14 new YA books to read during sweater season this October
By Lacy Baugher
The Beautiful – Renee Adieh
The highly anticipated first novel in a new series from bestselling author Renee Ahdieh, The Beautiful promises to be a sumptuous, romantic tale of 19th century New Orleans vampires.
And you thought vampires were over as a trend in YA literature, didn’t you? Guess again! (But I suspect a lot of people will be happy that’s the case once they get their hands on this book.)
The Beautiful follows the story of 17-year-old Celine Rosseau, who lives in New Orleans in 1892. The city, they say, is ruled by the dead – or, the undead, as the case may be. But for Celine it is both a refuge and a fresh start. Fascinated by the city’s food, music, and generally dangerous undercurrent, she finds herself drawn into its underworld, where everything from her heart to her life could be at risk.
The full synopsis has a few more details about what to expect.
"In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she’s forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city’s glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group’s leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien’s guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret. When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface."
The Beautiful is available on October 8.