Lets talk about The Belles Dhonielle Clayton
The selection, meets Hunger Games. However, not with the story line; the story line is its own, and completely original. It’s the characters that give me the selection, and the hunger game vibes.
We follow Cameilla Beauregard, an almost rebellious Belle, who knows how to play the game, without following the rules. I say ‘almost rebellious’ because, shes sneaky and witty, she knows when to follow a rule, when the put a toe on the line, and when to ignore all the instructions she has been given and simply... go for it. Which is one of the first thing she does when she is introduced to the King, Queen and Princess and hopes to impress them and be chosen as the favourite.
However, is it really all that being the favourite Belle? Or is it risky, unreliable, and even dangerous when the Princess Sophia a young girl who has been denied, love and attention all her life, finds the perfect Belle to follow all of her creative designs of her people so they are ugly and she is the most beautiful. Don’t we all just want to be the best? Princess Sophia is destructive, if things don’t go her way, how she wants; someone is being humilliated. It’s not fair, and it is definitely not easy to be under Princess Sophia’s rule but with her sister, Princess Charlotte unknowingly poisoned and in a coma, no one knows if she will wake from, a mother and a Queen who has fallen ill and lays on her death bed, and a King who is away to a different land for a vacation; who will stand up to Sophia and control her?
Thoughts on side characters:
I think it is safe to say, we can all understand why Sophia is acting out. I’m not saying I agree with what she is doing, and how she is acting... just that I understand. Because when you’re a baby, all attention is on you. Adults cooing at you as you dribble, and the older you get the less attention you’ll get, and the less people will care about you. So you’ve got to think, ‘What can I do, that will get me some more attention?’, and maybe it will be just staying out late, you know? Worry your parents a bit, ringing and texting your phone - but when you’re a princess you can’t just demand attention. You’re a lady, so you must act like it. You’re a princess, and you know how you should act, so act like it. So you make a group of friends, a group of friends who admire you, look up, and do what you says go. And that’s good enough, for the time being. But one of the girls step out of line, now you can’t have that. So, what’s left to do? Banish them? But where, is that reasonable and do you have the power to do that? So grab a Belle, someone who can alter how you look, and force them to make someone look hideous. Undesirable. A laughing stock. Because what can they do? Tell the Queen? And who will she believe?
I blame Sarah J Mass for my feelings towards Auguste. Don’t get me wrong, his charm and how handsome he was did have its affects on me. It was like rereading They Both Die At The End, I knew what was going to happen, I knew what he was going to do, but I still fell for him a little. And he did exactly what I knew he would do. And that was betray Cameilla. ‘Disappointed but not surprised’ was the overall mood for that particular discovery. However, the thing is, I don’t think he ever lied to Cameilla. Everything -apart from telling Princess Sophia everything Cameilla said- when he said ‘Maybe I’m interested in someone else’, and ‘I find you interesting,’ I think he genuinely had feelings for her; and was just caught in Sophia’s trap. However, as much he might have a redemption in the next book -brought, but yet to of read- I do not ship her with him. In fact, I ship her with one of my favourite characters out of the whole read, and I cannot wait to see her again in the next book.
Bree, soft hearted, kind, shes like a rose; a delicate flower with thorns. She’s strong, and can hold her own back, and she knows who is real. She instantly trusted Camilla, and became one of her trusted friends. Even working for the Royal family she went out of her way to help her friend, to the point she even suffered a punishment for it, (this was one of Sophia’s tricks to get to Cameilla). However, you don’t see much of her, if Cameilla has no need for her, or is not in her room she isn’t there much in the book. But I still think she was a beautiful character.
Remy! Oh my God, this freaking character. I didn’t realise I needed someone like in a book, until he was there. Remy is the soldier/body guard that looks after Cameilla, and for the most of it it’s just agitated Remy having to run or drag Cameilla away from danger, and he gets himself in trouble A LOT because of her, but Cameilla wears him down and he transforms from, strict, up-tight, ‘no-rule-breaking’ Remy to, ‘look-you’re-my-best-friend-and-i-would-do-anything-for-you-but-you’re-PISSING-ME-OFF’ Remy. Overall, he is a simple and pure babe.
I think we all know my thoughts on Cameilla.
Overall. I loved it, because yes the book story line is, ‘because this is in trend right now, I need to do it,’ or ‘I need to be pretty, I need the attention of others. I cannot be Ugly’, the main character (we already know her name) Cameilla is like, ‘oh honey, no. Your nose is fine, it gives you character, and your curves are beautiful’ and as much as everyone bats her away, and she has to give the treatment anyway; she still tries.
This book is beautiful, and has beautiful characters. Found family trope.
