Belle

by Treasure Hernandez

Named for her beauty, Belle Dubois is as sweet as can be. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she is always given the best--until her world is turned upside down. When she is away in her second year of college, she receives a call informing her that her parents have been murdered. She soon finds out that they were broke, and subsequently so is she.

With no home and nowhere to go, Belle is whisked under the wing of a woman named Aria, better known by her stage name, Lady Passion. Before she knows it, Belle becomes part of an underground world that she knows nothing about--one filled with bright lights, sexy clothing, and shiny poles. The money starts to pour in, and soon Belle loses herself in the very same fantasy that she gives every night.

Her heart has a void that only money can fill, until she meets a handsome brother named Kidd. He shows her that the sadness in her heart doesn't have to be there. But just when she's thinking about saying her goodbyes to the fast life, her past comes knocking on the door, revealing the truth about her parents' murder. Soon, revenge becomes her temptress...and murder is the only objective.

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published March 30, 2021

Reviews

[The Book Chick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audio version. The narrator was awful. The story was okay. I’ve read Treasure’s work before and when writing with someone it seems to be better. Her work alone is just okay. It’s one of those books where you almost put it down, but then you don’t. Like the idea and the characters are pretty good, but there is just something missing. One thing I think is that her characters aren’t complex enough and there is too much time spent on idle details like he ordered a drink, placed his hands around the cup, brought it to his lips and took a drink type idleness. Not that that was used in the story, but to give you an idea of how much time that wasted and how unnecessary it is gives you an idea of the writing style. I think a lot of that was edited out, but not nearly enough. Also, the language is just so simple.. I don’t know. The characters sort of fall into a certain mold and stay there. What this story needed more of was Belle and Kid. Not that it had to be a love story, but make us remember the love story... Like there was an instant when Belle had a scene with Billy and I’m like that was written way better than the scene of her and Kid.

[Celesté · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually my first pick up from my local library. And my first book by this author. The back cover was intriguing and I was hooked from the first page. I could not imagine the unimaginable grief associated with not just the death of a parent, but the murder.

Belle crosses paths with Aria (Lady Passion), an exotic dancer dressed in designer from head to toe. She takes Belle under her wing, offering her a seemingly limitless stream of income. Belle has no one left. Her family was murdered. She’s all alone, and Aria seems to truly care about Belle’s wellbeing.

I don’t want to give too much away. It’s fast paced and worth the read!

[Deena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t care too much for this book. I’ve had a lot of books of this author in my library for years but this is the first one I’d actually read. This book was very boring! Even with Audio it took me 3 weeks to get through it. This story follows Belle and 18 year old that had to drop out of college because her entire family was murdered. She coincidentally runs into a “stripper bus” ran by Aria “Lady Passion” who offers her an opportunity to enter the world of exotic dancer. This bus was on a literal tour through states stripping for wealthy men. The head of the organization is a man named Gene who happens to have some sort of connection to Belle’s family murder. The plot was there but the entertainment was not. I was underwhelmed by everything that happened. Nothing surprised me in this story. I only gave it 2 stars because I kind of seen where this story was going but the characters, especially “Kid’s” character was developed enough for me. I may or may not read another book from this author.

[BossyLadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
This book should've/ could've been so much better but it fell flat. Clumsy is the best word to describe the book. Belle is the main character. When the book starts, she's in college and is spoiled by her rich daddy. One night her entire family gets murdered. Her uncle gets everything and leaves Belle homeless. All she has is her car. So she goes driving. She is driving on some rural road and randomly stops at a gas station where she almost gets assaulted. She's rescued by a tour bus of strippers. These strippers just so happen to work for the man the had her family killed? GTFOH! of all the people and places. No way. Also what was up with her uncle? It wasn't explained why he hated Belle. The amended will story line was just dropped. Wasn't sufficiently explained why Gene didn't just go after the uncle who owned the company. Then later we learn the uncle was killed and somehow the estate now goes to Belle? That doesn't make sense. Belle isn't the uncle heir. The estate should've gone to his spouse or kids or whatever estate plans he had in place. So that was a glaring mistake in the book. Just clumsy storytelling.

[Samantha Ivy (novelsbysamantha) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was feeling some erotic romance since it’s February after all. This book is about Belle Dubois. She had it all until her parents and brother were killed. She’s got nowhere to go until she was found in a gas station by dancers of a gentleman’s club. She is then introduced to a luxurious but dangerous lifestyle and meets the sexiest man alive. I thought this book was so good and so cute. Perfect read for Valentine’s Day. Five stars.

[Emily L. Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good boo!.

There is always a character in a book that you detest and for me it 's Gene. Gene had issues that were many and a God co.Alex. There was no respect for women and he always wanted to be I control and get over. At first I thought the uncle had the Dubois family murdered buy discovered he was not. Kidd was meant for Belle and I was glad that Kidd and Ollie remain friends There is nothing like a mother's love go Gia.. A very good read.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a little awkward giving this book a star rating, because I am very clearly not the target audience, as evidenced by the language used by the author. I love a good smutty book, so no complaints there, it was more that the slang used was not something that I would be able to get away with saying, much less even want to use. Beyond that, it was a very good book, I loved the story. I felt for the characters, and I was really intrigued to see how everything wrapped up.

[Danielle Bigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good read. The ending kept me on the edge of my seat and I never saw it coming. The author did a great job setting up the scenes. My favorite characters were Kidd and Belle of course but I also liked Luella and my heart went out to Aria. I would love to know what happens next for Kidd and Belle in another story. As I stated before, this was overall a really good read. Looking forward to the next one!

[Michael Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to be an apprentice dancer and make $50k in three weeks!! NOT. I am tired of padding my stats with these weak novels. Gene was a conniving club owner who secretly filmed men who patronized his Club Blisse. Murder was also part of the power he wielded. Belle was a beauty who was recruited by Aria when she was being assaulted. It is a clumsy novel with a happy ending.

[Stephanie Duerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in love with it at first but then it got annoying. The male love interest with hypocritical as heck,he could be a Hitman but judge the female lead for being a stripper. Also too many white people were called cr*cker*s in this for my liking.

[Kassie Mexil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good . Gene was a terrible person and deserved everything he got .I am so happy Kidd and belle got the ending they deserved it was a great quick book to read and really let’s you see how people will feel like they own you if you let them

[Erika Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the book. There were several times I was aggravated with Belle! Ugh! The author did a good job of weaving all the characters together and setting the back story. It didn't seem rushed or that information was missed.

[Star B · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!! This book was sooo good! It took one day to read it and I was sad to see it end. Kidd is the MAN!! What a great book!

[David Kinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

a more violent players club

[Dysha Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ending was a little rushed

[Jacqueline Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, started off good and it dragged and the it really got good middle to the end.

[Cat DuBose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very abrupt ending. Cool plot, but not enough.

[Ericka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick listen of Belle life after starting a new life after the murder of her family.

[Kandise Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was awesome from beginning to end ,finished in a day .