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Belle Révolte
by
From the author of the Mask of Shadows duology comes a standalone fantasy where two young women must trade lives, work together to stay alive, and end a war caused by magic and greed.
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 can ...more
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 can ...more
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Kindle Edition, 384 pages
Published
February 4th 2020
by Sourcebooks Fire
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Hey friends,
This isn't a review. I just wanted to drop some thoughts and the content warnings here to make them more visible. If you have any questions about anything or would like to know specifics, feel free to ask.
Thank you for reading and have a great end of 2019!
-Linsey
BELLE RÉVOLTE COMMENTS & CONTENT WARNINGS
This book isn’t as dark as Mask of Shadows but there is an undercurrent of alienation that follows Emilie and Annette throughout it. The society in which they live operates within a b ...more
This isn't a review. I just wanted to drop some thoughts and the content warnings here to make them more visible. If you have any questions about anything or would like to know specifics, feel free to ask.
Thank you for reading and have a great end of 2019!
-Linsey
BELLE RÉVOLTE COMMENTS & CONTENT WARNINGS
This book isn’t as dark as Mask of Shadows but there is an undercurrent of alienation that follows Emilie and Annette throughout it. The society in which they live operates within a b ...more

Dec 24, 2019
Iris
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
best-of-2019,
read-in-2019,
best-of-the-best,
sapphics,
5-stars,
lgbtqiap,
emotional-pain,
fantasy,
girl-power,
aspec-rep
This is out today, go read it y'all!!
I received this book from Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.
This book meant the absolute world to me. Every time I think it I'm just filled with this intense love and emotion. I could flail about this book forever, I swear. It makes me so happy (except for when it's RIPPING MY HEART OUT).
Objectively speaking, this book is far from perfect. I think if this book hadn't hit me on so deeply personal a level, it would have been a solid four stars. ...more
I received this book from Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.
This book meant the absolute world to me. Every time I think it I'm just filled with this intense love and emotion. I could flail about this book forever, I swear. It makes me so happy (except for when it's RIPPING MY HEART OUT).
Objectively speaking, this book is far from perfect. I think if this book hadn't hit me on so deeply personal a level, it would have been a solid four stars. ...more

Feb 05, 2020
may ➹
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
3-star,
rep-lgbtqiap-ace-spec,
arc,
diverse,
rep-lgbtqiap-author,
fantasy,
rep-lgbtqiap-wlw,
pov-1st,
pov-female,
young-adult
I think it’s a sign when you can’t even make it past the first 6 pages of a book without getting annoyed and wanting to strangle a character

Feb 25, 2020
Katie
marked it as dnf
Dnf - for the time being! Made it to about 40% I think I might enjoy this more at a different time. I’m really not in the mood for it right now and feel like trying to force myself to finish it is putting me in a reading slump.


Jan 01, 2020
Bethany
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2020-interested,
lgbtq
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
If you are looking for a fun standalone fantasy novel with well-developed characters and queer representation, check out Belle Revolte! The world and magic system are surprisingly complex and well-developed for a standalone novel and the plot accomplishes quite a lot in a short number of pages. This is sort of a Prince and the Pauper retelling with girls who switch lives to pursue their dreams, and thematic content that explores inequality and oppression in terms of wealt ...more
If you are looking for a fun standalone fantasy novel with well-developed characters and queer representation, check out Belle Revolte! The world and magic system are surprisingly complex and well-developed for a standalone novel and the plot accomplishes quite a lot in a short number of pages. This is sort of a Prince and the Pauper retelling with girls who switch lives to pursue their dreams, and thematic content that explores inequality and oppression in terms of wealt ...more

Mar 15, 2020
Emily Duncan
added it
i love linsey's brain.
...more

a big thank u to FIREreads for sending me a copy of this book!!
we don't normally get a lot of stand alone fantasy books so I was really excited to read this one, especially when i heard it was about two girls (a princess and a peasant) switching lives. Yeah we've seen the trope before but i personally find it very entertaining :)
i love love LOVED the transgender & asexual representation!! it was such a lovely surprise, one that should definitely be seen more often in fantasy books. i like the ...more
we don't normally get a lot of stand alone fantasy books so I was really excited to read this one, especially when i heard it was about two girls (a princess and a peasant) switching lives. Yeah we've seen the trope before but i personally find it very entertaining :)
i love love LOVED the transgender & asexual representation!! it was such a lovely surprise, one that should definitely be seen more often in fantasy books. i like the ...more

