I enjoyed this book more than the 1st. I felt like there were less lulls in the book, and Clayton explored the tension among the Belles more. I really enjoyed Camille's run-in with an ex-flame. It felt very satisfying while still being true to life. We also see more of the gris and the lives of those opposed to beauty work, which I had a lot of questions about in the 1st book. I think there are still some holes in the world building. There was a one-off scene where a security advisor mentioned that under Princess Sophie, Orleans was having difficulty maintaining its borders, and I realized that while I had a decent idea of how life within Orleans worked, I had no idea how it interacted with other countries or maintained itself, and I couldn't even guess.