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spinch4's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed Belle and her family's backstory, also the backstory of the Beast. Would have liked a bit more interaction between the Beast and Belle.
kaylaarnold's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure if I loved this or hated this. There were only 23 chapters and the first 17 were all about Belle's backstory and childhood and I can't decide if it liked it or not. There was so much talk about Belle not being as beautiful as her sisters which apparently makes her less valuable in her own family.It was because of this beginning that I couldn't get myself to pick up the book in 2 months. Also, I continued to imagine this Belle as a child throughout the whole book; it felt like I was reading through a child's perspective and she wasn't a mature young woman like the ones depicted in the movies.
The Beauty and the Beast story doesn't really happen until ch 18 and I really enjoyed the end. I loved the reimagining of how the Beast became the Beast and the differences in the enchanted castle. But what I loved most was the change in the Beast's attitude towards Belle; from the moment he met her he was kind, gentle, and reiterating that he won't hurt her. I expected, like the movie, that the Beast would be angry, loud, and he would change is attitude and Belle would still fall in love with him but in this story, he was polite and very gentlemen like. I gave the ending 5 stars and wished that it was longer.
The Beauty and the Beast story doesn't really happen until ch 18 and I really enjoyed the end. I loved the reimagining of how the Beast became the Beast and the differences in the enchanted castle. But what I loved most was the change in the Beast's attitude towards Belle; from the moment he met her he was kind, gentle, and reiterating that he won't hurt her. I expected, like the movie, that the Beast would be angry, loud, and he would change is attitude and Belle would still fall in love with him but in this story, he was polite and very gentlemen like. I gave the ending 5 stars and wished that it was longer.
jamies_shelves's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars!
This book was a very interesting take on Beauty and the Beast. It was very different in the way that the rose and mirror were involved, but it was unique and honestly pretty cool!
This book started off really strong. Good writing, good setup, good plot. Then we met the beast, and there were less than 100 pages left. Because of this from when we meet the beast until the end was REALLY rushed. I think she met him, left, and then realized she loved him all within like fifty pages? Way too fast. I feel like we didn't know the beast at all because we barely saw him. Which kind of sucks, because I feel like there was such potential to fall in love with this couple and their love story.
I did enjoy that in this tale all of Belle's family were nice people. Both her sisters and her mom, while having their faults, were kind and treated Belle well. This was definitely a nice change.
Overall this book was a fun and really quick read! It really did feel like I was reading a classic fairytale.
This book was a very interesting take on Beauty and the Beast. It was very different in the way that the rose and mirror were involved, but it was unique and honestly pretty cool!
This book started off really strong. Good writing, good setup, good plot. Then we met the beast, and there were less than 100 pages left. Because of this from when we meet the beast until the end was REALLY rushed. I think she met him, left, and then realized she loved him all within like fifty pages? Way too fast. I feel like we didn't know the beast at all because we barely saw him. Which kind of sucks, because I feel like there was such potential to fall in love with this couple and their love story.
I did enjoy that in this tale all of Belle's family were nice people. Both her sisters and her mom, while having their faults, were kind and treated Belle well. This was definitely a nice change.
Overall this book was a fun and really quick read! It really did feel like I was reading a classic fairytale.
zu_reviews's review against another edition
1.0
I'm sorry to give such a low rating for a story that was technically well written (it had no huge and glaring grammatical errors or giant plot holes). It was just that it seemed to contain my every pet peeve. I was able to finish it, as I hoped the ending was building up to something, but it failed to deliver for me.
For starters, the protagonist, Annabelle, is very salty and whiny about her looks. And, by her own admission, it wasn't even that she was ugly. She was beautiful, just not AS beautiful as her sisters (according to her) which were apparently so beautiful as to literally take some mens breath away, and to make her literally invisible if standing between them (which, when shown made zero sense as to why this even happened or was a big deal). Everything else for our MC is fine though, her sisters love her and are kind, her parents love her, she's her father's favourite, even their pseudo grand-fathers favourite. Her problems are self-inflicted, and honestly she was often being selfish (withdrawing from her family and outings when her family was only ever kind to her). I kept reading in hope's that she would be redeemed at the end, that perhaps her being a whiny tart was purposeful and this was a redemption story, but no such luck.
