Review: Keep your tissues handy.  A bed of thorns and roses is a lovely tear jerker.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2013
I love beauty and the beast stories.  They always touch me and this one did so more deeply than I imagined it would. This story of two people who fall in love despite the scars they carry is wonderful in its intensity and prose.  I found myself rereading many thoughts as they were deep and I was touched many times.  I cried and then cried some more as the characters became so real too me I could almost touch them. I could see them in my mind, feel their thoughts and feelings. That is good writing when that happens.  I could actually smell roses as I read some parts, that's how much it affected me.  Sounds crazy, I know, but I did.Mild spoiler alert!!!  I wanted so many miracles for this couple. Jonathan was scarred on the outside, Isabelle on the inside and I wanted them to be healed but that couldn't happen in this tale.. I was happy with the hea and wish it hadn't gone so far into their future (nit my favorite but it works).  I wanted more than the typical "hea" of romance stories of love, happiness, marriage, & family. However, to keep with the story I understood that the things I wanted for the h/h wouldn't have fit with the backgrounds of the characters that made this a profound reading experience.  Yes, I wanted everything for them but they had so much love that it was enough. I almost envied them. I gave this five stars because I was totally engrossed in it's depth and still find myself thinking of them well past when I finished. Otherwise I'd have given lower, but not lower than 4. Because it touched me so much I felt it deserved the highest grade I could offer.  I savored this one and its a keeper. I didn't want to put it down but had to for my own sanity a few times.This was a read I'd recommend when you are ready for a good, deep read, not superficial, but realistic for the times it was written.  There were poor people! There were bad people, there were people in between.  Not everyone was rich, or became rich but there was hea in love itself.  Love can triumph, despite the odds and awful circumstances. The secondary characters were good but I found myself wanting more interaction of the primary ones, Jonathan and Isabelle.  I wanted more of them-- period.  Despite that it was a enough for me as it is a emotional rollercoaster; but too much more and I would have been inconsolable w/o an hea.  Lol.  Not many beast stories have this emotional depth.  I'm looking forward to other works by this author.  Thank you Ms. Carr!