A Curse so Dark and lonely

Title: A Curse so Dark and Lonely
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: Fantasy/ YA/ Fairytale Retelling/ Fantasy
Source: Goodreads Recommendation
Rating: 5/5

Favourite Quote: ‘”They need me. Can’t you understand that? That they need me? Can you?”
I press my forehead against the door. Her pain reaches me through the wood, tightening my own chest and dredging memories of my family. “Yes. I can.”
“No!” Her voice is fierce, her rage pure. “You can’t!”
“I can,” I say softly.
“How?”
“Because I need you.”‘

Harper hasn’t had it easy, her father ran away after he got involved with a group he owed money too, leaving the debt and danger to her family and her brother left doing the dirty work for those who threaten them. Her mother is now bedridden with cancer and Harper herself left feeling weak with her cerebral palsy in her leg, her role is to be a look out for her brother and nothing more. When she sees a girl being kidnapped by a man whilst on a job, she can’t help but get involved and throws herself at the man with her crowbar even if it does little to stop him. The next thing she knows, she’s transported to a world outside DC, a castle in summer surrounded by winter, musical instruments that play themselves, and a prince that claims to need her help. No matter how many times she tries to escape, she quickly realises that she’s stuck as the last hope for a curse that threatens to destroy the entire kingdom around her.

He stops, but his sword remains in his hand and he doesn’t take his eyes off the girl. “Do not think,” he tells her, his voice fierce, “that this means I will allow you to attack me again.”
“Don’t worry,” she snaps. “I’m sure I’ll get another chance.”
“She attacked you?” My eyebrows rise. “Grey. She is half your size.”
“She makes up for it in temperament. She most assuredly was not my first choice.”
“Where am I?” The girl’s eyes keep flicking from me to him to the sword in his hand. Her knuckles are white where they grip the bar. “What did you do?”‘

This was one of the best Beauty and the Beast retellings I’ve read and I don’t say that lightly – I’ve read a lot of them. I adored the characters, the magic, the curse, the monster – the original fairytale was all there but it was just so wonderfully unique that it was one of it’s own. Part of me doesn’t even want to call it a fairytale retelling because the story was so individually different.

The story was told from both perspectives of Harper and Prince Rhen which brought the story to life through both their eyes.
Harper was a fantastically well written main character with a believable backstory, physical flaws that she won’t allow to get the best of her, a brave instinct that often gets her in trouble although she never regrets her actions. The build up of her character is delightful, she knows her own strengths and weaknesses and pushes through both to help a strange Prince in a land that’s unfamiliar laced with a curse, a lie and a monster just so she can ensure the people around her are safe and looked after. She’s passionate, kind and doesn’t back down from a fight, whether it’s against armed soldiers, scary Grey or an argument with a cursed Prince. She hits my top favourite heroines list without a doubt.

‘He doesn’t act like a man who’s trying to fall in love. He plays this whole thing like a game, where underneath his pretty words is a man full of cunning and guile. He acts like a tethered animal that’s learned the limits of its chain – but knows how to lure prey to its death. That’s why I don’t trust him. After the showdown in the snow, I realise he doesn’t trust me, either. Somehow, despite the fact that he trapped me in Emberfall, his distrust seems to run deeper.‘

Prince Rhen was an interesting character which we get to see inside and out. It’s easy to see why he thinks the way he does seeing everything as a strategy being raised as a Prince to rule a kingdom, why his personality is completely pessimistic and why he’s suddenly so caught off guard around Harper. Even as an isolated Prince with only Grey to keep him company, he still holds his authority well around others, and expects the same from her, only to have her argue against him at every turn. It’s confusing, frustrating and frankly just refreshing for him to have someone challenge him after so long, it’s not difficult to understand why Harper brings a new sense of hope to him where there was none previously. Even when it’s clear she will not feel for him the way he needs her too in order to lift the curse.

I really liked Grey, the last remaining person to survive the monster attack that stands by Prince Rhen’s side no matter what. His loyalty shows no bounds and his sweet interactions with children and simply just the way he is around Harper is endearing for a lonely soldier who has lost everything for so long. It’s the small moments with Grey that make you like him all the more, from playing cards in front of the fire, teaching Harper how to throw knives, his need to feel productive in his role and the way you can just simply trust him brings so much meaning to his character.

‘Grey stares after him. “I had almost forgotten what this was like.”
“Having someone to order around?” I say.
“No.” Rhen looks past me at his guard commander. “Being part of something bigger.”
Grey nods. “Yes. That exactly.”‘

I loved the plot, the scheme Rhen and Harper come up with to show the neighbouring countries that their kingdom has not been abandoned by their royalty. It brings more than just a Beauty and the Beast romance to the story and is entirely captivating, I couldn’t put the book down. You really get to see the characters change around each other as the go from focusing on the curse in an empty secluded castle to a being part of something greater as a kingdom united with its people to fight in a war for power.
The additional characters that join them along the way are all individually unique and flawed in their own way they are easy to follow along and help build up the story. I loved how Freya became a strong mother figure that Harper needed and a comfort she gave herself into. I loved how their new lieutenant had a missing hand to show that flaws are not a sign of weakness and I loved that Zo was a woman who wanted to be a soldier and so became a solider because Harper showed them that any woman can be just as strong as a man, no matter what her size. Each character had meaning, a purpose and a goal to fulfil without it being too complicated or overcrowded as the people of the kingdom joined together around them.

As you can tell, I absolutely adored this book and I couldn’t recommend it enough for anyone who loves a great fairytale retelling.

Goodreads Blurb:
Fall in love, break the curse.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.

Beast of the Night

Title: Beast of the Night
Author: E.E. Rawls
Genre: Fiction/ YA/ Fantasy/ Fairytale Retelling
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Rating: 3/5

Favourite Quote: ‘”This wound will kill you,” the man told him. “But I have something that can freeze the wound in place so that you will live. If that is what you want?”
He nodded slightly.
The man pulled something out from his robes: a band of silver with a ruby in the shape of a rose, and clicked it around Varick’s neck.”This mage artifact can keep you alive, but only under one condition: you must never fall in love. If you do, the spell will break.”‘

Rosenrot can’t stop the nightmares of what she saw in the clearing 6 years ago. Nachzehrer. The Beast of the Night. When she first moved to the small hidden town of Freudendorf for her drunken father to escape the debt collectors, the villagers talked about a forbidden castle, a cursed forest, and a beast that dwelled in it. Curious to see for herself, she hiked through the forest until she came across the castle, and the very beast everyone warned her about. The shock gave away her position in the bushes and the second she locked onto the silver eyes of the beast, she ran away faster than she had ever done in her life and swore she would never travel too far into the forest again.

When her father’s debt collectors finally find them, Rosenrot discovers a farewell note from her missing father and her life is suddenly sold for 15 years of accumulated debt. Accompanied by a zombie like butler, she finds herself following the same broken trail through the forest from 6 years ago that leads straight to the forbidden castle. Her new employer is none other than Lord Varick, the Beast of the Night.

‘Castle… she didn’t know of any inhabited castle in the western foothills. A sea of red soon lined either side of the path. Twigs clawed down toward her from their bleeding canopy. The memory rushed back: the path she had wandered as a too-curious girl. The wailing of a creature wrapped in black. Twin glowing silver eyes.
“The forbidden castle? Surely that isn’t the one you’re taking me too, is it?”
“Forbidden? Hm.. ja, it has been… a long time since… a human visited.”

I was craving another Beauty and the Beast retelling when this book popped up on my kindle recommendations. I fell in love with the cover, the colours drawing me in instantly. The book itself isn’t very long, in fact I think it only took me a couple of hours to finish. It has all the key elements of Beauty and the Beast that you’ll expect; beauty, a beast, enchanted creatures, a small town, a curse and a magical being that sets everything in motion who is never too far away observing the chaos they created. But it has its own unique twist that had me drawn in. Even when I knew how it would end, I was still questioning how it could turn out when we discovered the truth behind the rose necklace around Lord Varick’s neck.

I do have to say, was disappointed in how rushed it all felt. The author didn’t give us enough time for our characters to get to know each other and for the romance to fully bloom into something special. It felt like the whole experience between them took days which wasn’t enough to build up the characters or the connection between them. A few small ‘adventures’ outside the castle collecting mushrooms, exploring the salt mines and a disguised visit to the village festival was all it took which felt lacking. It needed more of a spark but I did enjoy the innocent gestures between them when they finally accepted each other’s friendship. You could feel the trust growing and the changes in Lord Varick’s character when he began to accept that he was more lonely than he realised without Rosenrot around.

As much as you didn’t have a lot of time to get to know the characters, I did like the how they were uniquely different from all other Beauty and the Beast spin offs I’ve read. As much as I didn’t like her name, Rosenrot liked being different even with one missing arm. She preferred having short lavender hair when all the other girls had long natural colours, she was content in being on her own and knew what she wanted which was to get lost in a library and not marry unless it was for love. Her acceptance that she will have to pay off her fathers drunken debts didn’t affect her overall character or attitude, even when she found herself in the service of a cursed lord in a forbidden castle on her own.
I did feel like her arm disfigurement was unnecessary for the most part, there was no backstory to it or why, it just was. It’s like the author wanted to create a heroine with flaws that allowed her to stand out but failed to make us emotionally invested in it.

I actually liked how our very own Beast was a vampire. Or rather ‘Vempar’. Not the typical blood sucking, swoon worthy, invincible, immortal teenage vampire. But rather a lonely isolated ill-mannered lord with added strength and healing abilities. Not undead, but rather another race of the Altered. Whatever that means. It made a refreshing new ‘beast’ from the typical werewolf type creature we’ve come to accept and his Vempar aspect didn’t completely overpower the story. So much so, I honestly wouldn’t put it in the same category as a vampire romance at all.
He has lived on his own surrounded by servants since he was nine years old, hidden from the town and the horrors surrounding the death of his family. Varick’s obnoxious cruel behaviour comes from the reclusive privileged upbringing that he soon adapts around Rosenrot and the kindness she brings to the castle. I liked how he went out of his way to keep reminders of his family around him, and chose to embrace the memories he had with them rather than hide away from it. It was the one part of his character that really stood out to me.

‘Rosenrot placed a handful of maple leaves on a table and twirled to face him, the fabric of her gold and white dress turning with her. She spread her arms wide, “With this! You can’t celebrate the Autumn Festival without a festive house.” 
Varick stared about the dining room. Colourful centrepieces decorated the mantles and the long dining table: gourds of autumn greens, yellows, and oranges forming fantastical shapes between rings of bright leaves. A memory flashed back of that day long ago: he and his family celebrating the festival in this room, the castle filled with colour and life and cheer.. 
“Do you not like it?” Rosenrot said when he didn’t speak. 
“Oh.” He shook himself back to the present. “It’s beautiful. The most beautiful this place has looked in a long time.” He meant it, in more ways than one, watching the firelight play on the gold leaves about her dress.”‘

One thing I did love was the world building. The author was able to bring the scene to life and fill it with beautiful colours that made it always feel like autumn, whether it was the pumpkins that were always present in everything they ate, the autumn decorations around the castle that his family had enjoyed on their last day together, the walks through the forest under the colourful leaves, the village festival that was bright and cheerful with it’s autumn costumes or sitting in front of the fireplace creating a warm cosy atmosphere. I adore autumn which made me love this aspect of the story even more.

‘Each footstep crunched through layers of autumn leaves. Birches stood white against the cacophony of orange and gold smothering the forest canopy. The sky was a sea of clouds, trapped by the mountaintops surrounding the valley, and growing darker by the minute, the fading light casting a strange glow and turning the autumn forest almost eerie.’ 

I would have liked to have had more history surrounding the whole Altered and the rest of the supernatural beings that made an appearance. It was a bit confusing and messy in places. The Nymiads for example were the ‘enchanted beings’ around the castle, but we weren’t really told anything about them, only that they worked for Lord Varick. For some reason. I just needed more. What are they, who are they and where did they come from? They were their own mystery that didn’t quite add up but were just there and nothing to do with any curse or magic surrounding the story.

Overall I liked this fairytale spinoff, it had some great features that I would recommend to anyone who loves Beauty and the Beast retellings as much as I do just to experience a new perspective on the tale. It wasn’t the best version I’ve read by any means, but I still enjoyed it!

