The Belles was yet another book that was on my YALC TBR pile. I was in such a massive reading mood during July because of how many books I needed to read for YALC. I had my apprehensions about this book because I’d heard so many mixed things, but I really wanted to get my book signed by Dhonielle, so I decided to take the plunge and start reading.

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born grey, 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 Orléans 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 favourite 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 Orléans 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.

I have very mixed feelings about this book… On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but then there are also definite flaws that are very very prominent. So I’m going to try my very best to voice these opinions as best as I can.

 

“Dreams remind us of who we are and how we feel about the things around us.”

― Dhonielle Clayton, The Belles

 

If you follow me on Goodreads, you will know that quite a lot of the updates that I put whilst reading the beginning of this book was me stating that it was boring and that the characters were unlikeable. Camellia was our main character and honestly? She was just terrible at first. She was so uptight and up her own arse, and she had a crazy superiority complex. Throughout the beginning of the book, all we heard off of Camellia was how amazing she is and how much she deserved to be crowned the favourite by the Queen. I just have the feeling that if she was a real person, I wouldn’t like her that much. Because of the protagonist being boring, the start of the book ended up being very slow and tedious. It took about 100 pages for the book to properly kick off and for the mysteries to finally present themselves to the reader.

Just before I go onto the positives of the book, I would like to point out that there are a few reviews of The Belles that state that the book uses the trope of ‘burying your gays’. Elise at the Bookish Actress talks about the trope of burying your gays in a very detailed blog post that I suggest reading. There were several times that Clayton could have driven the plot by building upon the lesbian/bisexual characters that were in the book. There were the Queen and her female lover, there was also Sophia’s lady-in-waiting who had a secret love affair with another female servant, and then there was also a mention of Sophia taking a female lover. However, as you can see, these characters were all side characters and were either mad or ended up being killed. This is just SO annoying and hurtful. It’s 2018. When are we going to get a CORRECT and not-harmful representation of lesbians, gay people and bisexual individuals? It’s not that hard to create a character who is queer, and it’s not hard to make that representation unharmful.

 

“Be the best without trying to be better than the others.”

― Dhonielle Clayton, The Belles

 

Now onto the positives…

For me, the second half of the book was SO MUCH better than the first half. in the second half, Clayton went further into the mysteries (which, in the end, had me completely hooked!) and I had so many questions about what was going on. Luckily, most of these questions were answered by the end of the novel, and I’m guessing that the rest of the loose ends are going to be wrapped up in the next (and final) book of the duology.

I also really enjoyed how the book explored the darker sides of wanting to be beautiful. Clayton said that this book was born out of her own insecurities, and she put all of her anxiety about how she looked into this book, and it’s definitely apparent when reading. During the novel, we actually see parents treat their children as dolls. They pay Belles to change how their children look, just so that they can gain social status. It’s horrifying. It’s scary, but you just have to look at today’s society to realise that the world of The Belles isn’t really that far off from reality.

I think – and please correct me if I’ve read completely wrong into this – that Clayton has hidden messages about slavery throughout this novel. The Belles aren’t seen as people, they are used for the needs of the upper class, and even though Belles are given food, nice clothes, and a place to sleep, it doesn’t mean that they are technically treated like slaves to the hierarchy. Like I said, if I’ve read into this in the wrong way, please let me know. It’s just something that captured my attention whilst I was reading it, and I meant to bring it up to Dhonielle when I met her at YALC, to ask her if I was correct, but I completely forgot…

 

“You have to decide for yourself. It is you who must live with the outcome.”

― Dhonielle Clayton, The Belles

 

Other bits worth mentioning:

• The love interest in this book was ridiculous. There was no chemistry between them and it was just annoying.
• The people who lived in Orléans seemed EXACTLY like the people from The Capital from The Hunger Games.
• The Belle’s recovery grossed me out – LEECHES???!!

I think I’m going to read the next book… I think… I’m hoping that Clayton sorts out the whole ‘bury your gays’ trope, and I hope that she wraps up the rest of loose ends. I did really like the writing in the second half of the novel, and I really did love the mysteries that were portrayed to us… So maybe… Overall, this was a very enjoyable book. It took me a few days to read, and even though there are definitely problematic elements of the novel, it’s entertaining.

Trigger warning: an attempt at sexual assault

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review