The Belles: Dhonielle Clayton

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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 used to watch them, being from around the area, there were always big crowds, a really good atmosphere. I was in the development squad and sometimes we linked up with them. The level they played at was phenomenal, it was so good to watch and it put in our head what we wanted to become." My feelings on this are quite mixed. I liked aspects, but disliked others, was intrigued and excited at times, but also bored at others.

It was such a cliffhanger and I just know the next book is going to be full of action and further suspense. It was pretty good, but not quite as enjoyable as I was expecting tbh 😒😒 I did love the climax/ending tho!! 🤩🤩With that being said, once the plot really started rolling I could NOT wait to see what was going to happen. Camellia Beauregard is a young girl who was born into being a Belle, one that holds magic and can control beauty. In Camellia’s world, Orleans, people are born grey and without the beauty they seek and it’s up to Belles like Camellia to cater to the needs of the citizens. Team-mate Izzy Gigg says: "When we go to away games, sometimes we have more fans than the home team do. It's not daunting but it makes you realise we have a name and a legacy." Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born gray, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.

The Belles is set in a world where beauty is the single most important thing to people. However, this doesn’t mean that they cherish beauty, as their tastes and fashion changes faster than the speed of light. The world of The Belles was one of those instances where you want to look away because it’s so vapid and horrible, and yet you can’t find the will to. The unduplicated number of students who are eligible to participate in the Free Lunch and Reduced-Price Lunch Programs under the National School Lunch Act of 1946. In the fictional world of Orléans, a small number of girls called Belles are able to use magic to create beautiful (or, indeed, ugly) looks to the paying customer's desire. Camellia and her sister Belles have been trained their whole lives for their job, and each longs to be chosen as Her Majesty’s favorite - the one responsible for keeping the royal family beautiful and satisfied. In the beginning, feeling a bit like The Hunger Games, ((and by a bit, I mean A LOT)) we find Camellia competing with her sister Belles to be named the 'favorite' of the kingdom. They have been raised to covet this honor. The Belles are presented to the kingdom on their sixteenth Birthday when they will soon learn of their placements. Other than the favorite, the Belles are assigned to tea houses where they will make those who come to them beautiful. There is a lot we learn about how the Belles’ powers work and, of course, the inner-workings of the royal family. There's the Queen & King, but the more prominent character of the royal family is Princess Sophia, the vindictive and malicious future possible ruler of the kingdom. The thing is: her older sister Princess Charlotte is ill, remaining unconscious and no one knows why. The favorite Belle must do what anyone in the royal family asks..including Sophia.

Our Story

The main characters, for the most part, are ok. Camellia as the main protagonist is the standard YA heroine. Special gifts, but with a rebellious heart and a need to bend the rules. Naive, yet a good egg. She was likeable enough to carry the story, but a bit bland. There was no bite and no feistiness. No depth to her character. Her sisters all follow a similar vein, although we rarely see them, which was a shame. There was potential here to develop a strong bond of female characters that I thought was wasted. Sophia was the main draw here, as she makes a great antagonist. Unpredictable, lashing out when you least expect it, and coming up with some devious and often awful deeds to make others suffer. She’s also harbours an obsession that runs as an undercurrent throughout the whole population. With the Belles, their power and most importantly their beauty. As with most of the inhabitants of Orleans she’s beautiful, but wants to be the most beautiful. She’s insecure and this manifests as a deep rooted, all consuming desire to control everything and everyone. I loved it. Overall, I had a fun time reading The Belles. If you’re in need of a whimsical yet dark fantasy novel, this is the one for you! The whole setting is very interesting. In this society, where people (of course, with money) can change their looks whenever they want, beauty becomes something essential. Something obsessional. People are ready to experience so much pain just to look pretty. If you could change your looks all the time, would you do it just to look more good looking? I liked the topic Dhonielle Clayton handled and the way she did it. The world she created was unique and she did a good job in showing us what these beauty addictions might lead, how they can affect someone’s personality, for the worse.

What makes THE BELLES stand out more from some of these other books is that it is, in many ways, a lot darker, and isn't afraid to show that darkness rather than relegating it off-screen. It borrows techniques from chilling works of dystopic sci-fi, like 1984 and THE HANDMAID'S TALE. However, there was one negative about the writing: bc it was so flowery, it could be hard to read for long periods of time and that meant I took a while to read the book. But it’s not that big of a deal. I disliked August from the start, he just didn’t appeal to me. Instead, I loved Remy (the guard) and ship with Camellia. It is true that he didn’t show much interest in our heroine, but hey, when that did ever stop us from pairing characters. They have been there since 2019 and currently sit second in the table. However only one team gets promoted and, with leaders Stourbridge already securing the title, a return to higher tiers will have to wait for another season. 'They all want to beat us because of the history' With a capacity of 15,231, Doncaster had the biggest stadium in WSL for the first three seasons of the competition Camilla was a caring, ambitious and inquistive character. I liked how she tried to make things work without being all selfless and giving up on her dream of being the favorite Belles at the first sign of trouble. I also loved how she believed people were beautiful the way they were and how much she cared for her sister Belles. The sisterhood she had with the other Belles was amazing but I would have liked a little bit more of it. Im sad that her maid Bree was pretty much forgotten because I really liked her. I also thought the villain was really compelling. She was smart, manipulative and frankly terrifying.

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People will say 'I want to play for Belles', you do get a fair bit of that," he told BBC Sport prior to an evening training session - one of only two sessions a week he gets with his squad. But, through it all, the real villain is society's obsession with, and expectations for, beauty. In a world where every part of a person can be changed - skin, hair and eye colour, bone structure, waist, breast and hip size, and more - no one is ever satisfied. In the insatiable quest for beauty, deep down, everyone hates themselves. Behind this mesmerizing fantasy of magic and terrible secrets, there is a sad tale, and one that many of us won't find completely unfamiliar. Guys, this character ranks HIGH on my list of most HATED characters ever. She may actually sit in the number two spot right now; directly under Professor Umbridge. Hacer ejercicios con mancuernas es excelente para tonificar los músculos de los hombros y la espalda superior.