Tag: beauty and the beast

Book Review: Kill the Beast by Serra Swift

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Serra Swift
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: October 14th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Witcher meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this debut original faerie tale of revenge, redemption, and friendship―for fans of T. Kingfisher, Naomi Novik, and cozy fantasy with a dash of gritty adventure.

The night Lyssa Cadogan’s brother was murdered by a faerie-made monster known as the Beast, she made him a promise: she would find a way to destroy the immortal creature and avenge his death. For thirteen years, she has been hunting faeries and the abominations they created. But in all that time, the one Beast she is most desperate to find has never resurfaced.

Until she meets Alderic Casimir de Laurent, a melodramatic dandy with a coin purse bigger than his brain. Somehow, he has found the monster’s lair, and―even more surprising―retrieved one of its claws. A claw Lyssa needs in order to forge a sword that can kill the Beast.

When the witch Ragnhild decrees that Alderic and Lyssa must gather the other ingredients to forge the weapon together, or else the spell will fail, Lyssa gets more than she bargained for. Alderic is ill-equipped for the task at hand, and almost guaranteed to get himself killed.

But as the two of them search for the materials that will be the Beast’s undoing, Alderic reveals hidden depths: dark secrets that he guards as carefully as Lyssa guards hers. Before long, and against Lyssa’s better judgment, they begin to forge a blooming friendship―one that will either lead to the culmination of Lyssa’s quest for vengeance, or spell doom for them both.

Thank you MacMillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

THIS GOT ME.

What a genuinely solid and beautiful standalone beauty and the beast retelling. Easily one of the best ones I’ve ever come across. This covered a multitude of themes and moments that made the book hit hard and hit well.

I loved the evolution of the relationship between Alderic and Lyssa. There’s banter and tumultuous scenes. Intense and quiet too. They really went from strangers to friends to more and truly saw each other for everything they are. And the depth of Lyssa’s character growth was remarkable. Working through grief and anger is not a straight line and I loved seeing her story play out.

This was a wonderful debut and I hope future books from Serra Swift are coming because I look forward to reading them.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance Retelling
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate+
  • Content warnings: loss of a loved one, parental abandonment, creature attacks, blood/gore depiction

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Heir of Sun and Moon (The Five Realms #1) by Jenessa Ren

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Length: 485 pages
Author: Jenessa Ren
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Forced into isolation by the ruler of the Mortal Kingdom, Princess Rhea Maxwell spends her days in the company of her pet fox, Bella, dreaming of an existence outside the confinement of her tower. As the rightful queen, she knows that there must be more to life than the endless monotony she’s been forced to live. Harboring a deadly secret from her past, her desolation grows until one fateful night brings an unlikely ally into her life. Though wary to trust this stranger, Rhea suddenly finds herself with something she’s never had: a choice. With a future she never thought possible hanging in the balance, the princess must decide if following her heart is worth risking everything she’s ever known.

In the neighboring Mage Kingdom, Princess Bahira Daxel is the first of her kind to be born without magic. Fixated on finding a way to unlock the power she believes to be hidden within, Bahira knows there is no price too great to achieve her goals. As tensions rise and her kingdom prepares for a threat they can not defend against, her desperation comes to a head. Ultimatums push Bahria to rethink who she truly is and the future that she had pictured for herself.

In a post-war world where kingdoms are divided by a powerful spell, can Rhea and Bahira each break free from the shackles of the lives expected of them to forge their own paths? Or will lies and obsession threaten to destroy everything.

UNDECIDED.

This one started off really intriguing. I loved that it was a loose Rapunzel retelling with a bodyguard romance, YAY. But execution wise, it dragged badly. Rhea was stuck in that dang tower for so long that I had to do some speed reading to see if the plot ever actually got to moving. Aaaand the romance came off as a bit insta-lovey. There were some cute and sweet moments, yet I’m not sure I’m convinced of them quite yet.

THEN we have our other POV. As a personal preference, I don’t love when the main character sleeps with other people who aren’t the love interest with actual on page spice. Otherwise, I liked Bahira’s storyline. I’m curious about the magic, about where she ended up and how that will play out with future books (but will I read said book??? I DON’T KNOW).

