Vampires are Back! The Beautiful by Renee Adieh Book Review & Discussion #thebeautifulreneeadieh

Vampires are back! And this time they are diverse and don't sparkle, thank god. This is a book review and discussion of The Beautiful by Renee Adieh. In my opinion, this is the diverse, feminist, well-written Twilight be all deserve, and there is a lot to talk about! Who else is excited for this one?

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The Beautiful by Renee Adieh Book Review

[perpetualpages]

Thank you for sharing this thoughtful review! I for one love flowery writing and mysteries and subtle mythology, so you've made me even more eager to read this! ❤

[kellitreads]

I was excited for this release before this video, but now I’m even MORE excited! I think it’s great that people of different ethnicities are getting a time to shine. Thanks for the video!

[booksandpieces]

This is a really interesting and well thought out discussion, thank you. It's nice to hear some of the criticisms addressed and definitely makes me intrigued to try it out!

[ashthebookbakery]

Great Review! I got an Arc of it at Bookcon and I think I’m gonna start it when I get back from vacation!

[isabellao]

This is so great, Bethany! It was so much fun reading this with you! I think more people will want to pick this book up because of this video!

[MerrilyKristin]

We had very similar thoughts!!! I also really loved The Beautiful but felt that the ‘vampire book’ marketing was a bit misleading. It read like such a beautiful historical fiction to me and I really loved the main character and I totally understood why she felt guilty.

[ReadandFindOut]

"My behavior is not your responsibility." YES. I really want to read this book now! I've been hearing mostly positive things so far.

[evastrange]

Great review! I always appreciate it when people point out where other reviewers have gotten it wrong. It irritates me to no end when I see somebody write (or film) a negative review that's based on inattentive reading or misunderstandings, and readers/viewers comment on it saying: Oh good, I was going to pick this up, but now I know that I don't need to bother… 🙄

[ashthebookbakery]

I think its important to bring diversity into “white spaces” because it forces white people to realize that other people exist and deserve a seat at the table. They argue “why cant poc just create something new” but when we try that, white audiences ignore it or consider it not for them and then studios and the big wigs use that to say “See! This stuff doesn’t sell!” and don’t invest in other projects by and featuring black people and POC. They did it in the book community by saying “Issue books” meaning “Contemporary books with characters of color” don’t sell a couple of months ago. They also market books and movies focusing on poc less, like how a couple of months ago there was a movie about a family of black women with powers that we didn’t find out about until after it stopped showing in *select* theaters because it got no advertisement or marketing like other superhero movies and shows get. Netflix does it as well, not showcasing or advertising One Day at a Time and them canceling it despite it having a dedicated audience. We see it over and over again. Anytime we try to create something new, it gets dismissed by white audiences and then used as an example of why they shouldn’t put money into anything else like it. So I am a big fan of Poc pushing into white spaces.

A lot of people saying “Why can’t POC create something new?” are basically saying “Why can’t they exist in a separate space so I can continue ignoring them?!”

[Jamhands]

I haven’t read this but I think there’s a good point made her about separating the author from the character.
Characters can learn and make mistakes, but that doesn’t mean it’s how the author thinks

[LisbethJimenez]

I caught the last 3 mins. I think that diversifying roles is great. Little girls and boys can now see themselves in these new movies. But the cynic in me truly believes that it is a money grab. I want to read The Beautiful so bad that I am chomping at the bit.

[alexalovesbooks]

I’m personally so looking forward to reading The Beautiful! I think it’ll be so interesting, and I can’t wait to get to it.

[godslittlestidiot]

I think I need to preorder this. been looking for something like this forever. everything I've heard about it makes me want to read it. NOLA vamp stories are my favorite.

unless a persons race us pivotal to the story arc and character development I think all novels should be as diverse as the world they are set in

[CyndiSilva]

I saw this as one of Book of the Month's October picks. I had to YouTube a review and you popped. Yay! I a have a new BookTuber to follow! Thanks for the review. I ordered it. Yes, I agree. Men's behavior is not a woman's responsibility.

[moviegirlkatie]

What an interesting review. Honestly this made me want to read it more than ever. And to the people that cant deal with us brown people being in their white spaces, screw that. A mermaid is a mythical creature, she could have been blue for all anybody should care, I didn't know mermaid was a race. The girl is talented and can sing and just happens to be black. I don't see the issue, but maybe this stems from me as a child never having anybody on TV and cartoons look like me.

[vamps_rock]

Hi Bethany, as always I enjoyed your discussion. Despite my love of paranormal creatures including Vampires, I wasn't particularly interested in this book because it's not the type of YA I'm into but now you say it has minimal romance I might give it a try at some point. Moving on to my TED talk below...

Re "bringing POC into traditionally white spaces" I have various opinions.

