Even looking at the cover now, I want to like this one a lot more than I did. The biggest issue I had with the book was the main character. I get that she was only 16/17, but good lord the girl couldn't draw a conclusion or make a stand to save her life---almost literally. I felt that she never stopped to think about anything but what she was going to wear. My grandmother used to say that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

I have a lot of hopes for the next books because the worldbuilding in this is a solid base to build upon. Despite my issues, I will purchase the ebook and audio (if offered) versions of the next. ( )

The cover is A beautiful. The plot got me hooked. The writing is lush and sensuous, full of food, flowers, and colors. All of this is good.

But.

I didn’t really enjoy this because I thought the villain was over-the-top horrifying. I'm at a point in my life where I don't really want to read about sadists. This was billed to me as a fun fantasy, but it's actually super dark and disturbing. I looked at the Common Sense Media review of this and laughed out loud at this line: "There's little content of concern (refreshingly swear-word free!)." Little content of concern! Just sadism, torture, attempted rape, murder, slavery, and abuse! At least there are no swears! LOL.

As other reviewers have pointed out, it's really disappointing to see the story's main gay characters meet their demise in the first book ("bury your gays" trope).

The world building was only so-so. I liked details like post balloons, but I did not understand how this civilization functioned. Does it make sense that a mere six Belles could provide beauty services for the entire country? How could you ever recognize anyone if everyone is regularly changing their hair, skin color, facial features, and body shapes? Why didn't the Belles' mothers warn them about the world they were entering?

Maybe some of these questions will be answered in the next book, which I probably won't read because of my aforementioned distaste for sadistic villains. But I'll probably read the spoiler-y reviews and see if it all gets explained because I'm curious. ( )

*I got this book for review for the publisher for the honest thoughts*

I really enjoyed this lush fantasy world. I also really loved the political aspects of this novel. I also was super impressed with the complex characters we met and the discussion on beauty that was had throughout this novel. I really was liked the cast of characters but wish the sisters were featured in the novel a tad more. I also felt like the plot towards the end was a tad rushed and a tad confusing. I really did enjoy it but wish it was fleshed out a tad more. I really did enjoy how the villain was crafted and am excited for book 2! ( )

*I got this book for review for the publisher for the honest thoughts*

I really enjoyed this lush fantasy world. I also really loved the political aspects of this novel. I also was super impressed with the complex characters we met and the discussion on beauty that was had throughout this novel. I really was liked the cast of characters but wish the sisters were featured in the novel a tad more. I also felt like the plot towards the end was a tad rushed and a tad confusing. I really did enjoy it but wish it was fleshed out a tad more. I really did enjoy how the villain was crafted and am excited for book 2! ( )

I really wanted to like this, but it was just so boring. This almost took me a month to read.

I didn't care for any of the characters and there was almost no action until the last 100 pages.

The idea was really cool, it just wasn't executed in a way that I enjoyed it. ( )