5 Words: Beauty, power, control, collusion, family.

I loved this book.

Orléans is a world that you have to throw yourself into. You are dropped into the deep end of one of the richest and most lavish worlds I have ever read. Every page reveals a little more of the beliefs, the technology, and the secrets that surround Camellia, cleverly crafting an opulent yet deceitful world.

There is a lot of court intrigue, secrets, lies, collusion, power struggles... I found it so easy to get caught up in it all. At its heart, this story is as ugly as it is beautiful. It's truly breathtaking.

The writing is as decadent and colourful as the setting. It's like reading a painting. I easily spent as much time imagining everything as I did actually reading it.

I do think this book is not for everyone - you have to suspend disbelief and give yourself over to the fantasy, and if you don't I think you'd struggle. But it is absolutely worth it, and I'd recommend it to anyone willing to try something different.

I can't wait for more!

This definitely had an interesting concept for me, the world is grey with only a few who have the power to be beautiful. In the real world, I sadly believe that people would behave exactly like they did in the book.
It was an interesting read for me and I found myself sucked in around the middle of the book, (the beginning I found difficult to get into and it tailed off for me in the end.) I thought the characters were great and had such good emphasis on the relationship between the sisters although I would have liked more. I'm intrigued by the ending and at the moment, slightly indecisive as to whether I will pick up the next book.
My major gripe throughout this was with the main character Camellia and her perception of Princess Sophia, she witnessed Sophia's horrifying actions several times and each time came to the conclusion that Sophia is terrible and shouldn't be Queen but yet was shocked the next time Sophia did something awful? That just started to grate on my nerves towards the end of the book.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book; the middle definitely being the most captivating and intriguing. And the cover is stunning!

Wow. Sparkling with clever story-telling and exquisite world-building, Dhonielle Clayton's The Belles has taken all of the classic young-adult themes that I love and made them even better. What started as a beautiful coming-of-age story quickly became an intriguing mystery that kept me right on the edge of my seat, with a deadly twist underneath every beautiful description. I can't think of a YA fantasy debut I've enjoyed this much in a long time. Excellent POC & LGBT rep - including trans. We have been waiting for too long for this book, and I'm so glad that I can welcome it into the world.

Unfortunately this just wasn't my cup of tea, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on - I thought the premise was really intriguing and original, so I'm not sure why it didn't click for me. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to other readers: the worldbuilding is brilliant, the writing absolutely beautiful (it felt like watching the northern lights, it's so colourful) and the characters vivid. I can totally see why this is getting so much hype and I'm glad it is, it just wasn't for me.

In the city of Orléans, the people believe they have been cursed by the gods – with grey skin, red eyes and straw-like hair they long for a world of colour. The Belles are the answer to their prayers to the Goddess of Beauty – women born in technicolour with arcane talents to manipulate bodies, shape appearances and alter temperaments. Camellia and her Belle sisters are finally at an age to be shown to the world, and compete take up their career positions. Being named the favourite, and given a chance to work at the Royal Palace is all Camellia has ever wanted, but at what price and is everything at the court really as beautiful as it appears?

The Belles is a fantastic story, it’s an interesting concept with well-developed characters and a complex world. Although there are lots of new phrases, objects and hierarchies to get in your head, you never once feel lost - Dhonielle Clayton leads you slowly and carefully through the eyes of Camellia to experience this world for yourself. The description in this book is truly beautiful (as really it should be!) and the plot builds at a nice pace headlong into its crescendo which had me racing through its pages to the end. I should mention this is a series and not a stand-alone book so there are some questions that still need to be answered and I’d still like to find out a little more about the wider world itself. Using a sheltered narrator who has experienced very little except what is going on around her works for this book but I think the world is so well drawn out I would like to find out even more!

Too often I read books billed as ‘young adult’ but they are only given that genre to make up for poor writing style and cliched creativity. The Belles, however, is young adult fiction at its finest – the themes and situations portrayed are easily relatable and accessible to people of any age or background. The idea that all alterations, including ‘manner’ ones that change core personality traits only last for a month and for those with a more intense personality or who are older will have it wear off even faster was a nice addition and shows that exterior beauty really is only skin-deep.

