This book is a little out of my comfort zone. It's got a huge emphasis on beauty, and that's not usually something I'm up for. But, I made an exception, and I think it panned out? I found some things to be a bit problematic, but I was expecting that.
Anywho, here's the amazon summary, "Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orleans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orleans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.
But it's not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favorite, the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orleans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognized as the most talented Belle in the land.
But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favorite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie, that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.
With the future of Orleans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide: save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles, or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever. " AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
People born in this world are gray. They have gray skin, gray hair, and red eyes. With their grayness, there comes a madness and depression. Thus, the Belles come in. The Belles are believed to be a gift from the goddess of beauty, and they are able to manipulate people's features to become beautiful, to be rid of the gray. Their beauty treatments last for about a month, and can be quite costly. The Belles have three arcanas (kind of like magic) that they use to give people different talents, improve their manners, and alter their physical appearance. They also have to restore their arcanas, which involve these things kind of like leeches that cycle their blood and restore different aspects of it that the arcanas deplete. Belles are also always beautiful, but they cannot use their powers on themselves or other Belles.
Camellia is a Belle from the latest generation of Belles. They compete in front of the royal family to become the favorite. The favorite Belle gets to serve the royal family directly, live in the palace, and are sought out by everyone for beauty treatments. They are the best of the Belles. There are six Belles in this generation, and they compete to be the favorite by transforming gray children to become beautiful per a pre-determined template of sorts. Camellia's child becomes a little unruly, so Camellia ends up wrapping her in a giant flower to control, comfort, and let Camellia finish the beauty treatment. But, one of her sister Belle's is still chosen as the favorite. Camellia is taken to one of the tea houses to serve the rest of the country. Camellia hears crying in the middle of the night, and goes sleuthing one night to see another Belle with a deformed face, crying, and going to give a beauty treatment while Camellia is supposed to be asleep for the night.
Then, before she can uncover more, her sister is shunned from the spot of favorite, and Camellia is brought to court to replace her. This is unheard of, and Camellia is very curious as to why her sister was replaced. The princess Sophia, seems to be more of a menace rather than a beloved monarch. Her older sister has been asleep for a few years, and the reigning Queen is looking for a way to wake her up so Sophia will not take the throne. Sophia has suitors to see who will be prince (eventually king) but one of them has taken a liking to Camellia and seeks out her company.
That's enough summary.
I think this story was very meticulous. It was fun to read and to get the different perspective of the characters, but it was also very concise about what was happening. The details of the palace, the tea house, the house where they were raised were all seemed to be kind of slotted into a grand puzzle slowly forming throughout the book.
Then there was kind of the mystery to the older sister to princess Sophia. There was a lot of like I hope I solve this mystery from Camellia trying to break out of this rigid sheltered life she's always led to get to the bottom of what Princess Sophia was all about, and then what the Queen wanted. I kind of wanted the story to concentrate on the mystery of the older sister, but there was kind of lot going on that it almost seemed like Camellia wasn't sure on what to concentrate on either.
ALSO, I was so, so curious about the older Belle generation, but there was just some little hints of it here or there, with some clues... but I just wanted more. I was also pretty grossed out by the whole restoring arcanas bit with the leech like things... BUT I also thought it was kind of cool that there was such a vivid cost to the arcanas. It made it feel a lot more balanced and also kind of realistic.
There was some weird things that seemed kind of off in this book, but I'm hoping it's resolved in book 2, since there will obviously be a book 2. I know there is one, I found it on amazon. Mwahahahaha!
Happy reading!
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