Belle Révolte was one of my most anticipated upcoming 2020 release. You can't go wrong with a YA fantasy that has representation!



Emilie des Marais is more at home holding scalpels than embroidery needles and is desperate to escape her noble roots to serve her country as a physician. But society dictates a noble lady cannot perform such gruesome work.

Annette Boucher, overlooked and overworked by her family, wants more from life than her humble beginnings and is desperate to be trained in magic. So when a strange noble girl offers Annette the chance of a lifetime, she accepts.

Emilie and Annette swap lives—Annette attends finishing school as a noble lady to be trained in the ways of divination, while Emilie enrolls to be a physician’s assistant, using her natural magical talent to save lives.

But when their nation instigates a frivolous war, Emilie and Annette must work together to help the rebellion end a war that is based on lies.

 
 As always, a copy of this book was provided by the authors in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way. 

Part of me wants someone to pinch me because I cannot believe I finally read Belle Révolte. What I mean to say is, this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and I'm just genuinely surprised I was able to read the ARC? Belle Révolte promised to be an indulgent fantasy, with twists and turns and solid representation. And, obviously, that is 100% my BRAND. But, I couldn't help but to feel a bit letdown by the novel itself.

My issues with Belle Révolte revolve mostly around a couple of things. I didn't feel much towards the characters and it took me a very long time to actually get into it. This isn't me knocking down Linsey Miller's writing abilities--it's just one of those books that, at the end of the day, wasn't fully for me. And that is okay. Belle Révolte is still worthy of a read.

While I did enjoy Belle Révolte to a degree, I struggled. I really found myself drifting in and out of focus for the first half of the novel. Especially the first quarter. There were times when I debated whether or not I wanted to continue reading or DNF it because it just wasn't connecting with me. I didn't know what to think.

Still, in a fit of optimism, I stuck with Belle Révolte. So here are some basics on what I did like about Belle Révolte: the magical system, although a bit confusing at first, was one of the best parts. Miller's worldbuilding was rich and complex; exactly what I hoped for in a fantasy. While they didn't always rub me the right way, I thought that the characters were all solid and well-written.

What I will say is that once Miller got into her grove, the story flowed a lot easier and I kept turning the pages. Belle Révolte's second act was far superior to the first and I honestly feel like I would have adored it, if the beginning had felt more like the ending. Belle Révolte truly shined in the end and I was fully captivated--that final half was what I had hoped, truly, from the rest of the novel.

Ultimately, I had some issues with this one, but didn't hate it by any means.