Showing posts with label dhonielle clayton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dhonielle clayton. Show all posts

23 Jan 2023

Review: THE EVERLASTING ROSE by Dhonielle Clayton

23 January 0 Comments

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.

Have you read this series? Are you going to pick this up?
Continue reading...
No comments: quickedit
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

27 Oct 2021

#Review: THE BELLES by Dhonielle Clayton

27 October 32 Comments

 

THE BELLES

Author: Dhonielle Clayton
Series: The Belles #1
Source: Audio from Audible Plus
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:

Summary:
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 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 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 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 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.
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Ooof. That's all I can say about this one. There is a lot of things that could have been really great about this one, but it ended up being a bit of a flop. 

To get it out of the way, one of the lesbian characters die. I want to give the benefit of the doubt that this wasn't a "bury your gays" but a sense of the type of persecution if you didn't quite fit in to the way that our main villain saw the world. But you read it and tell me what you think (or don't lol).

The first scene was a mix of The Selection and The Hunger Games, which hooked me. I wanted to know more about the way that the Belles were judged and selected, but then we didn't get that. It was a jump right into the rest of the book. There was zero explanation about the magic system, the way that the society works, or anything that would really pull you into the narrative of the story.

But Camilla was a terrible main character. She couldn't see or notice anything and it was so frustrating. She would speak up when she shouldn't and didn't say anything when she should. She didn't ask the right questions or do anything with the information she learned. And she completely refused to think of anything but herself and being the FaVOurIte which was terrible to me. She had such a poor sense of judgement and trusted the wrong people for such weird reasons.

The romance was also so bad. Like where did it come from and why? There was no reason for it at all and was barely explored but we were supposed to just believe it? No. I refuse. Especially since we're told time and again that falling in love can taint the blood of the Belles which will take away some of their source of magic.

I have the next book and I will read it but I don't know if I'll enjoy it.

TLDR: So disappointing. Started off so strong and good with the way we were introduced to the characters and the world. But then increasingly became worse and worse. The villains were comically evil, the characters were comically naive, and the magic was the only interesting part and was barely touched. I have the second book already so I'll continue but it's just not shaping up to be great.

Have you read this book? Are you going to pick this up?
Continue reading...
32 comments: quickedit
Tags: , , , , , , ,

16 Aug 2021

Audio #Review: BLACKOUT edited by Dhonielle Clayton

16 August 0 Comments

 

BLACKOUT

Authors: Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
Series: N/A
Source: Purchased from Audible
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: June 22, 2021
Overall Rating:
Diversity Rating:


Summary:
Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark.

A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks…

A first meeting. 

Long-time friends. 

Bitter exes. 

And maybe the beginning of something new.

When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Beloved authors—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—celebrate the beauty of six couples and the unforgettable magic that can be found on a sweltering starry night in the city. 
Purchase:
Amazon | Chapters | TBD
Each story in BLACKOUT is set on the same summer night when a blackout hits New York City as they are all making their way to Brooklyn for a block party. The stories take place in different areas, but everyone has the same goal: get to the party while navigating love, life, and no lights.

What I typically like about anthologies is that they are either one of two things: a collection of stories under a similar theme or a connected collection of short stories. BLACKOUT is the latter - a collected of connected stories. Or at least, it tries to be. And that is probably my main gripe with this anthology: it didn't actually pull all the stories together in a way that I enjoyed.

I liked that they all were heading to one location and that was the "thread" for the anthology but I wanted them to either actually run into each other or some sort of closing story that brought it together. Especially since based on the layout of the anthology, it seemed as though we had a "running" narrative/story between each contained story. But that wasn't really the case - THE LONG WALK (which is the story that was in between the rest) didn't really match the same energy as the rest, or be used as a way to really tie the other stories together. The brief one-off mentions of other locations were cute but not enough to solidify this as the latter type of anthology.

I enjoyed almost all of these stories, I think they would have been better in a different order to make it feel like we weren't hearing about something extremely similar over and over, but with a bit of a mix up in between. And while this is targeted as Young Adult, everyone was 18+ so this is probably more New Adult (lots of talk of college, starting a new, etc.) and I wasn't mad about it.

The audiobook was a large cast with a different crew doing each of the stories, which I really appreciated. I also thought the sound design was really good but would have liked a bit more background noise at the party than what we got - or even some of the DJ/music that we were supposed to hear throughout some of the stories.

"The Long Walk" by Tiffany D. Jackson - exes confronting their breakup and learning more about what communication really means. I felt the ending didn't fit the rest of the story and that this story overall didn't have the same energy or vibe as the others. This could be because it was "broken up" between the other stories, but I was hoping it would be more that narrative thread through and it wasn't.

"No Sleep 'til Brooklyn" by Angie Thomas - the best in the bunch, unsurprisingly. An emerging love triangle, characters that are memorable, and some sharp Karen jokes.

"Seymour and Grace" by Nicola Yoon - two strangers meeting on an Uber-type ride. This was technically the last full story of the bunch and honestly one of the better ones. I almost wish that it had been the full last one instead of the remainder of THE LONG WALK.

"Mask Off" by Nic Stone - two former friends explore their possible connection while stuck inside a dark train. This one packed the most messages - from consent to homosexuality in sports to breastfeeding in public. I really enjoyed this one and how the two of them explored their identity within themselves and the collective narrative of their lives.

"Made to Fit" by Ashley Woodfolk - two girls possibly fall in love while visiting a senior living facility. I liked a lot of this, but I felt the connection was a little too fast for it to work for me. I would have liked to see a bit more of a "history" for them rather than meeting and the love in like... what? a few hours max? But it was still really cute.

"All the Great Love Stories... and Dust" by Dhonielle Clayton - two childhood friends decide if they want to take their relationship somewhere new. Here, the writing just didn't work for me with the footnotes, which made me feel like I probably should have had a physical copy instead of an audiobook. I had a hard time staying with it and felt like the flow of the story stumbled at the end of each sentence.

I really did enjoy each of the stories and think it was a great summer read! If you haven't already checked it out, I definitely recommend doing so, especially since it's pretty inexpensive on Kindle but hearing it as an audiobook was nice as well!
Continue reading...
No comments: quickedit
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,