Overall I cannot recommend The Belles highly enough – I’m sure it will be one of the stand-out YA books of 2018 and is already a favourite on my shelf. My only criticism is because I read an ARC copy, I have even longer to wait before the next book in the series comes out! Thank you very much to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and Gollancz for the opportunity to read and review The Belles.

I eagerly waited the news to see if I could read this on netgalley and I was so excited to see that Gollancz had accepted my request. So thank you so much for them. The Belles was a tale of beauty and dystopia which when you combine them, shouldn’t make sense, but it does. It makes so much sense. The cover makes it look like a fairytale dream come true but inside is something that is completely different. Princess Sophia, I wanted to murder her so much but she made such a brilliant antagonist, which is why I wanted to kill her, so much in the first place. If an antagonist is making you feel things, they are doing their job correctly in my experience.

8 out 10 for the cover
4 out of 5 for the book

For the lovers of dystopia and YA

A beautiful book with a dark heart, The Belles is a wonder of world-building and myth and I can't wait to see where Dhonielle takes the story next!

I received a digital copy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and the Orion Publishing Group for the opportunity.

I wasn’t initially interested in this book, mistaking it for a princess-type book about teen palace life, but the blurb indicated a supernatural angle and I became intrigued. The premise is that the population have been cursed with grey skin, and straw-like hair, rely on magic from a race of ‘Belles’ descended from the Goddess of Beauty, to make them attractive. This has become the most significant factor in their economy. Having treatment to make you beautiful has become the number one economic drive.

Camellia Beauregard, a 16 year old Belle slowly begins to question all she has been taught about the nature and history of the Belles, whist being caught up in the dangerous politics of life at the court Queen Celeste.

The early part of the book focuses, to an astonishing degree, on appearances. Based in a land that appears to be inspired by the court of Marie Antoinette, their are endless descriptions of hair, makeup, clothes, body parts and even room decor. Given the premise of the book, this could hardly be avoided but I found it quite exhausting. I was well into the book before the plot began to reveal itself. When it finally did, it was worth the wait and finally reeled me in.

Nestled at the end of the book is a piece by the author saying she had harboured this book idea since, as a child, hearing boys discuss girls in terms of body parts, would be better if thinner, or with longer legs, larger boobs and so on. I wished I had read this personal piece before I started the book as it put a completely different complexion (no pun intended) on the story. Instead of a list of descriptions the story then became an exploration of cultural norms and body-shaming. I feel like I want to start the book again with this new perspective in mind.

As a Young Adult fantasy novel, this is a reasonable if overly descriptive book, but it has the potential for more. I don’t think Clayton’s undercurrent of thought on the nature of beauty really came over. I will be watching to see if it does in later books of the series.

This book is AMAZING. Before I get into my babbling about how much I loved this book, first I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me with an eARC for this book. Okay, back to the amazingness that is Dhonielle Clayton's writing and this story she has managed to beautifully capture on paper. I sound incredibly cheesy, but I genuinely didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. The cover of this book suggests a girly contemporary (not my thing), but the synopsis sounded promising so I thought I'd give it a shot. We start out being introduced to the "Belles", and our main Belle Camellia Beauregard. The normal people of this world, in our fictional city of Orléans, are born grey, with it being said that it's a curse from a God. The Belles are born with not only coloured skin, hair and eyes, but also the ability to change the features of others from colourings to the physical shape of their bodies. This is, as you probably guessed, is coveted by the rich in this society and the Belles are therefore allocated to different "houses" which belong to the highest of the society, with the "favourite" Belle being allocated to the Royal Palace to work with the Royal Family and those they deem worthy. But there is a darker secret that lies beneath this seemingly sweet exterior, and when Camellia starts to uncover these secrets everything starts to fall away.