As a character, she felt very one-note, because all she would talk about is how she wasn't AS beautiful as her sisters. Even her cool hobby of wood-working wasn't explored and felt more like a fun fact about her brought up from time to time. It was supposed to be this unique aspect to the story, the twist to the original, but it was barely there. Truthfully, her sisters seemed far more interesting to read. I felt like I was reading the wrong story: forget the whiny girl obsessed with her looks, I want to read the story about the girls so beautiful they literally make men collapse. Belle thinks she's gonna have a hard time finding someone to love her because she's beautiful but not Beautiful with a capital B? How about the two girls who are only ever seen for their beauty, and literally make men collapse just from looking at them. Imagine trying to go court a guy when your date keeps collapsing at the sight of you.
To further my pet peeves, the voice of the MC was not just repetitive - because all she thought about was her looks- but she was the kind of narrator that kept saying things like "Let me back up and explain myself" or Have I told you this?" Or "as I said before..." Which just gets on my nerves. It's as if the writer doesn't know how to bring about anything naturally in the story, so the MC literally just says it: "let me tell you what I look like", "let me tell you about that one day when". Again, there's nothing technically wrong with this style of story telling, but combined with her whiny voice and being overly repetitive, if it's not your favourite thing as a reader it will grate on your nerves. Dokey also uses a LOT of allegory for description, and it just starts to feel odd and not very specific. Items and places that are seen multiple times, like the heartwood tree, are always described in the same way. It gets stale.
For a beauty and the beast retelling, the Beast enters the story very late, and fails to make any kind of impact or connection on the page. He never wants to talk about himself, so we never learn anything. They share limited to no dialogue together that grows their relationship. There isn't really a budding romance, she just wakes up one day and is like "actually I'm in love with him" and as a reader you don't feel it at all. It comes out of nowhere, based on nothing. And Belle does not come to the satisfying conclusion and recognize her selfish faults over the obsession of her appearance. They're just in love, and she lives happily ever after with no real consequences. Her family have all "learned to enjoy a simple life" which is just bizarre, as they were all kind people ready to embrace a simple life to begin with. They weren't proud, greedy or mean. Why did they need to be taught a lesson? It's like someone putting Mother Theresa through Nun camp. What are you trying to accomplish?
I suppose the "theme" of the story was something about how to see someone with the heart, but that doesn't come through because Belle and Beast are the least open and least interesting characters in the story and their time together is so short and uneventful. I could not give you one reason they are in love, or one example of their emotional connection. The side love story one of her sisters had was more interesting and fulfilling than what was supposed to be the lynch pin of the plot. Again, I found myself at the end of the book asking "why am I reading this story, when her sisters stories sound so much better."
For starters, the protagonist, Annabelle, is very salty and whiny about her looks. And, by her own admission, it wasn't even that she was ugly. She was beautiful, just not AS beautiful as her sisters (according to her) which were apparently so beautiful as to literally take some mens breath away, and to make her literally invisible if standing between them (which, when shown made zero sense as to why this even happened or was a big deal). Everything else for our MC is fine though, her sisters love her and are kind, her parents love her, she's her father's favourite, even their pseudo grand-fathers favourite. Her problems are self-inflicted, and honestly she was often being selfish (withdrawing from her family and outings when her family was only ever kind to her). I kept reading in hope's that she would be redeemed at the end, that perhaps her being a whiny tart was purposeful and this was a redemption story, but no such luck.
As a character, she felt very one-note, because all she would talk about is how she wasn't AS beautiful as her sisters. Even her cool hobby of wood-working wasn't explored and felt more like a fun fact about her brought up from time to time. It was supposed to be this unique aspect to the story, the twist to the original, but it was barely there. Truthfully, her sisters seemed far more interesting to read. I felt like I was reading the wrong story: forget the whiny girl obsessed with her looks, I want to read the story about the girls so beautiful they literally make men collapse. Belle thinks she's gonna have a hard time finding someone to love her because she's beautiful but not Beautiful with a capital B? How about the two girls who are only ever seen for their beauty, and literally make men collapse just from looking at them. Imagine trying to go court a guy when your date keeps collapsing at the sight of you.
To further my pet peeves, the voice of the MC was not just repetitive - because all she thought about was her looks- but she was the kind of narrator that kept saying things like "Let me back up and explain myself" or Have I told you this?" Or "as I said before..." Which just gets on my nerves. It's as if the writer doesn't know how to bring about anything naturally in the story, so the MC literally just says it: "let me tell you what I look like", "let me tell you about that one day when". Again, there's nothing technically wrong with this style of story telling, but combined with her whiny voice and being overly repetitive, if it's not your favourite thing as a reader it will grate on your nerves. Dokey also uses a LOT of allegory for description, and it just starts to feel odd and not very specific. Items and places that are seen multiple times, like the heartwood tree, are always described in the same way. It gets stale.
