The Belles

By Dhonielle Clayton , - #1 in The Belles series

Book cover of The Belles

Book description

Beauty. Power. Magic. What would you give to have it all?

The dazzling New York Times instant bestseller from the author of TINY PRETTY THINGS (coming to NETFLIX soon)

Camellia and her sisters control beauty.

They are Belles and they can make you 'perfect'.

Glossy hair, smooth skin, flawless body.…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked The Belles as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The descriptions blew me away; it was like I was really in Orléans, eating buckets of rainbow macaroons. Dhonielle Clayton’s prose envelopes your senses in this glittering world and works as a plot device to make the characters’ dark acts even more jarring.

Camellia is a Belle with the coveted power to manipulate skin and bone to transform others. Her greatest ambition is to be chosen to serve the Queen and her court, but Camellia learns the court’s splendor masks a rotten core. We follow her journey to save her fellow Belles and the kingdom.

The narrative explores the dark…

Don’t let the gorgeous cover fool you into thinking this story is all about beauty, though the prose and setting certainly have their share of it. I was captivated by the gray royal court where the Belles control beauty. There are no shortages of dark secrets that put them all at risk in a dangerous political game. Fun details, like miniature teacup pets, are woven seamlessly with the darker aspects of this lush world.

I read this book without knowing what to expect and was absolutely enthralled by this stunning world of decadence and illusion. In the opulent world of Orleans, Camellia is a Belle—one of the chosen few who controls the commodity of beauty. When she is summoned to the court of the Queen, Camellia soon realizes the gilded walls of the palace hide dark secrets and creeping treachery. I was blown away by the creativity behind the decadent world Clayton created, and was seduced by both its visions of lavishness and its thoughtful take on the value of beauty and how looks…

From Lyra's list on YA fantasy with magic and intrigue.

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