 

 

Goodreads Review:
A one-armed girl. A lord hiding a curse. A dark secret with the town’s fate hanging in the balance.
A Beauty and the Beast retelling with an Austrian twist and a new type of curse.
When Rosen moves to Freudendorf—a secluded town in the Alps—she does odd jobs to earn a living. That is, until her dad suddenly vanishes and the debt collectors come to call: taking her into slave labor.
But just when all her hopes and dreams are shattered, a frail zombie-like butler purchases her: taking her to serve Lord Varick, who currently resides in the forbidden castle near the salt mines, where the Beast of the Night is said to roam…
Varick is handsome, with an attitude that’s the exact opposite. The servants aren’t human, and the castle itself is an ugly wreck. But if Rosen cannot solve the dark secret beneath Freudendorf, and the curse holding Varick’s cold heart, then both they and the town will fall prey to a waiting evil—and worse, have no memory of it.

Brutal Curse

Title: Brutal Curse
Author: Casey L. Bond
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ YA/ Fantasy/ Fairytale Retelling
Source: Kindle Recommendation
Rating: 4/5

Favourite Quote: ‘“They will be specifically designed for the pair of you.”
“Then why bet on me? Or on us?”
“On you,” he clarified with a grin. “Only you. And, because there is a flame within your heart. I can feel it licking at me even now.”‘

Goodreads Synopsis:
Prince Carden of Tierney lost his home, family, and claim to the throne in one fell swoop when he rebelled against his father for a cause he knew was right. Instead of wallowing in despair, he embarks on a new journey, starting a new life on the Southern Isle. When he finds himself caught in a web woven by the famously ruthless fae queen, Coeur, he insults her and she vows to teach him the most difficult and heart-breaking lesson he will ever learn: that humans are incapable of love, and that hearts are beastly things.

Arabella wasn’t really living, she was existing and surviving as best she could. A chance encounter with Carden changes everything for her, but the deadly game he’s dragged her into might cost her life. Still, she agrees to play. The rules the fae queen gives them are vague, and it’s obvious there are things Queen Coeur isn’t telling them. She’s sure of it. But what she does know is that together, she and Carden must pass a series of tests and trials. If they fail, game over. But if they succeed, she just might be able to restore her family and carve out the life she’s always envisioned.

‘She smiled, her crimson lips widening. “I want you to know that during this game, I will make sure you know intimately what it feels like to be a beast.” 
There was a ruthless, calculating cruelty in her eyes. They say that a person with no soul has a hollowness about them; that even in the depths of their eyes, there’s nothing but emptiness. Queen Coeur was not empty. She was filled with a terrifying evil I had no comprehension of, and I’d unwittingly turned all her wicked ire upon myself with one sentence.
She began to chuckle. “You are going to be so fun to break.”‘

Beauty and the Beast meets Alice in Wonderland?! Of course I didn’t hesitate to pick this one up! And I’m so glad I did! A fantastically well thought out retelling with a dark twist, it had all the right enchanting pieces of both fairytales thrown into a mix of magical fae that just worked.
Each character represented a fairytale one in a unique way from the fae Queen of Hearts ruling her own little kingdom with an obsession of colour, a runaway Prince she curses to become a Beast, our main protagonist who had a lovely balance of both Belle and Alice who followed the White Rabbit to the castle, as well as the Mad Hatter, the enchanted cursed servants in the castle, a version of Gaston that you couldn’t hate as well as our very own panther ‘Cheshire Cat’, also known as the dark and seductive fae Prince of Hearts.

The storyline was gruesomely thrilling, Arabella and Carden are both captured by the feared fae Queen Coeur to be partnered up and compete in her messed up mind games for all the kingdom to watch and enjoy. If they survive the five days together; they get to live, if they fail; they both die. Each trial tests them on their inner demons and guilty secrets, making them come to face the real reason they were both running away to start fresh from their own unbearable lives.

‘”What is that on your neck?” she asked, eyes transfixed on Arabella’s shard of glass.
“A remnant of my past,” Arabella answered elusively.
The Queen clucked her tongue. “The past is important, you know. Most humans prefer to forget it entirely. Why do you wear yours so boldly?”
“Because I want a different future.”‘

I really enjoyed the connections between the main characters, the tethers that bonded them together in one way or another, some being stronger than others creating a heartmate tether. Things became really interesting when the dark and brutal fae Prince Rule also shared a tether with our main protagonist creating an exciting love triangle. Of course we knew Carden was her heartmate from the start, but when his beast form started creating a wedge between them you didn’t know who was going to win Arabella’s heart in the end.

‘”Can you help her?”
“Of course, I can,” he answered. His enormous front paws stopped on a piece of pale tile. “The question is, will I help her?” 
“It’s why you came here, isn’t it? Why you helped yesterday… You want her to win.” 
The cat yawned, showing his incisors. “I want her to live.”
“Why?”
“Because life has become much more interesting with her in it,” he replied.
The panther stared quietly, not moving a muscle. There was only one person I knew who watched her so feverishly, and suddenly I realised who he was. “Rule?”
The panther bared its teeth at me and jumped into the mirror, the surface rippling like water in a still pond before settling and hardening.’

The author did a brilliant job at building the fantasy world that combined the dark mysterious castle hidden within an enchanted forest of sorts, protected by fae who did the bidding of the evil fae queen. The colourful castle itself was quirky and you definitely felt the Alice in Wonderland effect with each room and confusing corridor. I liked the little details in the story, like how each trial began by sending them down a dark hole to end up somewhere magically personally disturbing for the characters in order to drive them mad. The scenes themselves weren’t overly detailed, but they didn’t need to be, it just worked.

I did feel like a lot of the book felt rushed in areas, particularly during the trial games as well as the romantic connection between Arabella and Carden. You knew the queen wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty for the pettiest of reasons, so overall I felt the trials were really tame in comparison, you never felt any urgency in their situation and the fact that each game started at dawn and finish when the sun set, they felt unusually quick and uneventful at times and more like a trip down memory lane.
There was absolutely no romantic build up between Arabella and Carden which actually had me rooting for Rule since he was the mysterious anti-hero that kept intervening in order to help Arabella. Enough to make him go up against his own mother. The way he stared at her across the room, the way he took the appearance of Carden just for the chance to dance with her as well as his ability to save her from her own mind during the games was all so endearing, I couldn’t help but feel like their connection was so much stronger which made the ending slightly less impacting.  I think this is why I couldn’t bring myself to give the book 5 stars. I would still highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fairytale retellings!