For a beauty and the beast retelling, the Beast enters the story very late, and fails to make any kind of impact or connection on the page. He never wants to talk about himself, so we never learn anything. They share limited to no dialogue together that grows their relationship. There isn't really a budding romance, she just wakes up one day and is like "actually I'm in love with him" and as a reader you don't feel it at all. It comes out of nowhere, based on nothing. And Belle does not come to the satisfying conclusion and recognize her selfish faults over the obsession of her appearance. They're just in love, and she lives happily ever after with no real consequences. Her family have all "learned to enjoy a simple life" which is just bizarre, as they were all kind people ready to embrace a simple life to begin with. They weren't proud, greedy or mean. Why did they need to be taught a lesson? It's like someone putting Mother Theresa through Nun camp. What are you trying to accomplish?
I suppose the "theme" of the story was something about how to see someone with the heart, but that doesn't come through because Belle and Beast are the least open and least interesting characters in the story and their time together is so short and uneventful. I could not give you one reason they are in love, or one example of their emotional connection. The side love story one of her sisters had was more interesting and fulfilling than what was supposed to be the lynch pin of the plot. Again, I found myself at the end of the book asking "why am I reading this story, when her sisters stories sound so much better."
riskyduck's review against another edition
2.0
Nothing special. At all. Mildly charming...but the end was just so anti-climatic. There was so many story elements started that were left hanging or rushed, so everything felt truncated. Like the horse, the "grandpa," , the older sister, her name identity. Even the big things like her eyes and the Heartwood left you saying "What?"
sqeeker's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great retelling of an old favorite!! The ending was beautiful.
Plot: The story begins a little slowly, but it picks up. Now that I have finished the book, I can understand why the author wanted to add all the stuff at the beginning that made it slow. The ending is really great. I think it ended perfectly. The whole story flows smoothly, and it's just an great enjoyable read. I think I liked this version a little better than Robin McKinley's Beauty.
Characters: I loved how realistic the 3 sisters were. They annoyed each other, but they loved each other. It was really great to see that. I didn't like that Belle worried about her looks so much in the beginning, but I suppose that is what the story is called, Belle/Beauty. I loved Belle's father. It warms my heart when a daughter and father have such a loving and understanding relationship. The Beast wasn't in the story as much, and I wish the author had a done a bit more with him. I would love to see a book come out from the Beast's perspective.
Plot: The story begins a little slowly, but it picks up. Now that I have finished the book, I can understand why the author wanted to add all the stuff at the beginning that made it slow. The ending is really great. I think it ended perfectly. The whole story flows smoothly, and it's just an great enjoyable read. I think I liked this version a little better than Robin McKinley's Beauty.
Characters: I loved how realistic the 3 sisters were. They annoyed each other, but they loved each other. It was really great to see that. I didn't like that Belle worried about her looks so much in the beginning, but I suppose that is what the story is called, Belle/Beauty. I loved Belle's father. It warms my heart when a daughter and father have such a loving and understanding relationship. The Beast wasn't in the story as much, and I wish the author had a done a bit more with him. I would love to see a book come out from the Beast's perspective.
austkaine's review against another edition
2.0
Very cute book. I know it is meant to be a shorter book but I feel like the scenes were rushed, and the ending was put together. I did like the authors writing star as I felt it put a very good perspective for each and every character I do plan on trying to read more of his books to see if it’s a consistent style, or if the characters from this one show in other books, I particularly want to know what happened to the oldest
toriedawn1's review against another edition
4.0
Sisters who arent awful, a mother still alive, what kind of retelling is this? Seriously though I did really enjoy this book. It was a nice take on the beauty and the beast and they managed to keep a few aspects of early tales, the question every night for example is still used in this version but I feel it is done in a far less creepy way, ||asking a girl to look at the beast for 5 seconds seems more reasonable than asking her to marry you, im all for believing looks arent everything but that dude has fangs and claws, marrige sounds unsafe||. I liked how it showed with the sisters that sometimes a simpler life where you are given the option to find things you are good at can be better than having to live up to societys expectations of what you should excell at. The beast in this version was excellent, witty and not too pushy. Belle was a little whiny at first, definitely the person most obsessed with looks at the start but she grows into herself. Overall an excellent retelling and one I'd reccomend.
thepastelnerd's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thedestinydyer's review against another edition
3.0
This wasn’t my favorite read. For a retelling of beauty and the beast I thought it would be similar to the Disney one but was not other than the fact that they both contained a cursed man and a lady which must save him but only by love.