The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

Everyone has been talking about this book! Renee’s latest novel is set in the 1870’s, in New Orleans, the city full of secrets, both human and mythical. Setting the scene for a new series, The Beautiful tells of Celine, a young woman fresh off the boat, hoping to find a new start in a new city, where no-one will know what she’s running from. Somewhat ironic, because it seems just about everyone in New Orleans is not what they appear.

A hunter is stalking the citizens of New Orleans, leaving young women with their throats mutilated. The police are baffled but Celine is starting to suspect that this so-called Court of Lions knows something. Part crime thriller, part swooping romance, this was stunningly gorgeous to read but honestly… it took me a while to get into. I don’t like to admit that, because everyone else has spoken so highly of it but I think that lyrical language, while amazing, didn’t suit my style of reading which is typically dipping in and out. Having said that, the ending massively picked up and I read the last 20 or so percent in one evening. 

What made it for me was the characters and the setting. New Orleans is a fascinating city and Renee’s style of writing made it seem so magical and mysterious, and the Court of Lions was just as mysterious as the city they inhabited. A group of not-quite-humans have sought refuge in the city and their leader was the charming and handsome Sebastian. Trouble was, he knew it, and pulls Celine into their tangled web, despite everyone’s better judgement. 

Although I had some trouble getting into the flow of the writing (which is entirely my fault, not the book’s), it was gripping and thrilling and darkly lyrical, perfectly encapsulating the feel of the magic of the city and all of its enigmatic inhabitants.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

As I’ve come to expect from Holly’s novels, this was a moving, poignant and highly topical story about an emotionally abusive relationship and how easy it is to lose yourself in that drug-like high called love. Told in two intermingling timelines, we see Amelie meet and fall for Reece, a cute and charming boy in a band, and six months later, Amelie retracing their steps to figure out why it hurts so much after the broke up. 

The premise was fascinating and oddly hilarious, as Amelie butts in on herself, warning us of the red flags that she should have seen at the time, like the casual claim Reece laid on her when they first met or the way he systematically removed her from her friends. All the romantic gesture that had Amelie swooning at the time, made her to angry months later. Even I was practically screaming at the book at times – for example, Reece gate crashes Amelie’s first gig to sing her a song and tell her he loves her. Um, rude! But most of the girls at school, Amelie included, thought it was the sweetest thing. No! But, of course, it’s easy to see in hindsight the terribly manipulative things he did. 

I saw Holly at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival at the end of September and she spoke about her writing process for this book. Holly knew it was going to be an ambitious project but wanted to book to be a rite of passage, a safe place for girls to understand the importance of healthy relationships, while remaining hopeful. Apparently, it was originally in second person and Holly had to re-write all the pronouns when she wanted to create the two timelines, which made the whole thing all the more complicated! 

Holly also talked about Reece, how a psychology student noticed that he has classic traits of narcissistic attachment disorder, and how she wrote him to be douche gift-wrapped in charismatic coolness. Reece is one of those characters that you love to hate, that you can’t quite put your finger on what makes your skin crawl about him. Holly wanted to prove that abusers blend in, that abuse itself transcends class and doesn’t discriminate to any particular “type” of victim. And Amelie doesn’t read as stupid or naïve, just caught up in a dramatic relationship and thinking its love. It highlighted the grey areas, especially in teenage relationships, where love can burn fast, and behaviours learned from rom-coms aren’t always healthy. It also emphasised the importance of listening to your gut, about recognising the red flags and being comfortable and confident enough in your relationship to speak up. 

I adored Holly’s latest. Maybe a bit different to her other novels, it still highlighted the important issue recognising and having healthy relationships, romantic or platonic, young or old. I wanted to bundle Amelie in a hug and smack Reece in the face for most of the book, and even though I finished it a few weeks back, it’s still swirling around my head: how Reece could behave like that, how I wish Amelie was stronger in the first place to voice her worries, how emotion trauma is just as significant as physical and just as difficult to move on from. Definitely a winner of a book and one that all teenagers should read.