 

 

Goodreads Review:
Brutal Curse is a fairy tale retelling where Alice in Wonderland meets Beauty and the Beast.
Prince Carden of Tierney lost his home, family, and claim to the throne in one fell swoop when he rebelled against his father for a cause he knew was right. Instead of wallowing in despair, he embarks on a new journey, starting a new life on the Southern Isle. When he finds himself caught in a web woven by the famously ruthless fae queen, Coeur, he insults her and she vows to teach him the most difficult and heart-breaking lesson he will ever learn: that humans are incapable of love, and that hearts are beastly things.
Arabella wasn’t really living, she was existing and surviving as best she could. A chance encounter with Carden changes everything for her, but the deadly game he’s dragged her into might cost her life. Still, she agrees to play. The rules the fae queen gives them are vague, and it’s obvious there are things Queen Coeur isn’t telling them. She’s sure of it. But what she does know is that together, she and Carden must pass a series of tests and trials. If they fail, game over. But if they succeed, she just might be able to restore her family and carve out the life she’s always envisioned.

Beast of Rosemead

Title: Beast of Rosemead (Fairytales of Folkshore #4)
Author: Lucy Tempest
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ Fantasy/ Fairytale / YA
Source: Following the Author – Recommended
Rating: 5/5

Favourite Quote: ‘I’d read enough about heroes. It was time I became one myself.’

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.*

Bonnie Fairborn is fed up of being coddled by her father, she longs to visit far off places like the ones in the book Ada gave her, especially Arbore, the lost Kingdom past their dark and fearsome Hornwood forest. When a mysterious old woman runs to Ada for help with her broken carriage at the edge of Hornwood, Bonnie drags her father along to help, only instead to find Ada being taken away into a portal. Without hesitating, Bonnie runs in after her, but unbeknownst to her, her desire to visit the Kingdom of Arbore intercedes with the magic of the portal and she finds herself waking up in the lost kingdom of her dreams. Unfortunately it’s not all what she imagined it to be, especially when her father is dragged away from her very eyes to be sacrificed to a monstrous beast who resides at Rosemead castle. With no one left to help, she makes her way to the castle to plead for her fathers life, little does she know, her own life is about to change forever.

‘My desire to leave, to wander anywhere, had rocked the boat of this peaceful future together that they’d both coveted. Then my wish had come true, ending with us scattered, and with me staring down a new reality where I had something I’d never had. 
A duty. 
I didn’t know how to save them all, give them back the lives they’d had. And I couldn’t bear not knowing. I’d always needed answers. It was why I’d spent my life within the pages of books that could give me those. Now I wanted to skip to the end of this story and read the ending. But it was only half-written. And for the first time, I wasn’t the reader, but the writer. And it was up to me to write the next chapter.’ 

Once again Lucy Tempest has blown me away with another fantastic fairytale retelling! I absolutely love her writing style and the way she is able to put a spin on an original classic romance and turn it into an adventure you can’t put down. I adored her Aladdin series ‘Thief of Cahraman’ so much that I’ve read them time and time again. I have to say, I was slightly hesitant to pick up her Beauty and the Beast instalment as it’s my favourite fairytale, I was so wrapped up in Ada’s story, I had no idea I’d come to love Bonnie just as much! I’m glad I finally got around to reading it, I wasn’t disappointment in any sense and the book instantly made it to my favourites list!

We all know the story of Beauty and the Beast; a lonely bookish girl who lives with her father finds herself locked in a castle by a beast who is actually a cursed prince, they fall in love and she breaks the spell. You have all of that and more with the Beast of Rosemead. It’s predictable but at the same time, entirely different, from the mythical creatures of the cursed staff she befriends, the fact that she knew what she had to do to break the spell from the start as well as her desire to find Ada and reunite with her father, what’s even more interesting is that this first story doesn’t end at the castle like all of the other tales I’ve read.

What I really liked straight away is that you already partially knew our heroine Bonnie, if you’ve read the Thief of Cahraman trilogy that is! She’s the best friend of Ada, our ‘Jasmine’ thief sent to Cahraman to take part in a competition in order to search the royal castle for a mysterious magic lamp. Bonnies story begins when she follows Ada into the portal but instead ends up in a different part of the once forgotten world, the Kingdom of Arbore, with an added Robin of Loxley as a bonus. The way the author brings various fairytale characters into her story is brilliant, not only does it help build up each character in their own story from various perspectives, it magnifies the world building, introducing various lost kingdoms and their history.

Bonnie was a great heroine, she was young and innocent but with a desire to explore the world. Her wish to discover the unknown forgotten worlds past the Hornwood pulled her away from Ada into the Kingdom of Arbore where she quickly realised that her longing for adventure wasn’t as romantic and exciting as she imagined from her books. Instead she was forced to make life-threatening decisions to sacrifice everything she wanted in order to save what she loved most. I liked how she slowly became a stronger character throughout the story and the determination to save everyone overpowered her emotions. Whilst she knew she didn’t feel anything for Leander, she refused to give up on him. Their friendship was something I enjoyed, their constant bickering was enlightening, you could feel the subtle changes around the castle with her stubbornness.

‘”Good luck convincing me to enjoy my stay with your attitude.” 
“You’re very disagreeable,” he grunted. “Very loud, too.” 
“You’re one to talk,” I scoffed. 
He stopped his pacing, shot an exasperated look in my direction. “Do you have to answer back to everything I say?” 
“Would you rather I go back to ignoring you?” I taunted, something I’d never done. 
“I would rather that you’d do as you’re told. I would like for you to accept my gifts graciously, to dine with me, to possibly get to know me, as I am your host.” 
“You’re not my host, you’re my jailer. I’m your hostage.” 
“Would you stop?!” He shouted. “I’ll have you know that if you spoke like that to anyone else you’d be punished severely.” 
“Oh, dearie me, what punishment could possibly surpass captivity by a monster? Being speared by a unicorn?”‘ 

Leanders character was great, he had everything you wanted in a man that had become a beast. He knew he was cursed as a child and had slowly come to terms with his life, but when others around him in his isolation were pulled into the same curse turning them into mythical creatures, his need to end the curse forced him to make difficult decisions, like kidnapping a young woman in hopes she will fall in love with him in the brief time he had left. As a beast, he’s stubborn, angry and frustrated, all the while keeping up as many manly appearances he could muster like the upkeep of his home, his need to dress and walk on two legs, as well as his royal etiquette and attitude. By this point, he would risk anything to help those around him as well as his cursed sister, our very own princess Fairuza who is currently competing against Ada for the Prince of Cahraman. You understood is decisions and felt the urgency in breaking the curse. When he started to put his faith into Bonnie, you could feel the acceptance of just leaving it up to fate when he was around her. The subtle ways he expressed his emotions were so sweet and heartfelt, you couldn’t help but fall for him!

