Reminiscent of all the historical classic romances, this novel features the stifling manners and mores of high society in a fictional town named Loisail. The Beautiful Ones, as they are known, care about money and their reputations in public, but behind the scenes are some pretty ugly maneuverings.
Antonina (Nina) Beauliue comes to Loisail to stay with her cousin, Gaetan, and his wife, Valerie, as she negotiates her first Grand Season. A bit of a country bumpkin, and with telekinetic abilities that she can't control well, Nina is completely out of her depth during this important debut. Then she meets the famous talent, Hector Auvray, and their relationship sets a cascade of treachery and betrayal in motion. NO SPOILERS.
It must be said: I am not a fan of romance and charming fairytale tropes. I did enjoy the writing style and the details of the city, clothes, people, customs, etc. The characters were basically stereotypes and behaved exactly as they all do in a book where true love wins out and the mean ones (it's all relative though and only some of them) get the punishments they deserve. Nevertheless, I was entertained for a couple of hours. This book had a much different tone than MEXICAN GOTHIC and the fantasy aspect within was minimal. I will definitely look forward to more novels by this author.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - romance, dash of fantasy
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