Review: How Beauty Loved the Beast
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 7, 2013
I loved the first installment of Tales of the Underlight series and adored the second, but it is with the third, How Beauty Loved the Beast, that Jax Garren joins my short list of all-time favorite authors.The sexual tension between Hauk and Jolie has been building for two books so I'm willing to bet most readers were thinking it was about time these two got together, but I think fans will have a lot of appreciation for how Garren pulled off their union without sacrificing the integrity of her characters in the process. I really can't over emphasize how important it was for me that the personality of these characters not be eclipsed when their relationship became physical or how pleased I am that Garren obviously felt the shared the same point of view.More than its predecessors, this installment incorporates the Beauty and the Beast theme and I have to say I greatly enjoyed how Garren put her own unique spin on the classic fairy tale. The rose ring was an excellent touch and her take on the beast's curse was nothing short of genius.There was however, one area in which I felt somewhat cheated. Ideally, I would have liked to see a little more detail regarding Hauk's association with Odin. It pains me to admit it, but the explanation of that relationship felt particularly thin and left me less than satisfied with the Norse aspects of the series. All things considered it is a minor criticism, but there it is just the same.How Beauty Loved the Beast is a wonderful conclusion to a truly original story set in a world I can only hope to revisit in Garren's future projects. Highly recommended to fans of adult fairy tales.