The additional characters were a great aspect that you come to love and hate. Our very own Gaston in the role of Caster, a self entitled hunting hero who expects the world to go his way and can’t understand why Bonnie would want to save her father when he’s there to look after her and provide for her. He doesn’t understand the meaning of love and puts duty and status before anything else. He’s just as frustrating but that’s all part of his annoying character, to make us realise that everyone has flaws, beast or man. The characters you being to meet around the castle are wonderful, the details and expressions that are felt when Bonnie is around them is endearing, you know they’ve accept Bonnie as their savour but part of them has also accepted their fate to remain who they are forever. A pressure she feels at times but they would do anything to make her feel comfortable and safe.

Overall a fantastic story, I’ve already started the next book and it’s only getting better!

 

Goodreads Review: 
A BOOKISH BEAUTY. A BEASTLY PRINCE. A DEADLY CURSE.
Bonnie Fairborn’s wish to escape her small-town life for one of adventure is granted in the worst way when she’s flung along with her family into the unknown. The nightmare deepens when she wakes up to find her best friend Ada gone and her father offered as a sacrifice to the terrifying Beast of Rosemead.
After trading her life for his, her bid for escape ends in a lethal brush with fairies. When the beast almost dies to save her, she discovers he is the missing Crown Prince of Arbore, and the victim of a vindictive fairy’s curse. With time to undo it running out, he and his monstrous staff believe she’s the only one who can save them all.
But how can she fall in love with the gruff and mysterious Leander, let alone to a deadline? And would that be enough to break the curse? Especially now she’s discovering that nothing, including her own life, is what it seems?

The Rose and the Mask

Title: The Rose and the Mask
Author: Victoria Leybourne
Genre: Fiction/ Fantasy/ YA/ Fairytale/ Romance
Source: Kindle Recommendation
Rating: 3/5

Favourite Quote: ‘The masks had become a habit, a part of him, and now he felt naked without one.’

Faustina Casanova found herself once again down on her luck, always striving to pay rent in her current boarding house, resorting to stealing was the only was to keep a roof over her head after her grandmother died. Faustina has a rule though, only steal from those who don’t need it, she would never take from someone who has nothing. When her brother, Giacomo, returns to Venice asking for money, she can’t understand why she would be so willing to give up all she has for him once again. When Giacomo is caught cheating and shamed out of everything he had left in a card game, getting revenge by stealing from the Bellini estate is the only way to return what’s his, along with his personal pride and dignity. Faustina is dragged along for the ride, only to quickly realise that Giacomo has tricked her, she’s stranded on her own on an island home to Benedetto Bellini himself, a cursed masked man who hasn’t left his home in a year. Faustina finds herself with a curse of her own and now has no choice but to stay with the perplexing masked man.

‘The flowers, meanwhile, seemed to allow too much light through, detaining it only long enough to imbue it with a crimson glow. It almost looked as though the entire plant were made of glass. But that’s impossible. Or just highly improbable. A moment later, a tiny breeze disturbed the sweeping leaves and she heard the sound: a light tinkling, like hundreds of tiny bells. It was the sound of countless delicate glass leaves brushing into one another. Faustina blinked hard several times, trying to clear the mirage from her retinas. But she was still looking at a glass rose tree. Kneeling down, she cupped a palm and swept up a handful of the leaves from the very tip of a branch.’

*SPOILERS*
I’ve read quite a few re-tellings of Beauty and the Beast, never knowing what twist to expect next but always knowing the final outcome. This story was no different, set in European setting in Venice with it’s enchanting masquerade balls and secret identities behind a mask. I quite liked how not only our woman protagonist was forced onto the cursed island by her brother, but also that she was made to be cursed herself.
A stubborn independent woman who doesn’t believe in curses but caught in the middle of one all the same. I really enjoyed reading about Faustina. She’s a bold, strong, fighter, after spending time on the streets adapting to survive, who can blame her. She doesn’t trust what she doesn’t see, so being held prisoner in a large solitary estate on an island because a strange man in a mask doesn’t want to risk her life over unseen magic means very little to her and doesn’t stop her from trying to escape. It took a while for any feelings to become apparent between the two characters, far longer than expected, even after she discovered that he was her mystery man at the masquerade a year ago. Knowing that she not only was cursed alongside Benedetto but that she *SPOILER* was the cause of the curse to begin with was really an interesting take.

The author did a great job of setting the scene, particularly at Benedetto Bellini’s estate. The large empty rooms and servant corridors made the atmosphere feel even more isolated and lonely. You begin to sympathise with Benedetto for having to spend the past year in complete abandoned solitude, exiled from society away from Venice. I loved the scenes with the masquerade dances the most, something I’ve always wanted to see for myself personally, the author succeeds in putting you right in the center of it all in pieces.

‘Across the room, a small orchestra played a sedate tune, to which a lace-drenched, gilt-edged crowd marched and twirled. If she tried, Faustina could see it the way Chiara did. A Carnevale ball – even a second-rate one – was a remarkable thing to behold. Among the masks, she saw demons and angels, fairies and centaurs – even one brave woman dancing with Death. Faustina sighed. She really did love Carnevale.’ 

The characters were well told, once you discovered Giocomo’s last name; Casanova, it brought risk and judgement for his reputation that had him forced from Venice years ago. His return was bound to cause a few sparks. You can tell that he really does care for his sister even through his means to use her for his own personal gain. His pride to win back what he lost overpowers everything, he isn’t used to losing, especially as he has the means to ensure otherwise. His gambling nature gives us enough of his personality, the fact that he’s also a famous libertine who’s ability to enchant and entice women was known throughout, but what he’s hiding from his sister is definitely intriguing.

Benedetto was an interesting character, played out to be the beast but besides his cursed appearance, he is anything but unchivalrous. For a man who’s been alone for so long, he maintains his gentlemanly appearance in both attire and mannerism as to not let the beast control what’s left of his humanity. Benedetto’s only escape is his garden, where he can focus on something besides a lifetime of loneliness and seclusion. When Faustina shows up looking to steal his silver but instead get’s caught up in the same curse that ties him to the grounds, it brings a new meaning back into his life even when he tries to fight it when he realises she was the one who caused everything to change a year ago.

