, destined to bring beauty back to the damned world, as the sun brings light.
We are introduced to a handful of the current Belles prior to their ceremony to determine The Favorite. The Favorite is the main Belle, whom gets to stay with the royal family. During the ceremony, the Belles get to display their abilities to make people beautiful. They each get their own person to make over and show what they can do to try to impress the Queen. These girls are all created with a blood magic called the arcana that helps them transform how people look.
Having a power like this is a great responsibility but what happens when this power ends up in the wrong hands??

When I first started reading this book, all I could think was this is exactly how I'd imagine PanAm to be in the Hunger Games. All these gorgeous people dressed over the top and worried about nothing but how they looked. I eventually felt horrible for that comparison. This book definitely deserves to stand alone and not be locked into a categorical box with others.
It did seem to drag a little in the beginning and it really didn't pick up til maybe mid book but to build a world of so much fantasy and beauty it's going to take a bit more than a couple pages. Once you are sucked in though there is no way out. I was torn between wanting to rush through this book and not out it down to not wanting to finish it because I knew it was a first in a series and I wouldn't get any closure and be left hanging until the next book.
The hardest part about this book was reading how important beauty was to all of this people and finding out just how far they would go for it. It was almost saddening but the author does include a note after the book of how she came up with this storyline and it's absolutely beautiful the method behind her madness. However, this book really makes you think. The more we advance things such as technology and put it into the hands of just anyone, what danger are we putting ourselves into if these powers get into the wrong hands??
I really enjoyed this book and looking forward to seeing how this series plays out. I would say this book is deserving of 4.5 stars!!
The God of the Sky fell in love with the Goddess of Beauty after the world began. Sky showered Beauty with gifts of his loveliest objects -- the sun, the moon, the clouds, the stars. She accepted his offer to be his wife, and together they had the children of Orleans. But beauty loved her new children so much, she spent all her time with them. After she refused to return home, Sky sent rain and lightening and wind to drown the first humans. When Beautiful protected the people from harm, Sky cursed them with skin the color of a sunless sky, eyes the shade of blood, hair the texture of rotten straw, and a deep sadness that quickly turned madness. In return, Beauty sent the Belles to be roses growing out of the dark and ravaged. soil, destined to bring beauty back to the damned world, as the sun brings light.
We are introduced to a handful of the current Belles prior to their ceremony to determine The Favorite. The Favorite is the main Belle, whom gets to stay with the royal family. During the ceremony, the Belles get to display their abilities to make people beautiful. They each get their own person to make over and show what they can do to try to impress the Queen. These girls are all created with a blood magic called the arcana that helps them transform how people look.
Having a power like this is a great responsibility but what happens when this power ends up in the wrong hands??

When I first started reading this book, all I could think was this is exactly how I'd imagine PanAm to be in the Hunger Games. All these gorgeous people dressed over the top and worried about nothing but how they looked. I eventually felt horrible for that comparison. This book definitely deserves to stand alone and not be locked into a categorical box with others.
It did seem to drag a little in the beginning and it really didn't pick up til maybe mid book but to build a world of so much fantasy and beauty it's going to take a bit more than a couple pages. Once you are sucked in though there is no way out. I was torn between wanting to rush through this book and not out it down to not wanting to finish it because I knew it was a first in a series and I wouldn't get any closure and be left hanging until the next book.
The hardest part about this book was reading how important beauty was to all of this people and finding out just how far they would go for it. It was almost saddening but the author does include a note after the book of how she came up with this storyline and it's absolutely beautiful the method behind her madness. However, this book really makes you think. The more we advance things such as technology and put it into the hands of just anyone, what danger are we putting ourselves into if these powers get into the wrong hands??
I really enjoyed this book and looking forward to seeing how this series plays out. I would say this book is deserving of 4.5 stars!!