1st person alternating with 3rd person - dual POV

This whole world where vampires are living amongst humans is of course not new however this is quite an interesting take on how that would work in a modern day society. I love the idea of having different “houses” set up across the globe with the them being managed by a vampire council. It gives that modern twist with a historical feel at the same time. I am a sucker for a good mystery as well so having that aspect thrown in the mix just made it even more entertaining.
Renie is a loyal and strong willed character that I truly enjoyed reading about. She knows asking around about her sister could put her in danger but nothing is more important than finding her. Not even a budding connection with a particularly irresistible vampire named Edmond. As Edmond and Renie get closer the secrets surrounding her sister start to unravel. I feel like I had pretty much guessed what had happened to her early on in the book but then I was second guessing myself constantly. I was only half right in the end and was still shocked when the truth finally came out. I am really looking forward to seeing if this story continues on and where it could possibly go.
My only complaint is with the pov chapters switching between 1st and 3rd. I’m not a fan of 3rd person but I can read it if written well. All of Renie’s chapters are in 1st person then anytime it’s an Edmond chapter or if there’s a break in the chapter where it’s necessary to swap to Edmond’s pov it changes to 3rd person. I’m not really sure why the author chose to write it this way. I’ll admit it threw me off a little bit at first but I eventually got use to it and was able to finish reading. I’m just not sure what the point of switching was. I simply couldn’t work out the meaning or feeling it was meant to convey.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Belle Morte is what happens when you mix Blade and True Blood together, but tone it down for a younger audience. Add a pinch of Twilight and you're there. Vampires are "out of the coffin" and reside within chapter houses all around the world. They hire Donors(basically familiars) to live with them and feed any vampire who requests blood from them. It can be pleasurable to be bitten, but for Renie it's pure pain. Also, Vampires are gross.... except the one she can't seem to stay away from.

While this story has its good and original moments, it feels a bit too troupy for this reader. Another off-putting portion was how Renie would go from having a conversation to making out, then suddenly back to her conversation. She was a bit all over the place, and either had a very overactive libido or ADHD with how much her mind would wander to sex at inappropriate times.

Not a great read, not a terrible one either with a predictable ending. Recommended for Vampire lovers who can't get enough of their favorites. Age range 16+ as there is some sexual content.

Easy fantasy romance read if you are just trying to get into a book of this particular genre. For me personally, I wish there was more but I do understand that this is a debut so for that, I really enjoyed it!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Wattpad Books for an honest review.
Belle Morte is one of five Vampire houses in the UK. They are treated like celebrities and pay humans to live in their beautiful mansion and be their donors. Renie's sister, June a true Vladdict, was more than happy to sign up. Five months ago June ventured into Belle Morte, and hasn't come out, and all communication with Renie stopped weeks ago. Renie is determined to do whatever it takes to find out what happened, even if that means doing the thing she absolutely despises, by going into Belle Morte as a donor. Nothing is as it seems with secrets hiding around each corner and someone trying to kill her. But her hardest task will be staying away from Edmond Dantès, the centuries old vampire. As much as she hates him there's something about him that just keeps her coming back. Her life will be changed forever.
Belle Morte has spoken. And it may never let me go.
Switches from Renie's point of view to third person.

I liked the book. I like when characters develop and learn to change. I just feel like it was missing something. The writing style was a bit off. It would say Edmond, but it was written in third person rather than in first person like Renie's point of view. I would still recommend to try it out.

Rated 3.5 Stars

ARC received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I requested this book because the premise was intriguing. In this universe, vampires came out of the coffin and gained almost instant celebrity status from people who are binge-watching True Blood while rereading Twilight for the twentieth time. (On a related note, is anybody asking for a True Blood reboot at this time? Do they honestly think that we are going to accept someone replacing Alexander Skarsgard as Viking God Eric when he could just reprise the role himself?) Instead of having the Japanese create synthetic blood, these vampires establish a donor system where they all live in Big Brother style houses, and all the thirsty “Vladicts”of the world can volunteer as tribute to be vampire chow until their blood goes stale. Actually, I almost wish they had gone full Big Brother and have secret cameras hidden around the house. That would teach Roux to walk around naked.

Our heroine Renie is on team “Vampires are monsters, hello, have you not seen 30 Days of Night?” Her sister, June is on team “All vampires are sexy, have you not seen The Vampire Diaries?” June volunteered to be a donor five months ago and then disappeared. In an attempt to figure out what has happened to her sister, Renie applies to be part of the donor program. She gets even more suspicious when she is accepted because two members of the same family cannot be donors at the same time in the same house. To make matters worse, once she’s inside the vampire den, nobody will tell her anything about June other than she’s been transferred, something which has never happened since the donor system was implemented.

On the other hand, we have our other POV protagonist, Edmond, who is basically every tortured vampire you have read about ever and something about that name just seems so familiar but I can’t quite place my finger on it. Oh, and he’s slept with most of the female vampires in the coven, but only the female ones. Imagine being over four hundred years old and still limiting your options like that. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about him, especially in comparison to other recent vampire heroes, and his endearments towards Renie quickly grated on my nerves, especially when she had to ask him what they meant. I don’t speak French, but the context kind of gave it away.

Where this book really shines is Renie’s quest to find out what happened to her sister and her fiery passion, and she unravelled that particular mystery.

The biggest downside to Belle Morte is the ending. It’s a mess, and not in a satisfying kind of way. It felt like the last couple pages came out of nowhere that served no other purpose than to set up the next book. Not that I ever trusted *REDACTED* from the beginning of the book, but the events at the end came in with a bang without any preamble. If you like messy endings and love vampires, you’ll find plenty to love about this book. It was not the type of messy endings I enjoy, so I will probably be passing on any potential sequels.

In this story, Vampires are the hottest celebrities in the world and people apply to be blood donors for them. Renie, our main girl, applies for one of the vampire houses in hopes of finding out what happened to her sister who cut off all contact a few weeks prior. Along the way we meet Edmond, a vampire who can’t seem to stay away, and the few human friends Renie makes. Together they all try to figure out the secrets this house holds and the future of vampires cohabitating with humans.


This is a dual point of view book between the female and male main characters. Throughout the book, some parts felt a bit slow. The ending was a knockout though. The book ended on a cliffhanger so I’m hoping there will be another one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Wattpad books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bella Higgin is a brand new author to me, and the premise of Bella Morte sounded very cool. I love the cover, and I was excited to dive in.

I wanted to love this a lot more than I did. I liked the characters and universe, but I think this book could have been better suited for a New Adult setting instead of YA. It reminded me a little bit of Zodiac Academy and Vampire Academy but it was different enough.

This book wasn't bad, but it didn't bring anything new or different to the YA genre.

In fair warning, Belle Morte definitely reads like a debut (in terms of pacing, characterization, writing style, the love triangle, the twists and the scenes very reminiscent of other popular books), but it was still a really easy to read and fun fantasy romance. The premise reminded me of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, which I loved. The plot was quite enjoyable and easy to follow. The romance, although not the enemies to lovers it was advertised to be, was pretty cute (the guys falls first/guy loves her more trope is always really cute, regardless of execution). I've been getting back into fantasy after reading a ton of contemporary romances recently, and this was a really good transition book. I'd recommend it to anyone just getting into or getting back into fantasy. If the author continues the story with more books, I'm not sure if I'll pick them up, but I'm glad I read this when I did. It's not perfect, but pretty damn fun.

Belle Morte by Bella Higgin, 336 pages. Wattpad Books, 2022. $19. LGBTQIA
Language: R (81 swears, 20 “f” + French swears); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
Vampires have been made into celebrities, thanks to the mysterious and ethereal image they keep up with the media. If it wasn’t for her sister, June, Renie (18yo) would continue enjoying her life far away from vampires. But June went into one of the vampire houses and hasn’t been heard from in months. Renie is determined to figure out what happened, and she isn’t going to let anyone – not even a houseful of vampires – keep her from finding her sister.
Since this book was originally a Wattpad story, it has a more soap-opera-y feel than a typical novel. Each chapter is like an episode that has its own conflict, which makes for an odd flow, inconsistencies, and lots of eye rolling from this reader. I like Higgin’s take on vampires, and Renie’s story can still be entertaining as long as its Wattpad weaknesses don’t bother you.
Renie is implied White, and most of the vampires are French – and, of course, have pale skin. At least one side character is of a non-white race. The mature content rating is for alcohol use, innuendo, nudity, discussions of sex, groping, and sexual harassment. The violence rating is for blood and vampires feeding, mention of suicide, battle gore, and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

This was very Wattpad, with less smut/spice. That's not a bad thing - if you're someone who really likes the Fanfiction voice in writing, this is similar to that. It is more constructed and cohesive, though - the story has semi-decent pacing and makes a lot of sense.

Frankly, I might be a bit too old for this book. The MC is 18 and they talk a bit too much about the main love interest (Edmond's) shrapnel from World War II. World. War. II. She's 18 - I'm good with old vampires and whatnot (comes with the territory) but the shrapnel was mentioned really frequently, which I think emphasized maybe the wrong thing.

This reminded me somewhat of the Zodiac Academy series, but for a YA (or younger) audience.

Overall, a fun time! I'm V proud of Wattpad for honoring the labor of veteran fanfic writers.

Hmm… not sure what my feelings are exactly. I mean I didn’t exactly hate it, but I also am so far away from loving it. The premise itself is super intriguing - I mean celebrity vampires with volunteer donors?! But unfortunately the execution fell flat. The plot was very predictable; like to the point I guessed everything before hitting 30%. I also skimmed the majority of this. The dialogue became redundant and I lost interest. The ending was set up for this to continue as a series… but I’m not sure if I will follow.