I absolutely loved the world building within this book, I liked the world when it was perfect and pristine, but as the darker tones come in and more about Orléans is discovered I really enjoyed learning the cities dark secrets and the issues which are present in our societies but seem greatly enhanced here. I personally feel like the message from this book can be likened to that of George Orwell's 1984, in that if our society continues to behave in a manner which is detrimental to the majority of the population then a higher power will take over and remove freedom whilst retaining its illusion. In 1984 this is done to relationships between families and friends, whereas in The Belles this is instead done to both outer and inner appearances (as The Belles can also influence personalities, although outer beauty is focused on in this first book).

This book is definitely a brilliant addition to the dystopian genre, with me wishing that the sequel was available the second I finished the book (I'm not even lying I went to go check and it's not even on Goodreads!! :( ). I will definitely be buying a physical copy of this book to support Clayton and add to my shelf and I 100% need to read the sequel as soon as I can get my hands on it! I may just be adding to the hype-train for this book, but personally, I believe it to be worth it.

‘I am a Belle. I control beauty.’

I received a copy of The Belles in exchange for an honest review, and I cannot tell you enough how priveliged I feel to get to read this beautiful book before its release date on 8th February, and to experience the dark, decadent world of Orléans.

The Belles are nurtured and brought up to learn how to control beauty – how to smooth away not only wrinkles but tempers, to change eye colour, hair colour, alter the very shape of a person’s bones and the colour of their skin. This is a dangerous gift in a world that values the materialistic and aesthetic above all else, and the story begins with the Belles performing for the Queen, competing for a place as the revered royal Belle.

The language is rich and musical, Clayton has a fresh and light way with descriptions, often conjuring the taste of cakes, sweets and other delicacies as you devour this wonderful book. The world she has built extends beyond one book, and I hope we see a sequel in the near future. The plot is fast paced and accelerates towards the end in perfect timing with the main character’s arc, so you feel as if you are right there with her as her dreams begin to unravel and fall apart.

I would highly recommend that this book be read by anyone and everyone over the age of 12, it has some really important messages about diversity, bullying, how we perceive others, and how we perceive and value ourselves. It’s the kind of book that follows you around after you’ve finished the final page, tugging at your attention as you recall the plot and the language.

A truly stunning debut from an author who is now very high on my to-watch list!

3.5 stars
The Belles, for me started quite slowly, with much description, but before I knew it I was drawn in to Camellia's world, which moved at quite a pace to the last page, which I did feel came too soon.

The idea of who and what defines beauty and fashion trends, who can afford to "make themselves beautiful" and even when you are perceived to be born beautiful, this is not enough, one needs to be the most beautiful, the best, the favourite, is a topic most women are familiar with and if we are honest have thought about at some point. And this book did get me thinking and disturbed me. I am not a YA, I still enjoyed the book and will keep my eye out for a sequel as the ending did leave the possibility of more to come for the Belles.

I received the Belles from the publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review..

I raced through this as it was so engaging. The world is richly imagined, and yet unexpected. I enjoyed the concept of the Belles, and the ambition of Camellia’s character and her multi-layered journey. After so much build up the ending came very quickly and was less satisfying than I’d hoped - it’s clearly set up for a sequel. However, it is a really innovative and readable novel and I look forward to seeing where the story goes next.

Wow. This book was better than I expected it to be. When I heard of the synopsis, I thought it would be hard to write a story about beauty without there being some plot-holes and complications,

But boy I was wrong.

The writing style of the author captivated me right from the very beginning. I was drawn into the story and the characters, making me both love and envy the belles and their powers.

However, I felt like sometimes the author was too descriptive, suppressing the effect of the action and suspense. But other than that, characters, plot and dialogue were absolutely on point.

I will definitely be buying a hardcover copy so I can re-read it and pick up on anything I missed!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for a advanced arc in exchange for an honest review. The Belles is a amazingly well-written story, I couldn’t put it down. I need to read book two now please, it was that good.

I loved this.
The descriptions made the world come to life beautifully.
I'm an impatient reader sometimes and want to main part of the story as soon as possible, but this made it all worth while. None of it felt like filler.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book! It is so so sooo much more than a typical YA cutesy princessy book about pretty people!

