The Beautiful Excerpt [Renée Ahdieh]

I knew this book was about vampires before picking it up. And in truth, I really only read the sample for The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh to determine if it’s something I would actually be interested in reading. I’ve never really been a vampire fan, to tell you the truth. My foray into those kinds of worlds really did kind of begin and end with Twilight, sad as it is. I’ve read a few other books, but none of them actually ever stuck with me. And I never even bothered with most of the shows or movies–though I do love Underworld immensely–and I guess the fact of the matter is that I just don’t find “dangerous” men alluring or attractive.

For The Beautiful, I’ll give Ahdieh this; she’s done a pretty excellent job with her villain. I only got a brief interaction with him, but damn. That was impressive. Did it endear me to want to read the book? Not really. I’m not a fan of mystery novels, either. This has a lot to do with the fact that, too often, I’ve already figured out the mystery long before it’s revealed. And in that sense, the fun of it is kind of ruined? I mean, sure, it feels great to be right in my deductions…but past that? Meh.

And I’m just not here for the dangerous attraction thing.

The writing isn’t bad, but there were also far too many descriptions. I’m sorry, but if I spend that much time reading your book and I still don’t feel like I know the main character, there’s a problem. There wasn’t enough dialogue, either. I just felt like I was reading a summary that the author forgot wasn’t supposed to last this long.

I fully recognize that my dislike of this book so far has a lot more to do with me at times than it does with the book, though. I’m glad I got a chance to read a sample rather than grabbing the whole book and realizing that I wasn’t into it. I don’t consider this a DNF since I technically did finish the excerpt, but I also don’t see myself picking it up at all. This is definitely a book best left to the vampire and mystery lovers. I’ll wash my hands of it.

I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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