Wow, what a unique story! I actually quite enjoyed this book, its story, its magic system, and its discourse on gender and rebellion.
- Follows Annette and Emilie, two characters from different social classes who swap lives so they can pursue their ambitions. For Emilie it is in the noonday arts (medicine and warfare) and for Annette, it is the midnight arts (divination and scrying). When the two discover a corrupted plot with war on the horizon, they work together to survive and rebel.
- I actual ...more
- Follows Annette and Emilie, two characters from different social classes who swap lives so they can pursue their ambitions. For Emilie it is in the noonday arts (medicine and warfare) and for Annette, it is the midnight arts (divination and scrying). When the two discover a corrupted plot with war on the horizon, they work together to survive and rebel.
- I actual ...more

Feb 11, 2020
Jesse bowtiesandbooks
added it
I was gifted a copy of Belle Revolte from the publisher and was wildly excited to pick it up!
It's a YA Fantasy with heavy french influences (yes please) about two willful girls of differing backgrounds who switch places in order to follow their respective dreams. I loved that one of the girls was an aspiring surgeon as stories surrounding medicine/doctors/illness always fascinate me as do characters that can heal in some fashion.
Sadly, this book simply wasn't for me. The writing focused heavil ...more
It's a YA Fantasy with heavy french influences (yes please) about two willful girls of differing backgrounds who switch places in order to follow their respective dreams. I loved that one of the girls was an aspiring surgeon as stories surrounding medicine/doctors/illness always fascinate me as do characters that can heal in some fashion.
Sadly, this book simply wasn't for me. The writing focused heavil ...more

Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Laura Erne
Belle Révolte was an evocative and thought provoking tale of rebellion, magic, and love. The story follows two young women divided by class but are determined to change their futures. I don’t read many YA fantasies with complex magic systems and although this was sometimes slow, I found I appreciated Linsey Miller’s take on it. Drawing a connection from magic to healing was ingenious and I found her execution original. Many times we se ...more
Belle Révolte was an evocative and thought provoking tale of rebellion, magic, and love. The story follows two young women divided by class but are determined to change their futures. I don’t read many YA fantasies with complex magic systems and although this was sometimes slow, I found I appreciated Linsey Miller’s take on it. Drawing a connection from magic to healing was ingenious and I found her execution original. Many times we se ...more

2.5 stars.
In the land of Demeine, people have the ability to perform magic - some use their magic to create beautiful illusions, to divine the future and scry on others. Other magic can be used in battle - for strength and for healing. But all magic takes a toll, and eventually a body is worn down. So nobles use hacks - a peasant who can also use magic, and who agrees to work and lend their strength and magic for as long as their body holds out.
Emilie des Marais is on her way to an elite school ...more
In the land of Demeine, people have the ability to perform magic - some use their magic to create beautiful illusions, to divine the future and scry on others. Other magic can be used in battle - for strength and for healing. But all magic takes a toll, and eventually a body is worn down. So nobles use hacks - a peasant who can also use magic, and who agrees to work and lend their strength and magic for as long as their body holds out.
Emilie des Marais is on her way to an elite school ...more

"I want to be the best. I want everyone who told me I couldn't be to know they were wrong. I want to save people and help people and be something to someone, so it doesn't all feel like nothing. I have to be the best."
Belle Revolte by Linsey Miller is a young-adult high fantasy novel about two teenage girls, Annette Boucher and Emilie des Marais who swap lives for a chance to achieve their dreams, though the crumbling structure of their kingdom may make that goal even harder.
Belle Re ...more

Reading this book was the literal embodiment of excitedly thinking about eating leftovers all day only to finally get home and find out someone else has eaten those leftovers. I am left bereft, confused and wholeheartedly disappointed.
There was absolutely no tension, no build up and anything that was interesting or could have caused a teensy bit of conflict was immediately resolved, brushed under the rug and forgotten about. I don't do well when you're given four possible plot twists and none of ...more
There was absolutely no tension, no build up and anything that was interesting or could have caused a teensy bit of conflict was immediately resolved, brushed under the rug and forgotten about. I don't do well when you're given four possible plot twists and none of ...more

Jun 05, 2020
Acqua
marked it as dnf-lost-interest
DNF 15%
This is a perfectly fine YA fantasy with somewhat infodump-y tendencies and I know it would be around three stars if I actually finished it, so I'm not going to (exam month in 2020 = no time), but I think I would have liked it a few years ago ...more
This is a perfectly fine YA fantasy with somewhat infodump-y tendencies and I know it would be around three stars if I actually finished it, so I'm not going to (exam month in 2020 = no time), but I think I would have liked it a few years ago ...more

2.5/5
CW: deception, death/war, scarring, medical neglect/abuse, and violence
I wanted to like this book more. Especially when I found out that one of the MCs, Annette, is a biromantic ace and there were on the page conversations regarding sexuality and the preconceptions about relationships (which I included in my updates). And an ace who knows who she is and, despite her family not being understanding/accepting of it, she is who she is and isn't going to let someone stop her from living how she ...more
CW: deception, death/war, scarring, medical neglect/abuse, and violence
I wanted to like this book more. Especially when I found out that one of the MCs, Annette, is a biromantic ace and there were on the page conversations regarding sexuality and the preconceptions about relationships (which I included in my updates). And an ace who knows who she is and, despite her family not being understanding/accepting of it, she is who she is and isn't going to let someone stop her from living how she ...more

DNF at 20%
Sadly, this one just wasn't working for me! The concept sounded super fun and I thought it could be a good one to snuggle up with and tear through in a weekend, but I just couldn't get into it.
The pacing was completely off -- within the first 5%, Emilie is running out of her carriage and proposing to swap places with a complete and total stranger who looks like her so she can study medicine. It all happens so fast it was just completely unbelievable -- I felt like I was missing a big c ...more
Sadly, this one just wasn't working for me! The concept sounded super fun and I thought it could be a good one to snuggle up with and tear through in a weekend, but I just couldn't get into it.
The pacing was completely off -- within the first 5%, Emilie is running out of her carriage and proposing to swap places with a complete and total stranger who looks like her so she can study medicine. It all happens so fast it was just completely unbelievable -- I felt like I was missing a big c ...more

Update: fuck it, I'm giving this 5 stars, I enjoyed it a ton and am still thinking of it.
This is a hard book to rate because while I didn't care for the earlier parts set with Annette at the school, I LOVED Emilie, Charles, Madeline, and especially Laurence. I also loved Coline, Yvonne, and Estrel, and grew to like Annette. Some things about the magic system confused me, but it was still very entertaining. I really loved both romances, and the diversity as well!
I think this is a rare case of a ...more
This is a hard book to rate because while I didn't care for the earlier parts set with Annette at the school, I LOVED Emilie, Charles, Madeline, and especially Laurence. I also loved Coline, Yvonne, and Estrel, and grew to like Annette. Some things about the magic system confused me, but it was still very entertaining. I really loved both romances, and the diversity as well!
I think this is a rare case of a ...more

I loved this book so much I loved the message and all of the great romance that is held within this book. I loved all of the characters so much especially Annette and Emelie and their love interests Yvvone and Charles and many of the other characters. I loved these characters for wanting to do what they want and not what their station in life tells them they can do. I loved how hard they fought for what they believed in and I am really glad that everything ended well. I loved the romances in the
...more

(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Belle Révolte is a book about girls changing the world, following their dreams, and fighting a system of exploitation. It's a book full of hope, sacrifice, and power. Belle Révolte is a book about ambition. The ways society wants to limit what we can do because of our gender or economic status. It features Annette, a biromantic ace spectrum magical MC, a talented girl who yearns to b ...more
Belle Révolte is a book about girls changing the world, following their dreams, and fighting a system of exploitation. It's a book full of hope, sacrifice, and power. Belle Révolte is a book about ambition. The ways society wants to limit what we can do because of our gender or economic status. It features Annette, a biromantic ace spectrum magical MC, a talented girl who yearns to b ...more

3.5
Belle Revolte.
Ahhh, doesn’t the title absolutely slide off your tongue and quiver against your lips? The cover is gorgeous as well. It looks like ice cream. These two combined were what made me want to snatch this book up and even though I’ve been burned before by that deadly combo, I was willing to take the risk for this.
It was worth it in the end.
I am not a big fantasy fan which is funny because I play quite a few fantasy games. I grew up with Japanese role playing games. Final fantasy and ...more
Belle Revolte.
Ahhh, doesn’t the title absolutely slide off your tongue and quiver against your lips? The cover is gorgeous as well. It looks like ice cream. These two combined were what made me want to snatch this book up and even though I’ve been burned before by that deadly combo, I was willing to take the risk for this.
It was worth it in the end.
I am not a big fantasy fan which is funny because I play quite a few fantasy games. I grew up with Japanese role playing games. Final fantasy and ...more