The beginning, for me, was a bit hit or miss. I actually really liked the way the world was built, it happened in a way that was not too overwhelming and it’s definitely an interesting concept for today’s society. There was a point where I thought because of the focus on beauty and clothes etc that I was going to get bored but boy was I wrong.

But when the main plot really got going, I got really invested really quickly! There are elements of mystery, political intrigue and hints of romance in this book that left me so invested in the characters and plot development. There was so much more depth to it than I had anticipated and it exceeded my expectations! The ending was especially great and I cannot wait to read the next installment whenever that comes out!

Highlights- world building, mysterious elements, sister relationships, normalisation of LGBTQ+ (REMY!!!)
Lowlights- MC can be annoying at times, not overly fussed by the finer details of things
(Will add review to Amazon on Feb 8th)

Highly entertaining and very original. Finally a young adult novel that lives up to the hype. I am looking forward to the next one.

*I received a digital advanced review copy of this book via Netgalley. This did not effect my review.* 4.5 stars.

I’ve seen a lot of excited buzz for The Belles and snapped up the chance for a copy and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a stunning tale with vibrant characters, decadent world building and a nuanced lead character.

The central premise that everyone except the Belles are a uniform grey and wish to change their appearance regularly is superb. There is no preaching on a perfect body size or one correct look, that one skin colour is fashionable, that curves are in, or out. These people will suffer through regular intense pain just for a tiny chance to their nose shape.

Camellia struggles between her ambition and her love for her sister Belles. This is exacerbated by the ongoing pressures of the court politics. Raised like a hothouse flower, her innocence and naivety is soon destroyed.

There is much more here than just beauty standards, class plays a huge role in the novel, the excesses of wealth, race and colourism, and so many more. All of it is subtle and only enhances the story.

The lost half a star is for the ending, as I felt it led on to the next book rather than gave a solid ending to this one. But since this has all the makings of a great series, it’s hard to be too upset about that. The politics, the complications, side plots and characters – I want the next one out ASAP.

Plus, what do I have to do to get a teacup dragon?

I was – understandably – beyond excited when I got an ARC copy of this book, and upon receiving it, immediately pushed everything else aside to read it. Aaaaand, I really liked it, you guys. I liked it a lot.

I would like to start off by talking about the best part of this book, which is definitely Clayton’s writing. She has an incredibly beautiful and lyrical style, that seamlessly mirrors the overall plot and themes of beauty. She just creates so many of these gorgeous metaphors that fit the different scenes incredibly well.

“It all feels like a dream that’s held on and lingered past the dawn.”

Okay, so technically that is a simile, but you get the point. How pretty is that? Clayton’s writing style is definitely the highlight of the novel.

Now, I don’t have any really specific issues – overall, the novel was genuinely good – but at times the story is a little chaotic and confusing. I’m not sure if that is to show how the main character is finding the situation confounding, or if the book really just is kind of messy. I mean, it is a political drama, and those can sometimes be intentionally misdirecting, but I am not sold that that was the point of this novel.

SPOILER ALERT! Skip to next paragraph if you want to avoid.

Also, the whole conflict with Sophia could have been solved a lot sooner in my opinion, and I don’t really understand why Camellia wouldn’t just tell the Queen that she would help her. Like, Camellia kept saying that Sophia needed to be stopped, and then did nothing to achieve this for, like, a week. Admittedly, this is congruent with Camellia’s more sheltered upbringing, but considering how she is constantly labeled a, ‘Rebel,’ and, ‘Ruler-breaker,’ it doesn’t really mesh.

END OF SPOILER!

Overall, I thought that this was a good read – and I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series.

The Belles is set in a fictional Orleans where several young women, called Belles, can use magic to make people beautiful. The magic comes with a heavy price so it’s only really the rich that can afford this magic.
The world building is superb with dazzling descriptions and a great descriptive writing style. The Belles was a very addicting read and left me wanting the sequel immediately. Clayton details the hard truth about beauty and what lengths people will go to in order to achieve it.