Week 28 Reviews: The Beautiful, The Damned

From Goodreads:
New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with a sumptuous, sultry and romantic new series set in 19th century New Orleans where vampires hide in plain sight.

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 Le Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sèbastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of Le Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sèbastien'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.

At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

From Goodreads:
New York Times bestselling author Renée Ahdieh returns with the second installment of her new sumptuous, sultry and romantic series, The Beautiful.

Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.

Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can't quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn't know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she's not quite ready to learn.

Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart. 

My Review:
I had such a great time reading these books! I love her writing, but I've held off on reading this series because it wasn't finished yet, and it looks like the final book was delayed a bit. But it's now all out, so I was able to binge read this series, which I'm doing, but breaking it in half.

The Beautiful really introduced us to this world and these characters, and I'm so excited to see how things are going to develop from here! The mystery and the romance, both were really intriguing, and when you add in vampires, and other supernatural creatures, yeah, it was really interesting! 

One thing that I'm glad for is that this is a series of 4 books, because before this, Renée Ahdieh had written duologies. So it was great to have more time with this world and these characters, really see things change from the first book to the final, and I can't wait to read it! 

The Damned, was so excellent, because we know what's going on, but Celine doesn't. So a part of the mystery was when she was going to remember. As well as what other consequences of what happened, start to play out! I'm so excited to see where things go from here! 

These were so fantastic to read and I can't wait to continue on and finish this series! 

Author: Renée Ahdieh
Series: The Beautiful #1, 2
Read: July 12th, 12th, 2024
Source: Bought
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a Historical Fiction 2024 Books, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Books and a WoW Books! And The Beautiful is a RR Book and a WTC Book!
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Published: October 8th 2019, July 7th 2020

The Beautiful:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

The Damned:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars