I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller Published by Sourcebooks Fire on 2/4/20
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, LGBT, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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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 terrible war, Emilie and Annette come together to help the rebellion unearth the truth before it's too late.
Short and Sweet Review
Emilie would rather be a physician than a noble lady and Annette would love for the opportunity to be trained in magic. So when Emilie approaches Annette and suggest that they switch lives she accepts. But when their nation decides to go to war the girls decide to help the rebellion find out the truth before it’s too late. Belle Revolte is a Prince and the Pauper retelling, both girls are swapping lives to pursue their passion. In a world that has magic women are supposed to learn midnight arts which include scrying and divination while men learn daytime arts which include medicine and weaponry. I was very confused for most of the book there’s two POVs Annette and Emilies and a lot of characters that they interact with, and it was hard to follow at times. Annette and Emilie are great in their own ways and I loved how determined Emilie was to succeed as a hack and to become a physician. Annette was also determined to succeed in the arts. Both girls end up taking part in a revolution to save their country. I wanted to like this book but I thought it was hard to get through. I found myself rereading parts because I didn’t understand what was happening. I did like the ending though. This isn’t a book that I would reread mainly because of how I was struggling to understand what was going on with the plot and characters. I wanted to like this book it sounded interesting, but unfortunately this wasn’t the book for me.
