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popthebutterfly 's review for:
The Everlasting Rose
by Dhonielle Clayton
Disclaimer: I received the earc from Netgalley and the finished book from Rockstar Book Tours and Freeform. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book Series: Book Two of The Belles
Rating: 2/5
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 16+ (suicide TW, slavery imagery, violence, slight gore)
Publisher: Freeform
Pages: 352
Amazon Link
Synopsis: 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.
Review: Okay so for the most part this book is really gorgeous. The writing, the cover, the artwork for the map. Everything is absolutely worthy of The Belles. The book also has really great imagery about slavery and equality and I can see where an English teacher like a decade from now would use this series for their English class. However, I do have some issues with this book.
The book begins and there’s no easing into the book. Usually a sequel will have some sort of in-book synopsis or explanation of the previous book’s events. So, I would definitely recommend reading this back to back with the first book. The book is really confusing otherwise and I struggled to remember all of the people and places and events that happened in the first book while reading this one. The character also had a name change I think. I thought her name was Camellia in the first book, but now it’s Camille? Or am I having a Mandella Effect? The side characters are very underdeveloped and unmentionable. I can’t connect with anyone in this book and the MC feels totally different. I’m so confused over the ending and I feel like there are a lot of plot holes in this book. This book feels like a different story overall. The first book was amazing and fantastic. I loved it and it was definitely one of my faves from 2018, but this one feels rushed and incomplete. I feel like it needed more time to develop and possibly a different course of action for the main. I also feel like the book would have benefited from being a trilogy instead where the story could have been slowed down and better thought out. Right now, the book feels like a first draft instead of a final draft.
Verdict: Read this if you need some sort of closure from the first book.
Book Series: Book Two of The Belles
Rating: 2/5
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 16+ (suicide TW, slavery imagery, violence, slight gore)
Publisher: Freeform
Pages: 352
Amazon Link
Synopsis: 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.
Review: Okay so for the most part this book is really gorgeous. The writing, the cover, the artwork for the map. Everything is absolutely worthy of The Belles. The book also has really great imagery about slavery and equality and I can see where an English teacher like a decade from now would use this series for their English class. However, I do have some issues with this book.
The book begins and there’s no easing into the book. Usually a sequel will have some sort of in-book synopsis or explanation of the previous book’s events. So, I would definitely recommend reading this back to back with the first book. The book is really confusing otherwise and I struggled to remember all of the people and places and events that happened in the first book while reading this one. The character also had a name change I think. I thought her name was Camellia in the first book, but now it’s Camille? Or am I having a Mandella Effect? The side characters are very underdeveloped and unmentionable. I can’t connect with anyone in this book and the MC feels totally different. I’m so confused over the ending and I feel like there are a lot of plot holes in this book. This book feels like a different story overall. The first book was amazing and fantastic. I loved it and it was definitely one of my faves from 2018, but this one feels rushed and incomplete. I feel like it needed more time to develop and possibly a different course of action for the main. I also feel like the book would have benefited from being a trilogy instead where the story could have been slowed down and better thought out. Right now, the book feels like a first draft instead of a final draft.
Verdict: Read this if you need some sort of closure from the first book.