I finished The Belles and was planning on a 4.5 star rating. But after reading the author’s note and acknowledgements, I knew I had to bump it up to a solid five star.
I’ll be honest, everything about this book enchanted me from the start. The cover, which is wow; the setting, which feels like even though it’s a fantasy world could truly be (or could have been) a real place; and the characters are everything I wanted and more.
The Belles takes place in the kingdom of Orléans, where all of the people are born gray and ugly. In order to become beautiful, they use The Belles who are the only ones not born gray and have the power to give anyone their desired beauty look...for a price. A competition is held between all of The Belles once they reach a certain age to determine who will become the favorite and get to work in the palace with the royal family.
The Belles takes a look at the price of beauty both physically and mentally. It asks the question of how much is too much and forces us to question everyone (even ourselves) as we are forced to witness the pain everyone must go through. Is beauty really worth the pain?
And how far will we all go, and when is the stopping point.
Five out of five stars for the teacup animals, the questions I asked myself, and for the beautiful writing.
Also, thank you for not sinking my ship! It was starting to look dreary near the end. :D
I’ll be honest, everything about this book enchanted me from the start. The cover, which is wow; the setting, which feels like even though it’s a fantasy world could truly be (or could have been) a real place; and the characters are everything I wanted and more.
The Belles takes place in the kingdom of Orléans, where all of the people are born gray and ugly. In order to become beautiful, they use The Belles who are the only ones not born gray and have the power to give anyone their desired beauty look...for a price. A competition is held between all of The Belles once they reach a certain age to determine who will become the favorite and get to work in the palace with the royal family.
The Belles takes a look at the price of beauty both physically and mentally. It asks the question of how much is too much and forces us to question everyone (even ourselves) as we are forced to witness the pain everyone must go through. Is beauty really worth the pain?
And how far will we all go, and when is the stopping point.
Five out of five stars for the teacup animals, the questions I asked myself, and for the beautiful writing.
Also, thank you for not sinking my ship! It was starting to look dreary near the end. :D