I recently read Renée Ahdieh’s The Damned on audiobook. I always try to have one audiobook going, and when I saw this was available at my library, I was surprised.
The Damned is the second book in The Beautiful duology. This review contains spoilers, but you can read my review of The Beautiful instead, if you haven’t read the first book.
Celine has no memories of Sébastien Saint Germain, but she feels like something is wrong. Everyone tells her that Michael saved her from a brutal attack, and he’s been spending a lot of time with her. He’s interested in more than friendship with Celine, but she doesn’t really feel a passion for him. Should she settle?
Meanwhile, Sébastien is learning how to be a vampire, and we learn more secrets about him and the fey creatures he hangs around.
With the way The Beautiful ended, of course Celine and Sébastien meet up again. There are surprises in store for them, however. I was surprised at some of the things that were revealed in this book. I certainly did not expect this series to take the turn that it did. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.
While I enjoyed most of this book, I thought it ended quite abruptly. There were things revealed in this book that I thought should have been explored more thoroughly. I don’t think a third book is planned for this series, but it really should have one.
Update: It IS getting a third book so the ending is fine.
Conclusion
The Damned was a good continuation of The Beautiful duology; however, there were several twists that were introduced in this book that should have had further exploration. (Edit: It IS getting a third book!) I think this series should have been a trilogy. Otherwise, I did enjoy reading this book.