Feb 10, 2020
Sheena ☆ Oh, the Sheenanigans!
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
the-struggle-is-real,
royalty,
romance,
young-adult,
standalone,
lgbtqia,
magic,
friends-to-lovers,
dropped,
arcs-ebook

This gave off "Reverie" vibes and I wasn't feeling it. There were just too many similarities and I just had a hard time engrossing myself in the read. Maybe it's my reading slump or just the novel itself, I just couldn't connect with lead characters Emilie and Annette nor the storyline despite loving the LGBT concept. It's not you, it's me I swear!![]()
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Belle Révolte puts an intriguing twist to its french-revolution-vibe fantasy setting, featuring queer teens switching identities, going to magical schools, fighting against oppression and changing the course of a war.
Read the full review on the blog!
Content warnings include: extremely graphic injuries and gore due to protagonist being a physician at the front during war, violence, execution and death, class difference featuring oppression, mistreatment and abuse of lower class; mentions a ...more
Read the full review on the blog!
Content warnings include: extremely graphic injuries and gore due to protagonist being a physician at the front during war, violence, execution and death, class difference featuring oppression, mistreatment and abuse of lower class; mentions a ...more

Dec 19, 2019
Nenia ✨️ I yeet my books back and forth ✨️ Campbell
marked it as wishlist
Shelves:
ya-ya-land,
netgalley
This sounds a lot like THE BELLES

dnf @ page 177
I hit a point where I realized that despite being halfway through the book I did not care about anything that was happening and still could not tell the two main characters apart from one another.
Also, up till this point there has been no real mention of anything sapphic, and definitely no mention of the ace rep that I heard was also part of this book. That's not to say the rep isn't in there at all, as I'm sure it is, I just want to point out that if that's one of the main reason ...more
I hit a point where I realized that despite being halfway through the book I did not care about anything that was happening and still could not tell the two main characters apart from one another.
Also, up till this point there has been no real mention of anything sapphic, and definitely no mention of the ace rep that I heard was also part of this book. That's not to say the rep isn't in there at all, as I'm sure it is, I just want to point out that if that's one of the main reason ...more

Thank you so much Sourcebooks Fire for providing me a free copy through Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.
2.5 stars
A fast paced fantasy about girls changing the world, not afraid to follow their dreams, and fighting against a system of exploitation.
CHARACTERS:
The story is divided in a dual POV system with a constant switch between the characters: on one side we have the privileged, rebellious Emilie, who wants to break the rules of society and become a physician; on the other we have the ...more
2.5 stars
A fast paced fantasy about girls changing the world, not afraid to follow their dreams, and fighting against a system of exploitation.
CHARACTERS:
The story is divided in a dual POV system with a constant switch between the characters: on one side we have the privileged, rebellious Emilie, who wants to break the rules of society and become a physician; on the other we have the ...more

I'm not really sure how to explain how I feel about this book. Like I both enjoyed the world, magic, and plot, yet never actually felt attached to it.
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my ...more
Admittedly, I had to switch to the audiobook early on because the writing felt too disjointed/weird to me at first (I had to reread some sentences multiple times because they just read oddly), and listening made all those issues go away. However, it was so much harder to keep track of what was going on/all the characters, so that also affected my ...more

I truly do not know how to review this book.
I read it 3 months ago and I don't think I can form words that appropriately explain this book.
Let's get the not so good parts out of the way first.
It was kinda confusing. I love a good dual POV narrative! And we get two, both from girls fighting in a resistance??? I'll eat that shit up any day of the week.
The problem that I had was that the timeline between the POVs didn't always seem to sync up and I did get confused often because of this. Normal ...more
I read it 3 months ago and I don't think I can form words that appropriately explain this book.
Let's get the not so good parts out of the way first.
It was kinda confusing. I love a good dual POV narrative! And we get two, both from girls fighting in a resistance??? I'll eat that shit up any day of the week.
The problem that I had was that the timeline between the POVs didn't always seem to sync up and I did get confused often because of this. Normal ...more
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Originally from Arkansas, Linsey has previously worked as a crime lab intern, neuroscience lab assistant, and pharmacy technician. She now holds an MFA in fiction and is the author of the Mask of Shadows duology, Belle Révolte, and The Game. She can be found writing about science and magic anywhere there is coffee.
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