Book Review- The Beautiful and the Cursed

 The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan

♦publisher: Delacorte Press

♦release date: May 14, 2013
♦hardcover, 341
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦Rating: ♥♥♥

 With a tragic and disgracing string of accidents, Ingrid Waverly and her family must pack up and move to Paris. Exposing them to a world of common people, that are too worldly in their mannerisms, relations and social encounters for the reserved era.

A city caught up in the new 1890's, one that is stripped of fancy balls and parties and replaced with a strange and peculiar new world. A strange city where houses are lined with stone gargoyles, and even the streets are not safe to roam in the night. For there is a new fear that lurks in the darkness, leaving no young woman safe from its murdering lair.

The moment Ingrid and her sister Gabby arrive in their new home all seems amiss. The strange and peculiar hover all around them as they learn their new home is an abandoned abbey with a  roof lined in the same stone gargoyles that laden the city,  however they can almost be mistaken for living creatures. Yet the strangeness of Paris is soon forgotten, when Ingrid and Gabby learn their brother is missing and even though the others don’t share their alarm they still know something is gravely wrong.  

No one seems to be concerned by the strange disappearance but Ingrid and Gabby know there is something amiss and soon take it upon their selves to find their beloved brother, Grayson by themselves.  Through the servant boy Luc, the girls are lead to discover more than just the whereabouts of their brother but also that of a new society and a new danger that is more than any nightmare can create. Leaving Ingrid to discover the real reason behind the strange stone gargoyles and if they really represent the nightmarish form in which they are intended.

While this is one of the most creative spins on creatures of the night, this book is one that is filled with depth and a complex storyline. With strong character development, this story is carried out in even more complexity, with many characters being introduced into this first book of the trilogy.  I found it sometimes hard to follow the many storylines intertwining each character.  Don’t worry, love interests are abound and sometimes confusing as Ingrid and Gabby’s  heart’s struggle and flutter over the many men who enter their lives.  It is not a quick read but one that is worth taking the time to read and digest.  A true gothic read, that is beautifully set with great historical accuracy of Paris in the1890’s. 

 The Beautiful and the Cursed, is a story of self awareness, where finding out who you are and the powers you might actually possess can be seen not only as cursed but as something beautiful.

* If this book has caught your eye, or you have already read and anxiously waiting for the second book. The cover and release date was just annouced!

The Lovely and the Lost

Expected publication: May 13th 2014 by Delacorte Pres