The Beautiful (The Beautiful #1) by Renée Ahdieh

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

I feel the need to defend The Beautiful and to set the record straight when it comes to this book. I know that everyone has been excited since Renee Ahdieh announced that she was writing a book that would feature vampires and thought that it would have a Gothic feel with seductive creatures of the night. It does have that and has managed to bring back the type of vampires that we knew before Twilight came onto the scene and changed vampires to sparkly vegetarians (I'm not trying to bash the Twilight books at all by saying that). 

I think that the disappointment and confusion with The Beautiful is coming in the form of thinking that vampires would be at the forefront of the book because it mentions them in the synopsis. The truth about The Beautiful is that if you are looking for a book like Twilight or Interview With the Vampire you may be disappointed. While there are vampires in the book and readers get to be in the head of one of them (the villain's point of view) the vampires are mostly hidden away in the book. I think that readers are going into this book expecting one thing when the book reads more like a paranormal murder mystery set in the 1800s. 

I am often skeptical of books set in time periods like this one but I have loved all of Renee's other books and knew that I would read it regardless. I love thrillers and this one was reminiscent of Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco which I loved as well. I thought that the mystery surrounding the villain was done well and I wasn't able to guess who done it. It always surprises me when an author is capable of stumping me. My issues with the book fall into this area as well. I think that the author should have given more breadcrumbs for readers to follow regarding the identity of the murderer. I was a bit thrown off when I discovered their identity. I also didn't really understand nor did I feel that there was much depth as to why the villain was committing murders in the first place. I am hoping that this will be remedied in the next installment. 

I still thought that the book was an overall success. The atmosphere that Renee was able to create was sensual and littered with temptations for the main character. It set the tone of the book beautifully. The author did a nice job of creating the setting with details about dress and culture of the time period included. I enjoyed the characters especially since there were not white knights or damsels in distress. I liked that the characters were flawed and moody rather than being run of mill characters that we see all of the time. I look forward to reading the next installment and feel that The Beautiful wasn't a bad foray into the world of vampires again after the drought of vampire books.