Beauty and the Beast by K. M. Shea
Fairytale Retelling. 272 Pages. 4 Stars
Synopsis:
Once upon a time Elle made a mistake. A small miscalculation sends her through the roof of an enchanted chateau. Stranded until her broken leg mends, Elle is forced to rely on the good will of the sour chateau owner —the cursed Prince Severin.
Prince Severin—the commanding general and staunch supporter of his brother the crown prince—is cursed to look like a beast until a maiden falls in love with him. However, he has given up all hope of shattering the curse after several painful and failed attempts to break it. As such he has only disdain for Elle, leaving her to the devices of his bossy servants. This suits Elle perfectly as she dislikes the entire royal family, Severin included.
Unfortunately for the unsuspecting pair, the chateau servants are determined to break the curse and spend the majority of their time pushing Elle and Severin together. After bonding over gardens, animals, and terrifying squirrels Elle and Severin show signs of friendship, and perhaps something more…
But not all love stories can end that easily. After all, Elle is not what she seems, and Severin’s life is placed in danger when hostilities flare between his brother and the monarchs of a neighboring country.
If they really want the love of a lifetime Elle, a loyal liar, and Severin, an indifferent beast, will have to use every trick they know to survive.
My Review:
This was so sweeeeeet!!! (Also, the new cover is stunning!)
I’m finally getting around to reading Shea’s Timeless Fairy Tales!! I’ve been wanting to do this for at least a year now! And I’ve read other of Shea’s books and quite enjoyed them. But last night, right before bed (like a real smart girl…), I opened up this beauty.
Yeah, didn’t sleep much last night.
But! This heartwarming story was just the right mix of classic and new.
The story starts off with a crash and a bang–quite literally. Shea drops us right into the action and shoves a rather feisty and injured girl into the heart of a cursed beast and his rather distinct staff. The little bits of the classic story twisted into a new light drew my attention. The reason Beauty was in the castle with Beast, the manifestation of the servants’ curse, the backstory of the Beast’s curse itself, the rest of his family, and Beauty’s whole character and background and how Shea beautifully unfolded that. Shea, you genuinely surprised me. I must admit that I did NOT see that twist coming. And at 1 in the morning, I literally gasped out loud (was totally about to put the book down and be a good girl and sleep until I hit that point). Oh, and the “wolf” scene! That was so cool! All of the little quirks that made the story pleasantly surprising and yet homey and familiar were just well-done.
I loved the depiction of the beast! That was certainly unique and, oddly endearing. The whole cast of characters was so rich and dynamic. I absolutely loved getting to know them. It really did feel like getting to know them, too. It was like I learned more and more of them the more Elle did, and that was a neat experience. They each had their own personality and mannerisms and were easy to tell apart (something not many large casts can pull off). And there were so many sweet, sweet moments throughout the story. It was truly just a…a heartwarming read.
Angelique piqued my interest, too, and the different names of the kingdoms. At this point, I’ve seen Angelique’s books (though not read them, yet) and read The Princess and the Pea (totally saw that music room reference!) and the Snow Queen books, so I’m really excited to dig into this series and see just who all these people and what all these lands are!
Content: squeaky clean, sweet romance, no foul language, and very mild violence. I’d feel perfectly fine giving this to a pre-teen.
More:
Book 2 in the Timeless Fairy Tales is The Wild Swans (3 Stars)
Book 3 is Cinderella and the Colonel
Book 4 is Rumpelstiltskin
Book 5 is The Little Selkie
Book 6 is Puss in Boots
Book 7 is Swan Lake
Book 8 is Sleeping Beauty
Book 9 is The Frog Prince
Book 10 is The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Book 11 is Snow White
I have not read this entire series yet, but oh am I looking forward to it! I’ll come back and update this as I go, but for now, you can check them out and find more information with the links above! I did read the prequel duology, the Snow Queen books, which I loved, and you can find more info on those here.
On GraceBought
Check out my thoughts on the prequels here!