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| Cover of the Book |
"Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder." Or so the saying goes but what happens in a world where the beauty standards are set and can be controlled by another.
In the glitz and glamorous world of Orleans, beauty runs through the blood of a select few: The Belles. They have the power to transform the appearance of a society cursed with grey skin and red eyes, a society where beauty is almost a currency. Camellia Beauregard is a young Belle, ready to fulfill her duty of transforming the courtiers into beautiful versions of themselves. Like her sisters(other Belles raised like her), she is running to be the favourite - the most accomplished Belle in the land, personally chosen to serve the royals and members of the courts. She dreams of this for her whole life, training and understanding the art of beauty......but so have her sisters. But there is only one spot and only the best will make it.
But as the young Belles make it to the court, they realise that the world that they have seen may be just the tip of the iceberg. With secrets and betrayal lurking at every corner, Camellia and her sisters must always be on their toes, if not they could pay with their lives. When Camellia is asked to make a choice between the future of her people or her own, she has to decide whether she will follow the rules or make her own.
Initially, I had ignored this book on spotting it at my public library but finally picked it up on the recommendation of a video on Epic reads. I am so glad I did because the book was just amazing. Dhonielle has certainly excelled in character development, plot twists and a world so beautiful that you are absorbed into it. However, there were certain points from the beginning, that the beautiful world seemed sickly sweet. A kind of beauty that coils around your heart and squeezes till you tremble. As a reader you are kept on your toes and tempted to check whether everything is okay at the end, time and again but I promise you I did not.
I enjoyed the diversity of the characters within The Belles. Dhonielle introduces so many vibrant personalities that every individual stands out of the story and makes a presence even if for a fleeting moment. While Camellia is a protagonist that you try not to relate with in the beginning because she seems overly ambitious and quite selfish as you keep reading you realise that Camellia is just like you and me. The fear of not being the best has been drilled into her from a young age that she takes steps to ensure the same. She is often torn between her duty and her own feelings. She is a protagonist that the reader does not want to see as a reflection of self but in so many ways we are, from the fear of not being the best and the sliver of envy that seeps in when someone we love gets something we wanted and at the same the love and pride that you feel for that individual. She is an ordinary human with the problems and qualities that we all have.
The Belles cleverly address the society's obsession with looks and beauty. At many instances, I could draw parallel between the surgeries that individuals go through in our world with that of the beauty treatment. It was very interesting how people could be controlled and obsessed with beauty and pushed to take drastic steps.
While Belles as a whole was a great novel, I had some concerns with regards to the representation of the LGBT community, they were easily disposed and that seemed a bit disconcerting.
Apart from this minor hitch, I enjoyed this novel and am glad I picked it up. I am excited to see what the next installment holds. There are certain characters that I am hoping will have a greater presence in the next book including Edel and Amber, two of Camellia's sister, who have very polar opposite characteristics but balance out that of the protagonist.
Looking forward to read the next in the series: The Everlasting Rose. :)
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