HOBBIES OVER COFFEE

The Beautiful Ones, originally published in 2017, is getting a new paperback re-release this August! Be ready to dive into the world of socialites, magic, love and betrayal.

Title : The Beautiful Ones
Author : Silvia Moreno Garcia
Genre: Romance | Sci-Fi | Fantasy
Pages: 304
Own/Borrowed/ARC:  eARC
Publication Date: Aug 11 2026

They’re called the Beautiful Ones.

Loisail’s most notable socialites: the wealthy, powerful, beloved.

This spring is Nina’s last chance to join their ranks, but the Grand Season has just begun and Nina’s debut has already gone disastrously awry. Neighbors call her the Witch of Oldhouse—the haphazard manifestations of her powers making her the subject of malicious gossip.

So when entertainer and fellow telekinetic Hector Auvray arrives to town, Nina is dazzled. He’s traveled the world performing his talents for admiring audiences. And he sees Nina not as a witch, but as something more. With Hector’s help, Nina’s talent blossoms, as does her love for him.

But great romances are just for fairytales. In the glittering, gossip-laden world of Loisail, where everyone conceals secrets, can their courtship survive?

I read this story when it was first published in 2017 and was excited to hear about this re-release. Look at that beautiful new cover which echoes the previous ones while still staying true to a point in the story.

When Hector returns to Loisail, he is on one mission and one mission only, to find his lost love from ten years ago, Valerie. Instead what he finds is that she is already married to a well off man, Gaetan. Valerie, now a woman of high society and reputation, spurs Hector. She is a woman hardened by the chore of duty and societal standards. She is now helping their niece Antonina, known as Nina, enter the societal world for the Grand Season to find suitors.

Nina is not interested in the Grand Season being young and naive, she was shipped off from her home to Loisail with her cousin Gaetan at her parents’ behest. Nina has telekinetic abilities which she has issues controlling and after an incident at home was sent off after being named the ‘Witch of Oldcastle.’ Her interest lies more in her powers and learning how to control them, which draws her to Hector.

When she runs into Hector at one of the Grand Seasons parties, she is immediately fascinated by him. Hector has made a name for himself in higher society as a telekinetic entertainer which not only has made him rich but allowed him to rub elbows with aristocratic society. The two share a conversation where you can tell everything is one sided, Nina being absolutely smitten by him. Once he learns whose cousin she is, a plot begins to form as no one is the wiser to Hector and Valerie’s shared history.

We follow the three through a story of vindictiveness, betrayal, love and some magic. While I still have a problem with the age gap between Hector and Nina during their courtship, her innocence and naivety though it all, it doesn’t seem too far fetched given the time period it’s set in. I enjoyed that each chracter felt very real and very different, along with their goals and desires and the ways they went about it, though flawed, felt real. I felt horrible for Nina who was trying to figure out who she was and trying to find love while, unwillingly, finding herself in a love triangle she had no idea existed. I also thought that the magic promised would have a bigger part of the story but it’s just sprinkled in there.

Just as I had the first time around, I enjoyed the beautiful writing, setting and journey this story took me on. Recommend any one who is a fan of the belle époque period with a sprinkle of magic or historical romance stories.

Let’s keep the conversation going below! Do you think you’ll be picking this book up? Have another novel that sounds like this and you recommend I pick up?

Thank you again to Tor Publising, Bramble, Silvia Moreno Garcia and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.