‘It was the shoes he had been most tempted to give up on, but to stop dressing properly would have been to admit to losing his humanity. He’d been lucky, in a way. At least it was possible to hide the curse’s effects, even if it did involve keeping himself almost completely covered.’

Overall I really enjoyed the book. The story continues into a Cinderella re-telling with the hints of a glass slipper at the end for those who want more fairytale from Victoria Leybourne!

 

Goodreads Review:
Faustina Casanova is a beauty and a thief, not necessarily in that order. Surviving in the darkness beneath Venice’s glittering façade, she knows better than to believe in magic, or trust too much to luck.
Benedetto Bellini was lucky once, but not anymore. Not since the curse. Now he’s got a second problem, one that’s washed up on his island and tried to steal his silverware. He finds Faustina intriguing and infuriating in equal measure. And, thanks to the curse, he’s stuck with her.
Faustina doesn’t know what to make of her shy, gentle and deeply irritating captor, or his island garden. But, at the heart of it all, there’s the glass rose. Like love, it’s beautiful, fragile and dangerous – and finding it changes everything.
A reimagining of Beauty and the Beast set in 18th Century Venice, perfect for fans of fairy tale romance. The Rose and the Mask is a standalone novel that can be read on its own or alongside the other book in the series, The Murano Glass Slipper.

Beautiful Beast

Title: Beautiful Beast
Author: Kyla D. Knight
Genre: Romance/ Fantasy/ Beauty and the Beast
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 3/5

Favourite Quote: “The creature drew back, and moonlight washed over his face as he stared down at her. Those strange, dark eyes softened. Filled with sadness. And it was in that moment that Layna, through the contact of their skin, through the connection of their eyes, sensed his sickness and suffering. There was no logic to any of it, no thought for the reality of her situation or the danger she was in. She felt only a great, yawning sadness.”

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley.*

Layna is on a mission to stop the Snow King, Ryever, from evil trades and corrupt dealings in Darn after spending a lifetime living around his lies and consequences.
When a new handsome dark stranger meets with Ryever, Layna is determined to find out why. What she doesn’t realise is that the stranger, Axis, has noticed her first. When Axis unintentionally puts her life in danger, he saves her and frustratingly realises that he can’t stay away until he knows she is safe which already seems like a full time job.
Layna is surprised when her dark anti-hero saves her a second time from Ryever and his men. She is even more surprised when he offers her a safe place with him with the promise of comforts and hot water. With nothing left to lose, Layna follows Axis to his home to find haunting secrets and a deeply disturbing past surrounding those around her, as well as intense passion and a feeling of belonging somewhere for the first time.

‘It was the way he took care of people. Thought about them. Put them first. It was his mix of light humor and deep thought. The blend of culture and wildness. And the dark, hidden core of him that was still a mystery to her.’

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story, the passion became present almost instantly within the first chapter which seemed almost unnecessary at times. Not that I don’t like my share of erotica, but the characters had only seen each other from a distance before they found the need to touch themselves. I was already hooked on what sort of character Axis was going to be by his dark inner demon fighting to remain normal and passive in company and I was craving to know more over anything else.

‘All the same, the girl had been skilled. Very careful. Only someone like Axis would have known she was there. But Axis had known, and it had irritated him.
Partly because it had made him think about Ryever all day yesterday and today. More because he’d been tapping into his heightened senses to keep track of her – that was always a strain.
A dangerous temptation.
A crack in the iron cage of his will.’

The characters were definitely unique and well described with some great character building, especially on Axis’s part. You begin to understand why he is so determined to put everyone before himself after what happened with his mother, the guilt and anger he feels on a daily basis is so emotionally consuming, you don’t know how he has the energy to get dressed let alone anything else. His past is so dark and haunting, it’s easy to see why he snaps quickly and why he fights with his inner demons. He doesn’t know whether being around Layna helps ease his suffering or simply makes it worse. He’s now got something worth fighting for, however what he’s fighting against is putting her in serious danger.

It would have been great to have spent more time on Tristan and Gareth. They had such an important role in the story but you felt you didn’t really know who they were or much of their past, it was more of passing details to fill in some blanks with Axis’s story rather than their own individual characters. I would have loved to have explored the world of the queen and her children before the curse, for Layna to remember growing up surrounded by magic and her family with a few flashbacks. The history of the children in the forest was so fascinating, I wanted to know more!

‘An arm hooked with hers at the elbow. Another hooked onto her other side, and she was wrenched sideways, stumbling.
She was in a ring of dancers, swinging in a circle on the wooden, moonlit crest. The light was cold and eerie as it splashed over the faces and forms of the dancers.
They were not human.
Their bodies were a mix of animal and plant, a few human-like features appearing here and there. One had a sharp-featured human face but arms like branches, and these twined with the huge, bird-like wings of the dancer next to it.
There were legs of deer, ears of foxes, bodies of bramble and vine. Some wore shirts of moss; others were clothed in ragged scraps of cloth. A few were naked, male genitals swinging, female breasts swaying.
Their laughter was the music to which the dance was set, and it was high and cruel and mad.’

Personally, I felt that the author spent too much time with passionate scenes between Axis and Layna than over the actual story surrounding them. Some readers may have preferred this take as a Beauty and the Beast erotica, however I found this to be quite disappointing as I was really enjoying the telling of the backstory surrounding Axis’s past with his father and the children in the forest. Instead of introducing new details, I found that there was quite a lot of repetition instead, I felt like I was reading the same lines over and over again at times when talking about Axis and his difficult past rather than delving more into various past scenes and characters. I guess the main reason for this slightly negative review is that I enjoyed the story far more than I expected but felt it was unfinished in so many ways. So many questions left unanswered.

Overall it was a great story and I would really hope that the author will bring out a second book to dwell deeper into the curse and the children, as well as more of the steamy romance too 😉

Goodreads Review:
Dark, sexy…beautiful.
Axis shouldn’t leave his castle. He’s a wolf shifter, and his wolf form…has some problems. But he hates the confinement. Hell, he hates everything about his life.
Until he grabs an excuse to get away from his comfortable prison and meets Layna.
She’s bold. She’s beautiful. And she’s in trouble.
But Axis can’t stay away from his castle for long, so what else is there to do but bring her to his home to keep her safe? Well, safer. Sort of…
The second Layna sets foot in Axis’s remote, eerie castle, she knows she’s stepped into a place of secrets—and they aren’t pretty ones. Axis may be the sexiest man she’s ever seen, but what is he hiding? Why is he so difficult and moody?
And what the hell is making that sound?

