The Beast and the Enchantress by Camille Peters
Fairytale Retelling. 198 Pages. 3 Stars
Synopsis:
If there’s one thing Astrid, an aspiring enchantress with budding magical powers, has learned throughout her studies, it’s that magic must only be used for good. But when an egocentric prince breaks her sister’s heart, Astrid’s only focus is revenge, and what better way to enact it than with a well-chosen curse?
A simple incantation is all it takes to transform the arrogant prince’s appearance to match the state of his heart. But something goes wrong, causing the spell to affect not only the prince, but its caster as well. As the curse begins to change her appearance to reflect the state of her own vengeful heart, Astrid becomes desperate to break it at all costs, even if it means entering the castle in disguise and interacting with the prince she loathes.
To her surprise, Astrid encounters not a conceited prince, but one very different from the one she cursed. She soon finds her heart softening, but not in the way she expects—she’s losing it to the cursed prince she has vowed to hate. The closer they become, the more desperate Astrid is to free the prince, and herself, from the curse. But in so doing, she may lose the man she loves forever.
For how could a prince ever love the woman who turned him into a beast?
The Beast and the Enchantress is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of stand-alone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favorite classic fairy tales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures . . . and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?
My Review:
I thought this was a cute novella. I really like the idea for the whole series–and y’all know I’m a sucker for a fairytale retelling.
Beauty and the Beast is classic, one of the most popular stories to retell, so sometimes it can become a little cliche or overdone. But the twist in this one was actually really neat. I liked the idea behind the plot a lot. And the romance was actually kind of sweet. There were a few nods to the classic elements like the library and the rose that still had a fresh new take and felt like a natural part of the story.
I liked Astrid’s sister. She was sweet. And I really liked Ivy. I was definitely curious about her. Astrid was okay. I didn’t like or dislike her honestly. I liked her role in the story, but not much about who she was really stuck out to me. I liked that she was protective over her little sister and I loved how that created the reason for her cursing the prince. But I struggled to understand and connect to her a lot (which I’ll expand on below). The prince was okay too. I liked his backstory, and as it’s a novella, there wasn’t much room to expand on that, though I was curious about it and wish there had been. He also felt a little…off to me. I loved that he struggled with bitterness and the palace expectations. It was cool to see what made him so impatient with the women of the court and his parents. I liked how he had to learn to stand on his own and, of course, he was endearing because he loved books and learning and gardening, etc. His interests made him unique and I liked that a lot. But it also kind of felt like he was a “beast” just because the story needed him to be. His outbursts didn’t feel super natural to me and I’d wished they felt a little smoother, a more cohesive part of his character. He just seemed a little hot and cold, which I didn’t love.
I think my biggest issue with the novella was that, cool as the twist was, I didn’t love how it was set up. The whole idea is that Astrid’s sister is spurned by the prince and Astrid then gets back at the prince to teach him a lesson. But…her sister’s “spurning” wasn’t really a big deal, and though we spent a portion of the story teetering between whether or not Astrid would actually curse him for it, it still felt a little cardboard. And like a bit of an overreaction on Astrid’s part. I just struggled to really buy into it. I think it was mostly because I had a really hard time feeling what Astrid felt. I saw what the page said she felt, but I didn’t connect with her and feel it too. I didn’t get angry on my sister’s behalf and I didn’t see the need for the prince to learn a lesson. So, I just didn’t emotionally connect when she got upset, which made it harder to care. Her choices just didn’t feel realistic to me.
Additionally, and on a more technical level, there were a few phrases and small parts that were redundant. We got the same information twice in some places. And some phrases were used four or five times, possibly to emphasize a thematic point, but we really didn’t need it in every single place. I got the point and/or would have liked a little variety. I’d have liked to be shown the growth and lessons learned rather than just told through dialogue. But that may just be a stylistic/editing preference.
I think the book is set in a world I’m not familiar with because I haven’t read any of the author’s other books. We stayed on the palace grounds, and had a few different mini-settings. The story is a novella, so I didn’t expect a lot of in depth worldbuilding, but there was enough hinted at to make me curious about other books by the author. Also, the woods and the library were fun.
Content: the book is a sweet, clean romance. No foul language or violence. The enchantress does curse the prince, so some mild fantasy magic, but there was nothing truly dark about it. The story explores ideas of bitterness, forgiveness, anger, vengeance, etc. which would make for good conversation starters. I’d be comfortable giving the novella to a preteen.
This is the second book in the series I’ve read, so I’m looking forward to the rest. And I’m curious to check out more of Camille Peters’s work in the future.
More:
A Villain’s Ever After Book 1 is The Beast and the Enchantress (3 Stars)
Book 2 is The Sultan and the Storyteller (4 Stars)
Book 3 is Bluebeard and the Outlaw (5 Stars)
Book 4 is The Stepsister and the Slipper (4 Stars)
Book 5 is The Goblin and the Dancer (4 Stars)
Book 6 is Hansel and the Gingerbread Queen (5 Stars)
Book 7 is The Dark King and the Eternal Dance (4 Stars)
Book 8 is Gothel and the Maiden Prince (4 Stars)
Book 9 is The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (3 Stars)
Book 10 is The Baker and the Wolf (4 Stars)
Book 11 is The Prince and the Sea Witch (5 Stars)
Book 12 is Carabosse and the Spindle Spell (5 Stars)
Check out Goodreads for the full reviews and more info on each story. These are standalone and do not need to be read in order.
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Don’t miss my thoughts on the next book in the series!