Review: Adored this gothic fairy tale retelling of Beauty & the Beast
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2013
Have I told you yet how much I love Beauty & the Beast? My first encounter with Beauty & the Beast was NOT the Disney movie. It was from the collection of fairy tales my dad would read to me every night as a child. And then, I discovered Robin McKinley's "Beauty" when I was in middle school, an excellent re-telling that captured me with not only the story, but the Beast's magical library that held all the books ever published and even those which have yet to be published. And since then, I've enjoyed many twists on the tale, including this one by T.J. Bennett!I immediately liked the feisty, plucky heroine as she stands up to a man in a time when women just did not do that. When she washes ashore and is the lone survivor of the shipwreck, you can feel her panic as she looks for her purse, holding all the money she has in the world for her cause.Gerard is devilishly handsome and appealing, but lacking manners as he is used to just demanding and getting his way. He has that tortured soul thing going for him that enchants nearly every woman; why we all go for that, I have no idea but we do!I thoroughly enjoyed this suspenseful, gothic tale of Beauty & the Beast. As always, the scariest monster/beast out there is mankind as opposed to animal kind. As Catherine discovers the sad truth about the island and the islanders, she and her newfound friends are threatened by one of their own. What lurks in the shadows may not be a beast at all! Restrained passion given the time (1859) and slow building romance was appropriate and delicious to read, and when they finally come together it's a tumultuous experience.T.J. Bennett's writing was spot-on for the time period and despite the setting, made me think very much of Wuthering Heights. Well-written and weaving intrigue and suspense, it gets its hooks into you as you read, pulling you further in. I love it when a book does that!Happily Ever After? What do you think? :)Disclaimer: Received my copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review