Lost in a Book (Beauty and the Beast)

Title: Lost in a Book (Beauty and the Beast)
Author: Jennifer Donnelly
Genre: Fiction/ Fantasy/ Beauty and the Beast
Source: Favourite Author
Rating: 4/5

Favourite Quote: “Love-real love- sees with the heart, master. Not with the eyes.”
The Beast looked at him skeptically. “How do you know that?”
“Because I’m in love with a woman who’s a feather duster,” said Lumiere. “That’s how.”

What happens when your favourite author does a spin off of your favourite Disney film? You don’t hesitate and buy it the second you see it! What a lovely little surprise I found in one of Tokyos small English book shops. It’s rare to find anything in Tokyo, so I couldn’t help but feel like this little gem was meant for me.

Jennifer Donnelly takes us straight into the world of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, with all of the original characters you already know, Belle, Beast, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs Potts, Chip.. except we start with two new characters; Love and Death.
Our story begins with Love and Death playing a chess game infront of a mirror that shows the Beast in his castle. We discover that it was Love that transformed him into the creature we’ve come to know as she is determined to find love in his heart.
Sisters known for making bets on the world, Death is confident that Love is wasting her time, but they are both curious about how it will play out when Belle turns up at the castle. They make a bet to see who would win before the last petal falls on the cursed rose Love set upon the Beast.

“Your always look for the worst in people,” said Love reproachfully.
“And I always find it,” Death said.”

Meanwhile, things are a tense at the castle; Beauty ran away after being discovered in the west wing and the Beast followed to save her from the wolves in the forest. Beast is still angry and Beauty is still unsure of her feelings towards her frustrating captor. He tries to make amends by introducing her to the library for the first time which she couldn’t believe with her own eyes. When Beast tells her that the library is now hers, her feelings are even more confusing. Who is the Beast and what is her purpose in being in the castle? Why is he so protective of the rose but given her her hearts desire by giving her the library? Why isn’t anyone answering her questions without changing the subject or being vague in their response? Belle decides to escape into the stories in the library and discovers the book ‘Nevermore’ which Death has deliberately dropped in her path.

The book is enchanted with magic and before Belle’s eyes, it transforms into a large portal into the world of Nevermore. With not much to loose, she walks into the portal and finds herself infront of a large beautiful mansion with elegant guests arriving for a party. She finds herself drawn to the people going into the mansion and when she realises she’s also been enchanted in a dazzling gown of her own, she curiously walks up the steps into the party.
Within Nevermore, Belle encounters new friends, adventure she’s always craved, luxury and a promise to be reunited with her father. The pull of Nevermore makes Belle more resentful of her life as a prisoner and she needs to decide on which path she will take and where her heart truly lies.

“Isn’t that what a good story does? It pulls you in and never lets you go.”

This is definitely one of my favourite spin offs for Beauty and the Beast as instead of taking a completely different plot with different characters and unique magic, Jennifer decides to use the original film we all know and love and add more exciting storyline to it. Of course we all know what’s going to happen in the overall story, but it’s nice to go through some of Belle’s emotional experiences of being a prisioner of feeling lonely and trapped. Nevermore allows a new fresh take to our once upon a time.

Goodreads Review:
Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.
The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she has ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore’s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.

Cruel Beauty

Title: Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Genre: Fiction/ Fantasy/ Romance/ Beauty and the Beast
Source: Goodreads Recommendation
Rating: 3/5

Favourite Quote: “When I was much younger, I sometimes imagined that the sky was an illustration in a book, that we were all nestled safety between the covers, and that if I could only find the book and open it, we would all escape without having to fight the Gentle Lord. I had gotten halfway to believing my fancy when I said to Father one evening, “Suppose the sky is really -” And he asked me if I thought that telling fairy tales would save anyone.”

Craving for another Beauty and the Beast spin off, I found a group on Goodreads that had exactly what I was looking for, one of the highest rated books happened to be Cruel Beauty. It’s quite different from what I was expecting but it had the right key ingredients – a young girl, a corrupted captor and a bit of magic.

The story begins with our protagonist Nyx Triskelion, who introduces the kingdom of Arcadia to be under a 900 year old curse by the evil prince of demons the Gentle Lord that she’s been forcibly chosen to break on her own. Her father made a desperate attempt to save Nyx’s mother by making a foolish bargain with the Gentle Lord, which resulted in her death after Nyx and her sister Astraia were born. The bargain was that he had to give up one of his daughters to the Gentle Lord when she turned 17.

The Resurgandi decided this was a perfect opportunity to destroy the Gentle Lord from inside his castle and instead of her father spending what little time he had with his precious daughter, he trained Nyx for the ultimate battle to defeat the Lord and the curse that reigned over the kingdom.
With family resentment in her heart, she knew she had to fulfil her duty and marry him. When it came to the day of her wedding, Nyx, with her dagger tucked into her dress, set out to kill their evil ruler.

‘All my life, I’d seen people driven mad by the demons; I’d seen how everyone, weak or strong, rich or poor, lived in fear of them. If I carried out Father’s plan – if I trapped the Gentle Lord and freed Arcadia – nobody would ever be killed or driven mad by a demon again. No fools would make disastrous bargains with the Gentle Lord, and no innocents would pay the price for them. Our people would live free beneath the true sky. Any one of the Resurgandi would gladly die for that chance. If I loved my people, or even just my family, I should be glad to die for it too.’

Nyx thought that she would never see the outside world again and be locked up in the castle forever, little did she know how enchanted the castle and her life were about to become when she stepped through the door. The Gentle Lord was not how she expected, so young and charmingly entrancing, he introduced himself as Ignifex but admitted it wasn’t his real name. Nyx was sure his demeanour was a trick and made several attempts to attack him, but he was always too quick. Instead of punishing her, he found the endeavour to end his life amusing, after all, he’s immortal.

