Untitled Beauty by C. E. Wilson

Book Review

Title: Untitled Beauty

Author: C.E. Wilson

Genre: YA/Fantasy/Dystopian

Rating: *****

Review: The opening chapter of Untitled beauty was astounding. We are introduced to Grace also known as Eleven, she lives in a society where people are ranked on the physical attractiveness on a scale from 1 – 20 and this number determines their place in society. One being the lowest of the low, but Grace is an Eleven while this number isn’t that high it is a rare rating making her valuable to collectors. Eleven is sold to a family of Beauties – the people with the most rights and opportunities, as a gift for the daughter Celia. The father; Shawn takes a strange interest in Eleven, calling her by her true name and she knows instantly this is the man who will save or destroy her. For the offset I was enthralled with the world and society in this novel and it has a similar theme to Uglies by Scott Westerfeld which I also enjoyed.

Almost immediately after joining the family Grace and Shawn form an almost master and pet bond, he even purchases a shock collar for her training the Celia. But Grace is drawn to a man she has never seen, a man who knows the family and she hopes to see him but she knows he isn’t hers. Grace is very hesitant and frightened at almost every Beauty she meets but Reese is curious about her as he used to be a Potential himself. As we cross the 1/4 mark in the novel Grace and Reese seem to have an unspoken friendship as he was once in her position and understands exactly how she is feeling. Reese and Grace have quite a nice relationship although Reese feels there is something wrong with her records, he feels someone like her couldn’t be an Eleven she should have scored higher and he is going to ask his aunts who know lots about Potentials to look into it. So far I absolutely love the world building and the characters and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

When Reese returns to “train” Eleven he thinks she is a victim of a scam where her score was deliberately lowered in exchange for a bribe and he wants to help her. I can understand Eleven’s hesitation at his offer after some of the horrendous treatment she has been through, but he is determined to help her and maybe, just maybe free her of this awful life. After the half way mark in the novel, I really dislike Celia as a character, she whiny and always playing princess especially to Reese and her father. All the while Reese and Grace steadily grow closer and closer as they are able to tell each other things they could never say to another living soul.

As time progresses Celia becomes jealous and resentful towards Eleven and hatches a plan with Griff to get rid of her for good but once again Reese is there to save the day and even comtemplates telling Shawn who would deal with Griff and get his mother fired on top of that. All this time Eleven has been plagued by a feeling that she knows Reese from somewhere else and after Griff attacks her, she remembers him from a time before Shawn bought her. But by remembering him she has broken Shawn’s cardinal rule that her true name Grace belongs only to him but Reese knows it. By the 3/4 mark in the novel, Shawn decides to sell Grace because he is too attracted to her to keep her around but in a fit of anger and sadness Reese calls her by her name which only angers Shawn as he felt he owned her name not realising that Reese knew her before he became a Beauty and now time is running out for them Grace’s new buyer is coming in less than 24 hours for Grace and Shawn refuses to let Reese’s aunts buy her.

Just like I anticipated Reese comes back to rescue Grace but this opens a whole new can of worms as he has stolen another man’s property but neither care about that right now as long as they are together and free. But this is bittersweet as the only way Reese can keep Grace safe is by sending her away with a new identity until things change, this is torture for the both of them but it has to be done. As Grace travels to her new home alone break-hearted from what has to be done, but she does realises he hasn’t completely abandoned her in her new identity she has his name Pieces (Reese’s childhood nickname) Wynters and it is at this moment Grace realises she is finally free.

The ending of this novel was amazing and was the perfect ending to a stand alone novel but does have the potential to become a sequel or follow on novella. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Uglies by Scott Westerfeld or books along a similar theme. I absolutely loved this book and it highly deserves its rating, if you haven’t read it yet go get it now.

This book was sent to me for review consideration by the author

Buy it here:

Paperback: amazon.co.uk    amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk   amazon.com