The Everlasting Rose
Author: Dhionelle Clayton
Publication Date: 05 March 2019
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 315
Publisher: Freeform/Disney Book Group
Synopsis:
In this sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller, Camille, her sister Edel, and her guard and new love Remy must race against time to find Princess Charlotte. Sophia’s Imperial forces will stop at nothing to keep the rebels from returning Charlotte to the castle and her rightful place as queen. With the help of an underground resistance movement called The Iron Ladies—a society that rejects beauty treatments entirely—and the backing of alternative newspaper The Spider’s Web, Camille uses her powers, her connections and her cunning to outwit her greatest nemesis, Sophia, and restore peace to Orleans.
My Thoughts:
Let me start this review by saying that The Belles was one of my absolute favorite reads of last year. It was a 5-star read. Hands down. I loved being launched into the world of The Belles in Orléans. I absolutely adored Camille Beauregard and couldn’t wait to continue her story.
The Everlasting Rose picks up exactly where it left off in The Belles, which I really appreciated. I would like to first say that Dhionelle’s writing is absolutely beautiful. She describes scenes with such lush imagery that you are able to fully immerse yourself in her scenes. However, I was incredibly disappointed with the plot execution of this story and left wanting for that beautiful story that I first read with The Belles.
This story revolves around Camille’s desperate search to find Charlotte, the heir to the throne of Orléans, who is the only one who can stop Sophie’s sadistic reign. Additionally, Camille must also track down her sisters, the other Belles, who were kidnapped following the falling out of the Belles versus Sophie. I honestly felt like the plot was meandering around trying to find the sisters, but not actually amounting to much action. Additionally, we weren’t offered any more character depth than that of the first book, which I was definitely longing for; especially when it came to Camille and Rémy.
The last 20 percent of the book, when Camille and Sophie face-off, is incredibly intense and an absolute page-turning showdown. Nevertheless, I felt that because the plot took so long to build up to this integral moment, the rest of the story was incredibly rushed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Books for providing an eARC of this book. This did not bias my review, and these opinions are entirely my own.
Rating: 3 stars
The Reading Chemist 
A shame it took so long to build up but it sounds like a good read still, great review!
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Thank you! I completely agree!
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I haven’t read The Belles but it sounds like book 2 is a bit of a disappointment. Will there be more books in the series?
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There’s a rumor that there may be a third, but it hasn’t been confirmed.
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I need to read this book. I loved The Belles, and while it’s a little disappointing to read that The Everlasting Rose didn’t exactly live up to the first book, I know I still need to read it!
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Let me know your thoughts after you read it! I’m interested to hear how others felt especially after The Belles.
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I definitely will! I almost certainly will post a review of it on my blog, actually, but it may be a while since I plan on getting the print book 😛
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[…] Little Darlings by Melanie Golding (ARC) – This book was incredibly chilling page after page, yet I couldn’t stop reading. The idea of possessed/changed children is something out of my worst nightmares. This was a good read. I gave it 4 stars. Here’s my review. The Everlasting Rose by Dhionelle Clayton (eARC) – I was incredibly disappointed with how the sequel to The Belles was executed. The Belles was one of my absolute favorite reads last year and was 5 stars. I still enjoyed this one, but it wasn’t more than 3 stars for me. Here’s my review. […]
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[…] The Everlasting Rose by Dhionelle Clayton – 3 stars. This was one of my most anticipated reads this year. I LOVED The Belles, and I couldn’t wait to jump back into this world. However, I expected so much more from what I got out of the sequel. Here is my review. […]
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