‘”Meanwhile, would you care to dine?” He stood and held out a hand. 
I ignored him and stood on my own. The warm delicious scent of cooked meat hit me: sometime during our fight, an enormous roast pig had appeared on the table, its feet reaching up toward the ceiling. Next to it sat a tureen of mock-turtle soup, and all around were platters of fruit, rice, pastries, and roasted dormice. 
“How…?”
Ignifex sat down. “If you start wondering how this house works, you’ll likely go mad. That could be amusing, I suppose. Especially if it’s the kind of madness that causes you to run naked through the hallways. Do feel free to indulge in that anytime.”
I clenched my teeth as I sat back down at the table. Outrageous though it was, his chatter was curiously comforting: because as long as he was babbling at me, he wasn’t doing anything.’

Ignifex uses his shadow, Shade, to take Nyx around the castle. A being that is a shadow during the day and a physical being at night. Nyx realises quickly that he is also a prisoner and takes the opportunity to form an ally with him. He shows her the beauty and weakness of the castle’s enchantments as each room the go into changes to something incredible. Nyx knows the way to break the curse lies within the secrets of the castle, most doors are locked with the keys located in Ignifex’s jacket, the only way to get them is to spend time getting close to him. She attempts to seduce him in order to sneak a key away which only causes her to get frustrated as her feelings for him grow even more confusing.

‘”Well, that’s a pity.” He leaned toward me. His collarbone was damp, and I realised suddenly that my dress still clung to me in pale, damp folds. “Because I had just been thinking of ways you could make it up to me.”
He touched my chin with a finger. The air was still and hot in my throat.
Abruptly his hand dipped down to pull the key out of my bodice. He twirled it as he sat back, laughing, then hung it on one of the belts strapped across his chest.
“You -” I chocked out. Then I lunged at his throat.
He blocked me easily with one arm, but we both tumbled over; he landed on his back with me on top of him.
“You see?” he said. “Not at all a good assassin.”
“Shut up,” I snarled, and stopped his mouth with a kiss.
I stunned him for only a moment; then he locked his arms around me and kissed me back as fiercely as the sunlight beating down on my back.’

With her feelings for Ignifex becoming more bewildering, she soon begins to feel like her entire life has flipped on it’s side. For the first time, someone can see her for who she really is, for the first time she is not relied upon to do her duty, and for the first time, she understands what it’s like for someone to care about her. Does she stay with Ignifex and live forever has his wife, or does she fulfil her purpose and destroy him to save Arcadia?

I really did enjoy the story and the characters, although I felt it was missing something. There was too much unimportant information surrounding the story when trying to explain the different rules of Arcadia, the past that people have forgotten and a bit too many greek tales, only a few which are relevant. I felt the author tried to make the story more complicated than it had to be. Sometimes the story was easy to read, other times I had to go back and re-read through a bunch of segments about how the elements worked or the powers of Hermetic.

Goodreads Review:
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.
As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Hunted

Title: Hunted
Author: Meagan Spooner
Genre: Fiction/ Romance/ Fantasy/ Beauty and the Beast Spin-off
Source: Kindle
Rating: 4/5

Favourite Quote:
“To the girl
who reads by flashlight
who sees dragons in the clouds
who feels most alive in worlds that never were
who knows magic is real
who dreams
This is for you” 

My favourite Disney film growing up was Beauty and the Beast so any spin-off story that surrounds this tale has been an interest straight away. I’ve read quite a few so far, but Hunted has a lovely little spin that I’ve not touched before. I first discovered this book when I found the quote above on a google search. I needed to know where it was from and found it was the dedication from Hunted. I bit the bullet and paid the full price for this story on my kindle. I needed to read this book and I’m happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s a story about Yeva, also nicknamed ‘Beauty’, a young woman who lives with her two sisters and their father at the edge of town. Yeva dreams of the days they lived in the old lodge in the forest before their mum passed as she craves the outdoors again. The writer allows us a good insight of the type of person Yeva is straight away with her passion for hunting with her dad when she was younger compared to the mundane life she currently leads with ladies meetings with the Baronessa and the slow pace of town.

When her father loses the fortune, the family have no choice but to return to the old lodge where they grew up in the forest in despair, with their father returning to his old hunting skills in the forest. Yeva begs to go with him like she did when she was a child but he is convinced they won’t be in poverty for long and refuses to see her life change into something wild.
She’s heard all of the stories from her father about venturing too far into the woods and discovering monstrous creatures and wonders hidden deep within. He begins to ramble about the same stories as if they are true and Yeva becomes concerned for his health and safety. When he doesn’t come back from his last hunt, Yeva has no choice but to search for him where she comes across the world she’s only heard of in stories when she is captured by the beast who killed her father.

The beast thinks she is his prisoner, but what he doesn’t realise is that Yeva is there for a single purpose; to kill the beast to avenge her father. He allows her to roam the castle and the surrounding forest, and taunts her by telling her that she could never kill him. Little does she know how true that is and how much magic encircles them.

‘”Beast,” she said, making her voice steady, letting it warm. 
“Yes?”
“You said that you didn’t hear music.” Yeva watched his face. “What did you hear?”
“For me,” the Beast replied, “it is like a heartbeat.”
Yeva fought a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “The heartbeat of the forest.”
The Beast gave himself a little shake, then tilted his head eastward. “That is enough for today. We will return now.”
As he turned to pass her, the Beast moved on top of the snow, his paws not even stirring the loose snow dusting the icy crust. Yeva’s boots crunched through, but he moved like wind, like spirit. He was showing her how he could travel through the forest without leaving a trace, and Yeva watched each step as if hypnotized. 
“It is the same sound I heard,” the Beast said as he passed her, “when I first saw you.”

Throughout the story, you get clips of the beast’s perspective when he’s watching Yeva’s father hunt and his thoughts of Yeva, his beauty, when he captures her. You’ll begin to piece together his own tale and realise his desperation to end the curse put on him and witness the inner battle between beast and man in it’s true form.

‘We are uncertain how many years it has been, or how many centuries. To half of us the passage of time is tiny and measured, and with no measuring devices it is impossible to track. To the other it is infinite, immeasurable, a stream in which all things drown in the end. We are at odds because of this and so many things, and when the sun fades and the dark returns we mark it only as a change in the light.’

It’s a truly wonderful spin-off that you won’t be able to put down. You get to re-live the beasts own past and discover a world within a world. It’s magical, mysterious and full of spirit.

Goodreads Review:
Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. 
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. 
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?