“We are not blessed by the Goddess of Beauty. We are cursed. I don’t want to do this.“

4.5 stars!! I really enjoyed this! I was interested by the premise because the worldbuilding sounded so unique, but it totally exceeded my expectations. All of the rules of the world are so intricate and creative and I was constantly surprised by where Clayton took the plot. It definitely had a mystery/thriller feel and after page 100 I almost couldn’t put it down!

There are so many wonderful and layered characters throughout this book. Camille (Camellia) was a fascinating narrator and it was hard to judge if she was making the right choices because of her position and the pressure from the royals. There are a lot of twists and turns, and though you see Camille’s desire to do good and rebel, you still don’t quite know how each choice will pan out. My favorite side characters were Bree, Rémy and Edel! They all acted as some type of support system for Camille and I just loved them all. I also liked Claudia! I’m holding on my judgement of Amber until the next book, but for most of this one she wasn’t my favorite, though she did show promise at the end!

Sophia is truly awful. I was terrified for all the characters that had to be in the same room as her. She is a really interesting villain and I hope she gets some major karma in the next book. I also hope that Charlotte comes back into the fold because I would love to know more of her story! The one character I had an issue with was Auguste, because I was NOT into the romance between him and Camille so that took me out of those scenes a bit. But his arc still left me entertained!

Overall I’m really glad I finally read this one and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel!