The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh: The Diverse Twilight We All Deserve

Let me just start by saying that this review is going to be all over the place.

I'll admit I was a part of the Twilight fandom. I loved Twilight, I still love Twilight, and a part of me, despite being a woman of color who recognizes all of Twilight's flaws, will always love it. However, as a person of color, I see no part of myself in Twilight, and the main character's name is Isabella, for crying out loud! From my memory, in the books, there are zero black characters and zero LGBTQ+ characters. Zero. To be fair, Twilight was written in 2005, which was essentially a different era, but that doesn't change the fact that it isn't diverse.

The Beautiful, however, is the diverse Twilight young women of color truly deserve. The main character is biracial, and has to hide the fact that she is biracial, there are queer characters, and lots of interesting commentary about race and identity. Additionally, The Beautiful, which is just an all-around better book than Twilight, does have some elements that feel similar to Twilight, and it does play with some of the same tropes, but it still manages to be uniquely its own (starting with the slow-burn romance not present in Twilight). Some people will undoubtedly feel that it is a "rip off" of Twilight, and I vehemently disagree, although I recognize that Twilight comparisons are valid. The thing is, I am all here for a better, more diverse and inclusive version of Twilight. I've come to realize that it isn't too much to ask for to have YA books in various genres in which I see myself, and I've come to realize that I (no matter how much I may still love Twilight) and every other black and brown girl deserved more from Twilight than what it gave us, at least in terms of representation.

The Beautiful is being marketed as a vampire book, and with that, the return of vampires to YA. While that is true, vampires don't obviously appear until much later in the book. This is a legitimate piece of criticism I think people will have: they are expecting a full-blown paranormal romance (and to be fair, the marketing of this book does make it seem that way) with vampires galore, and what they end up getting is a murder mystery with the added bonus of the involvement of paranormal creatures. I buddy read this with a friend, and if you can do that, I highly recommend doing so! There are most likely things in the book that you will miss if you don't have someone to talk to about it. This book is so smart, from the way the author inserts clues about the lore of the world she has created as well as clues from Shakespearian tragedies to give hints about the identity of the murderer, is just so ingenious.

The Beautiful is also an inherently feminist novel. Twilight is not. And I'll be honest: still loving Twilight and being a die-hard feminist is something I struggle with every day when I look at my bookshelves. The main character, Celine, is such a feminist character whose every move is about empowering other women. Additionally, Celine was a victim of an attempted sexual assault. She blames herself for the attack, and feels incredibly guilty about not just the attempted assault, but what she did to stop it. Now, many reviewers are outraged and are claiming that the author is making a victim of sexual assault out to be a villain. THAT IS NOT TRUE. If you get that impression from the book, there's no other way to say this, so I'm just going to give it to you bluntly: you're not understanding the book. Does the main character feel guilty, like a lot of sexual assault victims do, that the assault was her fault? Yes. And a huge part of the novel is the author taking Celine on a journey of self-discovery that allows her to realize that no, no part of what she went through was her fault, and it allows her to go from being a victim to a survivor.

One element that I particularly loved about the book was the setting. It takes place in New Orleans in the 1870s, and the setting is just so atmospheric and engaging. It gave me Moulin Rouge! vibes, and I LOVE Moulin Rouge! Additionally, the writing is absolutely gorgeous. It's very descriptive, pretty, and flowery. Every sentence is a work of art. The main character also worked for a famous fashion designer in Paris, so fashion is a huge element of the book, and it is described in great detail. I know for a fact that Renée Ahdieh loves fashion, and that passion really comes across in the best of ways. Personally, I love that kind of thing, and I love lyrical writing, so the prose was one of the book's greatest strengths, in my opinion. However, there are people who don't like flowery, descriptive writing, and also people who don't like descriptions about fashion. Those are all legitimate things not to like in a book, and if you don't like that type of writing, The Beautiful probably isn't going to be for you.

I absolutely loved The Beautiful, and I had an amazing time reading it; I buddy read this book with my friend Bethany, an AMAZING BookTuber from the channel Beautifully Bookish Bethany (check her out, especially her AWESOME review on The Beautiful here!). I can honestly say that reading this book is the best reading experience I've had so far this year, and when it comes out in October, I truly hope you pick up a copy and read it with a friend.

XOXO,

Isabella

Check out my Instagram post on The Beautiful here!