This one was a bit of a letdown. I am usually an absolute sucker for a vampire book, pun intended, so when I read the premise on this one, I absolutely had to read it. Plus, the cover is gorgeous. Well, you know what they say about judging a book by it's cover. I feel like I went in with my expectations too high. This is a fine example of the genre, but it didn't feel like anything new or fresh and that was where my letdown mostly stemmed from. I will likely still continue the series, I am interested in what comes next, but I will mange my expectations better going forward.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. I am reviewing of my own free will and all opinions in my review are my own.

Vampires have revealed themselves and are followed by the public and the paparazzi like the Kardashians. They live in 5 communities or "houses" throughout the world and people vie for the prestigious job to become their blood donors. Renie was happy to make the cut but not for the money or fame that most donors enjoyed. Her sister entered house Belle Morte as a donor five months earlier and hasn't been heard from since. So Renie is on a mission to find out what the bloodsuckers did to her. Interesting premise but predictable in the end.

I had hoped for an entertaining, gothic, vampire mystery when I requested this book, but instead I got what amounted to a YA vampire novel that seemed like a distillation of a whole bunch of other YA vampire novels. It was unimaginative, juvenile, and speckled with prose that toed the line with turning purple. I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Thanks to Wattpad Books and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review. As per personal policy, this review will not show up on any social media or bookseller website due to the 3 star or lower rating.

This is my kind of book really, it's got vampires, a missing person, an angsty teen and some romance. A very easy read, whizzed through in about two days. I enjoyed the premise, the protagonist's sister has gone missing at a vampire house and she's gone to find out whats happened by becoming a donor herself. I'm not going to say this book is groundbreaking in any way, but it's a fun easy read for those who love a bit of fantasy romance. I will say I found it quite easy to predict what was going to happen, I would have enjoyed it if the 'twists' had been a little less obvious.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy!

Thank you publisher's for allowing me to read this book in advance.

Themes:
Vampires
Missing sister plot
Edward level aloof love interest
Slow Paced okit
murder mystery~


We;ve all read the synopsis, loved the cover but i had to give this book a bad review. Only the author could have written the MC like this and the character could get away with what she did throughout the first 30% of the book. She was so bull headed and not sly at all in her intentions of finding her sister. It be more believable if she had never been selected or kicked out immediately for being a nosey brat. The themes were great! But the main character and Edmond were a big turn off. So much happens in the first 30% but we were only 30% through?! I could not stand the characters and skipped to the last 10% of the book and couldn't believe how none of the mysteries were solved until then. So it felt like i just went off the part i actually fully read but over half the book was cut off. The mystery killer included and it was obvious to me in the first feeding.


May i suggest next time a more covert, different style sister have gone through this, a older one that actually keeps her head down and secretive with a personality instead of a bull in a porcelain shop as far as investigations go.

A special thanks to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really well-written book and I enjoyed reading it quite a lot. It was fast-paced and had a good twist. The only issue I had with it was that I wasn't totally sold on the romance since it varied quite a lot between feeling like a young adult romance and an adult romance. I also did not love the ending, but that's a personal preference.

Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read and I will definitely read the next book if given the chance.

Wow!! This one took me by surprise.

Who doesn’t love a little vampire action??? I do. The writing was fantastic also. I could not tell this was a debut novel. I completely binged this one and I can not wait for book 2. I’ll be buying this as soon as I can.

This is a 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 novel with a splash of 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 and a twist of mystery.
In a world obsessed with Vampires, Renie could care less. That is until her sister June volunteers to be a blood donor for a vampire house and suddenly ceases all communication. Now the only way Renie can fine out what happened to her sister is to go into the house as well… and let the vampires of Belle Morte feed off her.
I loved the 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 and pacing of this story. You are introduced to a brand new world where vampires came out of the closet a decade before. Now, Vampires live in houses throughout the world and mostly keep themselves separate from humans but allow the press and media to see the parts of them that they want. The pacing was steady throughout.
The 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆 and hush hush surrounding June’s disappearance was intriguing and had me hooked throughout the story as Renie tried to unravel the secret.
The budding 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 between Renie and Edmond was tantalizing and seductive. Not only was it prohibited by vampires, as no vampires and donors could form a relationship, it was also taboo in both of their hearts. Renie hates vampires and everything they are, especially with her sister missing. Edmond has trusted a human with his heart before and it didn’t end well.
This story was amazing. It ended on a cliffhanger which I won’t spoil for you, but I’m already dying to read the next one. There better be a next one!

I've tried picking up this book a few times now and it's just not working for me. The pacing is weird and the story and characters aren't keeping my interest. I may I may try to pick it up again at later time but I'm dnfing for now.

Thank you for the review opportunity.