1) 'Diversity' is a word I hate using and which is just a fancy way of saying among others ' let's stop pretending that everyone in the (our part of the) world is Anglo Saxon'' is a cash cow currently. It is fab that inclusion in all forms of media is getting better, but how much of it is authentic as opposed to just jumping on the very trendy bandwagon? To be truly authentic it needs to evolve at all levels of behind the scenes as well as in front of and not just for now. That is the only way to get true 'diversity' as opposed to just stereotyping, tokenism or 'blackwashing' etc.

2) Us POC's have existed for 100's of years in the western world _(quite separate and apart from slavery and genocide that has taken place in these areas - see N. America, S. America, Australia, New Zealand)_ despite what mainstream history tells us. Not in such large numbers as today (see Colonisation), but there has been cross-continental exploration happening for centuries. As such we should always _only_ be considered as 'normal' people, not unknown entities, especially in narratives that are not dependent on racial or ethnic issues. The western world as a whole is not homogenous, it just has various pockets that are, and this should not be ignored. I've read contemporary stories based in London, Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Atlanta and any number of _highly_ multi-cultural locations that have little to no mention of darker-skinned of any shade or other ethnically different (or any number of things that can differentiate us but those are arguments for other days!) characters of any kind. And that is just inexcusable. As is the fetish for torture porn about POC's, especially those of African descent. There are too many people only interested in consuming media that is about the suffering and stereotypical caricatures of different, _especially black_ people and that is sickening. After all, we are human before we are anything else and that includes our (exclusive) suffering.

3) It is great that more mainstream roles are now being made available to non-white people and thus increasing the perception that we are just as capable of excellence as white people. I personally have no problem with roles going to various different POC's who would have otherwise simply been ignored when the scope of the role has nothing to do with 'human' racial and/or ethnic identity. *BUT*... it is lazy when this is all that is happening for the most part. Also, where are all the Indigenous characters (of any kind!) in American and Canadian (And Australian/New Zealand... but again for a different day) media?? And the Latinx MC's, Asian male romantic leads? etc. I don't want to hear about the one or three or five already there; that's OK but where is the list of 100's and more of them? There are so many stories that have already been told by and about POC characters and communities, and continue to be, that to date simply get ignored by the mainstream that it frustrates me. Original parts are even more necessary than open casting for ready established characters. And it doesn't have to be 'all black' or 'all Latinx', or 'all Asian' etc casts either, just more of a mix up of MAIN characters of other ethnicities And, .

4) Ariel is a MERMAID. A non-existent creature, that is based on a fish. WHY TF so many people are up in arms is just beyond me. Disney Ariel is in the Carribbean (!) and is already not canon to the original Danish dark fairy tale. No amount of excuses will make me understand this. And no amount of counter _what if's of making Black Panther, or Tiana, Pocahontas, Mulan or other POC_ (and real life people) _characters where their racial identity is crucial to the plot of the story, white_ will make me do anything other than roll my eyes and huff my breath with increasing impatience at those spouting off about it. It's plain ignorance. Willful ignorance which on top of everything else, downplays the decades where those at the top have denied POC the opportunity to PLAY THEMSELVES in stories where their race was central to the narrative in the media. And for those people at the back... ANYONE can have red hair, it is not attributable to one racial group only but is very rare in all of them. Google it.

Whoo, I didn't know that I had SO much to say and I could go on but won't. Anyway, just wanted to leave you with the thought that in the adult Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance world, especially with indie authors who are not bound by some of the fads and restrictions of the trad pubs, especially in YA, Vampires have never gone away! TFS :)

[HollowMoonReads]

You made me so much more excited for this!!! I actually like the idea of it not being purely a paranormal romance. I think what Renee Adieh is doing is exactly what I'm looking for. Also, I'm noticing a trend this year. The Gilded Wolves getting compared to Six of Crows. The Beautiful getting compared to Twilight. Hmmm.

And I feel like anytime an author introduces a controversial or taboo subject some people like to pounce on it and try to sound "woke" by making an issue there isn't. Everyone is allowed to have opinions but some opinions are so far from the facts that it becomes a stretch. This was such a thoughtful critical analysis!

[SMMS]

Thanks for this review!💖 I was just wondering how explicit was the sexual assault scene in the book? Is it described in detail or just spoken of as something that happened in the past?

[liltxtwister]

I love this book. I listened to the audio version and the narrator, Lauren Ezzo, was perfect.

[VeelouC]

I don't support the black Ariel thing, I think it's completely ridiculous. If Disney wanted to showcase diversity in a live action version of fairytale they could have chosen Pocahontas or Princess and the Frog. No one is forcing them to remake only white princess fairytales. Dreadlocks underwater? Black skin underwater where the sun don't shine? Black Ariel in a Danish fairytale? Where 'Ariel' literally means white? People argue the setting is the carribean which is funny to me, that's like saying any movie with soundtrack influenced by other cultures and their sounds must take place there. For example, Latin music, which plays everywhere.
I want to see more diversity in media but the case of Ariel is Disney begging for attention.

Sorry for the long rant, the book sounds interesting and I loved the line "my behavior is not your responsibility"!