The ending happily blindsided me and I am admittedly intrigued about how those things will go. This was just too long without enough engaging plot.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: 1-2 open door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, weapons violence, kidnapping, abuse

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ARC Book Review: Iron Rose by Abigail O’Bryan

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 380 pages
Author: Abigail O’Bryan
Publisher: Quill & Flame
Release Date: August 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

There is no future for Lydia Brightwood.

The Crimson Lord, a tyrant bent on destroying Lydia’s country, made sure of that. Her only hope of a different life is to find the one person who could unite her a royal heir. There’s just one problem… 

They’re all dead.
The Beast’s humanity is slipping away. 

Shut away from the world by a horrible secret, Adam watches the destruction of his homeland from the ruins of a fortress all the while holding the devastating truth in his  

It’s his fault.

Adam and Lydia’s paths cross in the ruins of the north where they must find a way to conquer the curse before everything they love collapses…but being truly human has its price.

Thank you to the author for a gifted copy.

A TALE AS OLD AS TIME.

This was by no means, a poorly written book. And it definitely has an audience. It’s a pretty classic fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. You’ll notice all of the usual components and dynamics that are often seen in these retellings.

I did like the characters. They were fleshed out well for the confines of a standalone fantasy. There’s three POV’s and I liked Adam and Lydia’s the most. The third POV was perfectly fine, I just didn’t understand the necessity of it. There’s some big world building but no major magic system which balanced best for a single book. I liked not having to worry about the magic when there were enough groups of people I was trying to get a hold on.

The romance is sweet, a slow burn that could have used a little more fire, but like I mentioned earlier, travels along the B&tB line well. They do have some chemistry and learned to work together. I liked the strength of Adam and Lydia in holding onto hope to rid the world of the Crimson Lord.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance Retelling
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: loss of life, kidnapping

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Beauty and the Blade by S.C. Grayson

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Retelling
Length: 297 pages
Author: S.C. Grayson
Publisher: City Owl Press
Release Date: January 26th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Most London socialites dream of marrying for love or status, but Contessa’s wedding is about justice—and revenge.

Nathanial Woodrow is known on the streets of London as the Beast, leader of the fearsome Lion gang who mark their victims with three slashes on their face. Since her mother was found dead with the signature slashes years ago, Contessa has wanted nothing more than to see her murderer brought to justice. However, the Beast has been impeccable at maintaining his façade as the high society Mr. Nathanial Woodrow, and nobody has been able to gather enough evidence to convict him. When the Beast unexpectedly asks Contessa’s father, the Chief of the Royal Police, for her hand in marriage, Contessa and her father hatch a plan to bring him down from the inside.

As Contessa enters the lion’s den in search of evidence to convict the Beast, she finds that not everything is as she once thought. Her father’s work, hunting down Talented that use their magic to rule the criminal underworld, is thrown into question with each glimpse of the kind-hearted man beneath the mask of a hardened gang leader. As Contessa navigates her search for justice, she finds herself questioning what side she’s really on, and why she finds herself drawn to a man she’s supposed to hate.

NOTHING NEW.

This book was honestly completely fine. But that’s also all I can really say about it. I have no raging issues to throw down nor do I have anything that I felt like was the best ever. So while it might be middle of the road for me it might be a better read for you.

It’s very easily a Beauty and the Beast retelling. A little too similar for me. Yet once again that was my thought about it, if you love a pretty true rundown this would be a great pick. I liked the characters and that Contessa confronted her own thoughts and feeling about Nate. She was open to changing her mind when she received new information and that’s something I appreciate with characters.

This is NOT a fantasy. I’d say urban fantasy or something akin to magical realism. It’s set in London and the magic system isn’t well explained but there do seem to be people with “talents” that help with random things? That was never full explained. I did like the London/Regency setting and time period.

The relationship is good overall too. The enemies to lovers isn’t full blown and they do take the time to get to know one another before forming ALL opinions. There was a nice ending that wrapped things up.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban Fantasy
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: one brief open door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: executions, physical altercations, kidnapping children, weapons violence

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph