I was SO excited to get the sequel to The Belles from NetGalley and am grateful for the opportunity to review it this far in advance. Though YA Fantasy is not my typical "go to," I am a Youth Services librarian who orders materials for our library, so I try to keep up with what has a lot of buzz. Despite being unsure about The Belles' description, I really enjoyed the first book. It's vivid description and forefront of attention on the hierarchy within the society won me over and I appreciated that the hints of romance were not in the forefront of the story. The Everlasting Rose, unfortunately, fell flat for me. The prominence of the love interests and the way certain plot elements would appear but then dissipate without adequate attention or conclusion left me irritated. I do appreciate this was a duology and I think readers who are big fans of YA fantasy and don't mind some plot holes here and there, may be happy with this conclusion to the story of the Belles.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!