The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

Pages: 434
Publish date: February 8, 2018
Publisher: Hachette 
ISBN: 9781473223967
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

The Belles:

I received a copy of The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton from Hachette in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book. 

I wasn’t really sure what if I was going to enjoy this one. I heard very different things, but after I received I decided to why not pick it up? And I am really glad I did. 

In a world where everyone is grey and made beautiful only by the belles, it’s bound to get a little crazy. The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton follows Camellia Beauregard who has been trained from birth to be a Belle. But Camellia doesn’t want to be just any Belle, just wants to be the favourite. The one that the Queen of Orléans chooses to live with the royal family. 

But when Camellia and her sisters arrive at court, it’s nothing like they expected. The dark, power hunger nature of court-life starts to unravel and everything that Camellia seems to know is a lie. She must decide if being the favourite is worth the risk. If everything that she ever wanted to worth her life, her sisters and the kingdoms. 

I didn’t love Camellia at the start. I really did hate her. She was arrogant, thought that she was the best and the way that she spoke about people. It really didn’t sit well with me, but I was enjoying the plot so I pushed on. However, as the novel went on and Camellia started to grow, she did become a more likeable protagonist. I felt that Camellia not only started to understand herself but those around her as well, including the world that she lived in. 

The world building in The Belles was a weird one. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. But there were some hiccups on the way. I thought the concept was really interesting. Everyone born the same and then they can choose how they look and can change it all the time. It brought out the best and worst in people. However, it also made a lot of the characters very vain. And that made it hard to like any of the characters.

Also, while I normally hate when an author info dumps about the world, I think that Dhonielle Clayton excelled in it. She did it in a way that just worked so well! I didn’t feel that everything was thrown at me, but I also feel that I had a good idea of the world before the book really started. 

The plot is what really kept me going with The Belles. I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  Some parts were predictable and there was heaps of foreshadowing, but it worked for this novel. It worked with the characters and the world. Everything just blended together nicely. The ending definitely left me hanging and wanting more. And I will pick up the sequel for sure. 

The romance aspect of The Belles – I don’t want to talk about it much and ruined a lot of the book. But I didn’t really like it. I couldn’t tell from the start that something was off and just wanted to yell at Camellia. However, I also see something else brewing and I hope that it works out. 

Overall, I enjoyed The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton. It was an interesting read where the world is full of people that are vain to the core. I really enjoyed the plot and that is what really kept me going. Camellia isn’t my favourite protagonist, but as the novel went on, she did become more bearable. I am really excited to see where the story is taken and what’s going to happen next. 

Have you read The Belles? What did you think of it? Are you planning on reading the rest of the series? Let’s Chat!