Tag: beauty and the beast

Book Review: The Lost Letter by Mimi Matthews

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Regency Romance Retelling
Length: 244 pages
Author: Mimi Matthews
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Release Date: September 19th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A PROUD BEAUTY

Society beauty Sylvia Stafford is far too pragmatic to pine. When the tragic death of her gamester father leaves her destitute and alone, she finds work as a governess in a merchant’s household in Cheapside. Isolated from the fashionable acquaintance of her youth, she resigns herself to lonely spinsterhood until a mysterious visitor convinces her to temporarily return to her former life–and her former love.

A SCARRED BEAST

Colonel Sebastian Conrad is no longer the dashing cavalry officer Sylvia once fell in love with. Badly scarred during the Sepoy Rebellion, he has withdrawn to his estate in rural Hertfordshire where he lives in near complete seclusion. Brooding and tormented, he cares nothing for the earldom he has inherited–and even less for the faithless beauty who rejected him three years before.

A SECOND CHANCE

A week together in the remote Victorian countryside is the last thing either of them ever wanted. But when fate intervenes to reunite them, will a beastly earl and an impoverished beauty finally find their happily-ever-after? Or are some fairy-tale endings simply not meant to be?

FANTASTIC RETELLING.

I had no idea this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling until I got into the story. What a pleasant surprise because these are my favorite kind! This is a super quick read that I was able to get through in a day and I continually enjoy Mimi Matthews books and this was another good one.

This was written well and I loved the set-up between these two. A good dose of second chance romance and some hidden unrequited feelings. I liked the little dash of mystery to solve what happened to the missing letters and how it led Sebastian and Sylvia back to each other.

There was a small dash of miscommunication I didn’t love, and I kind of had a hard time with the meddling sister too. Besides that things moved swiftly and there some great swoony kiss scenes and a nice HEA.

Overall audience notes:

  • Regency Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple mentions of suicide and suicide ideation, loss of a parent from suicide, grief

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ARC Book Review: Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Lowham

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Rating: ★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 208 pages
Author: Elizabeth Lowham
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Release Date: May 9th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Fantasy and reality collide in this retelling of Beauty and the Beast about a young woman’s heroic quest to save herself.

Yes, I went to the woods to save my father. But I also went hoping I would be eaten by the Beast. Because I didn’t think anything else could save me.

Beauty’s life is the stuff of fairy tales. The youngest in her family, Beauty isn’t trying to catch Stephan’s eye. He is the lord baron’s heir, well above her family’s modest station, but when he kisses her hand at a party, Beauty is swept away by his charm, his wit, and his passionate declarations of love.

Hearts can be untamable creatures, especially when touched by the fires of first love, and Beauty doesn’t see the truth of Stephan’s intentions until it is too late. Until he stops asking for Beauty’s love—and simply takes it from her one night despite her refusal.

Beauty locks away the secret of what happened to her, and when her father emerges from the enchanted forest with a stolen rose in his hand and the tale of a vicious beast on his breath, Beauty seizes the chance to run as far from Stephan as possible.

She has some experience with beasts, after all. Certainly the one in the forest couldn’t be any worse than the one she’s already encountered.

Breaking the Beast’s curse might be the key to discovering her own path to healing—and finding the courage to allow herself to feel reborn.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain for an ARC.

NOPE.

I want to be able to come here and tell y’all I enjoyed this, but I just flat out did not.

This wasn’t a retelling so much as a direct copycat of the original movie. I don’t feel like I got anything new out of this story and instead wished I was just watching the movie.

At barely 200 pages there isn’t enough context or story to get the full sense of Beauty, her family, or her relationship with Beast. Beauty and Beast play make believe games while in the castle and hardly talk to one another for most of the book.

There’s some small good moments about finding light in the dark and such. That’s about all I can pull out that I liked.

No world building (once again I feel like it was leaning on the hope that I had seen the movie), random flashbacks to two different time points that didn’t flow, and multiple other things.

I unfortunately cannot recommend this one.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Retelling
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of sexual assault and potential rape (on page, but extremely vague)

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Book Review: For the Wolf (Wilderwood #1) by Hannah F. Whitten

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Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5)
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 437 pages
Author: Hannah F. Whitten
Publisher: Orbit Books
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn’t the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

BUT WHY?

The entire first half (and honestly, most of the second) had me asking but why, for almost everything thing regarding the world building and magic system. That had to be my biggest gripe here. Why is the wood attacking everyone? Who are all of the kings? Why do we have to bleed on it? Why is he turning into a monster?

SOMEONE TELL ME.

The second half did a little better job with these explanations, or maybe I had been listening for so long that something finally started to click. I wish this had been better and I would have loved the book even more.

I did enjoy the romance. It’s paced well and has a nice slow burn to it. I think Red and Eammon got along well and I could see the chemistry between them. If I didn’t focus too hard on the world building issues I could focus more on the relationships that were a positive for the novel.

The combination of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast mash-ups was an amazing feature. I could see the parallels and I loved the darker differences. Those two factors also played well into my reading enjoyment.

Jury is still out on whether or not I’ll pick up book two. I’ll probably wait for reviews and won’t go the audio route for it either. The narrator and everything is just fine! But with my previous issues i think reading it might help that overall.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Retelling / Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: brief open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: parental emotional abuse and neglect, anxiety and panic attacks, audio/visual hallucinations, self harm (cutting), death of a parent

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Book Review: Heart’s Blood by Julie Marillier

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance / Retelling
Length: 402 pages
Author: Julie Marillier
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: November 3rd, 2009
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Whistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the region in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies of Anluan’s family and his people. The woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. And Anluan himself has been crippled by a childhood illness.

Then the young scribe Caitrin appears in Anluan’s garden, admiring the rare plant known as heart’s blood. Retained to sort through entangled family documents, Caitrin brings about the unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows.

But even as Caitrin brings solace to Anluan, and the promise of something more between them, he remains in thrall to the darkness surrounding Whistling Tor. To free Anluan’s burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life and their love.

BACKLIST B&tB.

This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling.

It was okay.

Honestly, got kind of bored about halfway through.

It was an interesting story [mostly]. It’s background was an Irish setting with all the things you’ve seen in B&tB. A small town with a mysterious ruler, magic, a woman who comes in to save the day (running from her own Gaston). For a retelling I thought it did line up on point for the original story. There were some additional tidbits to make it older, but that was mostly it.

I didn’t feel the chemistry between Caitrin and Anluan. It wasn’t bad, but I don’t know. Wasn’t working for me. I was also really confused by the magic. There were these magic mirrors that kept showing flashbacks? And then I would forget I was in a flashback, and things got convoluted at that point.

It’s a slow ride. I found myself forcing myself to finish, but was too far in to stop. The story wasn’t bad and I know others will probably really enjoy it. It was a not for me book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy romance, retelling
  • Language: little
  • Romance: kisses to some mild love scenes (mostly closed door)
  • Violence: war, skirmishes, physical
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual assault, domestic abuse, ableism, loss of loved ones, suicide, suicide ideation, murder

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