23 Jan 2023

Review: THE EVERLASTING ROSE by Dhonielle Clayton

THE EVERLASTING ROSE

Author: Dhonielle Clayton

Series: The Belles #2
Source: Audio from Audible
Publisher: Freeform
Publication Date: March 5, 2019

Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:
Representation: Black main character

Summary:

In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, Camille, her sister Edel, and her guard and new love Remy must race against time to find Princess Charlotte. Sophia's Imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep the rebels from returning Charlotte to the castle and her rightful place as queen. With the help of an underground resistance movement called The Iron Ladies-a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely-and the backing of alternative newspaper The Spider's Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and restore peace to Orleans.

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Read my review of THE BELLES!

Content Warning: Blood, Animal Cruelty, Animal Death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Abuse, Torture, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Death, and Body shaming

Don't mind me thinking that if I finished this I would be done with this series only to find out there is ANOTHER book coming out this year.

This book was so boring until the very end and even the confrontation couldn't save it in my opinion. It was rushed from the plot to the setting to the romance. The whole idea was to "start the rebellion" but that was like maybe 75 pages of this book and at the end.

I thought Sophie would answer for the horrible things that happened in The Belles. That's why I tolerated the torture/bulling in the first book. Instead, Charlotte simply puts Sophie in her own prison to await trial and plans spend her days teaching her sister why all the bad things she did was bad, which feels like more of a grown up time out than anything else.

I also didn't feel like the author took enough risks with this one. Everything major happens in a few chapters and it gets wrapped up. I feel like Clayton is the sort of author to leave us with something shocking or unsettling that makes us want more. The possibilities in a world like Orleans are endless, so it's a shame the author went a safe route in how she concludes the story.

I just genuinely did not enjoy reading this book or this series. I doubt I will continue with more in this world, even though it is from a different perspective.