The Belles: Dhonielle Clayton

Product Information

What you should know, and what you might need to decide if this book falls in your “interesting shelf” is this: this is a YA fantasy in which people are born with a gray skin, rotten hair, just ugly. So we have Les Belles who have magic that can change the person’s appearance and beautify them. Whatever you need, colored hair, slimmer waist, fuller breast, they even can change people’s emotions as in make them more patient, charmer, etc. Les Belles, who were born with color, train all their life to perform in front of the country and try to impress the queen to get chosen the “favorite”. Our MC, Camellia, is a Belle who wants more than anything to be the favorite. So she has to compete against her sisters. I don’t like to tell the outcome of such competitions even if they happen at the start. You might think the MC will, of course, end up the best but it’s not always the case (let’s face it) and it’s fun to experience the tension and root for our hero/heroine. Imagine a world where beauty rules everything and matters more than anything. In Orléans, the citizens are born gray due to a curse. It is the Belles job to make people beautiful by giving them distinguishing features, hair color/length, eye color, body type, skin tone, etc. It is a Belle’s duty to serve the kingdom. Every Belle wants to be the favorite Belle - the one to serve the Queen and royal family herself, and of course be revered as the most talented and beautiful Belle of all. Will being a Belle be all it’s meant to be? It soon becomes clear that what the Belles know of the world might not be completely true. I really loved the vast array of characters in this book. There were characters to hate and characters to love. I especially hated Sophia, the obvious villian. I mean, I have literally never hated a character more since Queen Levana from the Lunar Chronicles. Sophia is evil and to be honest, I hope she ends up dying 😂😯 I was honestly kind of frustrated that no one tried to stop her or even stand up to her at all. Esta oración no es una traducción de la original. A mi familia le gusta cantar villancicos en las navidades. This started off good enough, albeit extremely, painfully SLOW! Omg, so slow. But that wasn't the worst part. If it were better, I would have taken my good old time and turtled my way through it. However, this book wasn't just slow. It was BORING!

Buxton joined the club in 2019 as a coach, before moving into the manager's seat at the start of this season, however he says the events of a decade ago still linger around the club. There is an ominous presence overarching all of the beauty work that makes you feel cold in your bones. At least, that is how this book felt for me. With stunning vocals and lyrics as rich as the soil of her native land Nebraska, Kelli Rachel Belles’ natural charisma and charm comes through her songs and straight to your heart. Belles’ lyrics tell stories of love, heartbreak and hardships with deep meaning and wit. Nashville industry folks have compared her songwriting to a young Dolly Parton, and a female Brad Paisley. I had a couple issues like how I wish the only LGBT character got a different ending and the part were the gossip magazines say the Queen is only keeping the disabled Princess alive so the other Princess wont inherit the throne. I thought the writing was very beautiful, but it took me a few chapters to get use to it. To be honest, I was just so happy to finally find a book with enchanting writing that didnt slow down the plot. With all the wonderful visuals and whimsical world building I think this would make a great movie. This novel was highly entertaining.I mean, that may be a stretch, this is a YA novel but she definitely has some issues. Let's leave it at that. The level they played at was phenomenal, it was so good to watch and it put in our head what we wanted to become." George's late arrival for our first date should have set off alarm bells that he's not a punctual person. Both Doncaster men and women play in the fourth tier of their respective pyramids. For the men, there are four possible promotion spots from League Two. For the women, there is only one.

In the world of Orleans, people are born entirely devoid of color. With red eyes and grey skin, beauty does not come naturally, unless of course, you are a Belle. The unduplicated number of students who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) through direct certification (e.g., children that are in households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) or other assistance). Please see this blog post for more information regarding free or reduced-price lunch and direct certification eligibility counts in CCD.

Our Story

With the tagline of the kingdom being, "May you always find beauty", I have to assume I am not the only reader to gauge heavy HG vibes from this book. Two years after the decision was made, the club said the relegation actually stopped the club from folding because it encouraged local businesses to help save them. My feelings on this are quite mixed. I liked aspects, but disliked others, was intrigued and excited at times, but also bored at others. I also think the world building could've been a bit more structured. Like we did get a good overview of the world and how the Arcana works, but it didn't feel quite as structured as I would've liked it to be. The end of the book was partially predictable, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating (in a good way, like I WANT THE SEQUEL NOW). It doesn’t end with a cliffhanger exactly but rather a closure to the first arc.