Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for The Beautiful Ones. My review is written with thanks to Zoe O’Farrell and the team at SpellBound Books for inviting me on the tour and for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Caitlyn Shaw had it all.
Surrounded by loving friends and family, on the cusp of landing her dream job.

When Caitlyn suffers a traumatic event, her idyllic life is shattered.
She finds herself spiralling into an abyss of terror and despair which manifests as a psychotic break.

Subsequently hospitalised in a psychiatric unit, Caitlyn sees her future slowly slipping away from her.

Desperately ill and refusing to accept her condition, she rebels against the hospital staff.

As battle of wills ensues, Caitlyn begins her fight back to sanity, standing up and challenging the many stigmas attached to women like her.

Can Caitlyn drag herself back from the brink to fulfil her dreams?
Come and walk for a while with The Beautiful Ones.

Review:

I’ve never read anything by Julia Sutton before but this will certainly change now. Her writing is incredibly engaging and I found myself mesmerised by Caitlyn’s story. Her descriptions, particularly as Caitlyn’s mental health declines are very detailed and it was really poignant to get a glimpse of what was going on in her mind. The events in the blurb don’t happen straight away, so this novel could perhaps be described as a slow burner but this did give me the opportunity to get to know the characters well. Each one of them is very well developed and I felt completely immersed in their lives. Sutton approaches the theme of mental health in a very empathetic way and this novel really made me think about the different ways an illness could manifest itself and the prejudice and stereotypes that still exist in society. 

The Beautiful Ones is a young adult novel. The central characters are relatively young and Sutton looks at themes alongside mental health which will resonate with a young adult audience, such as university and relationships. However, there is plenty in this novel for a much wider audience and I will be reflecting on the themes long after I finish reading. 

The Beautiful Ones is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: