Review: Wonderful Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 23, 2014
There are several plot summaries in the other reviews, so I'll just tell you what I liked and didn't like about the book.What I liked:The characters are very vivid. They all have their strengths, flaws, and quirks. Even secondary characters are fleshed out and believable. The characterizations are consistent, the dialogue flows easily, and the daily interactions between the characters are fun.I especially enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters. Their love story moves slowly (at least compared to many other romance books out there) but steadily which makes it all the more believable. Both Louvan and Ballard have survived a lot of painful events in their lives. They're strong and capable and feel a great deal of respect for each other. Watching them fall in love is truly a joy. And in this case I really mean `love', not `lust'. They share quite a strong physical attraction, and there are several explicit love scenes, but it's easy to see that their feelings for each other run deep and aren't just limited to appearances or superficialities. They're a couple I definitely see going strong even in hard times and after the first honeymoon feeling has worn off.What I didn't like:Not much I can say here. I would have liked to know a little more about the world the characters live in. We only get a few small glimpses every once in a while. That's a minor complaint though. The book is predominantly a romance after all, and the world building is supposed to take a  back seat to the love story.There were a few small typos/spelling issues but nothing particularly distracting.Conclusion:This is a beautiful love story. I can only recommend this book and will definitely check out the author's other works.