I wasn't quite connecting with this one and I had to DNF with the possibility of picking up in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to read the book and I apologize for the inconvenience.

A Beauty and the Beast retelling form the Beast's perspective. The beast is cursed and lives a broken, reclusive existence in his grimy chateau. HIs perspective is often dark and disturbing. Predictable Isabeau and the Beast fall in love. While I found the read to be ok, I don't know that this original enough of a retelling.

A fairy tale retelling of the French variation of "Beauty and the Beast," The Beast's Heart is told from the perspective of... the beast. I normally love fairy tale retellings and Shallcross clearly had fun writing this book. However, I found it paled in comparison to some of the other adaptations out there and didn't really provide a new voice or lens to that classic story. Shallcross is a talented writer, her prose is lyrical and enthralling. While I found this book to be a miss, I look forward to seeing what she writes next.

This was such a fun retelling of beauty and the best. It was a fresh viewpoint from the beasts view and I loved it. Thank you Berkley for my review copy

A retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast set in seventeenth century France, but with a twist... its told from the Beasts perspective.

Brilliant writing, a darkly glorious prose. This retelling was quite enchanting!

Keep an eye out for more from this up and coming Australian author!

Can't believe or express how much I thrilled over being carried away by a retelling of my favorite story set in the same time and general format--only told from the Beast's perspective. Of course there were plenty of elements that were different from the various tellings and retellings I've encountered over the years, but this is the first version I have ever found that revealed the interior lives of not only the Beast, but also of many other characters as well--including the Beauty! Shallcross does an excellent job of crafting this story that involves a host of unfamiliar characters for the reader to fall in love with, as well as making this well-worn fantastical story feel a bit more real.

Give a girl some pining! This was a fun read, but it loses a star because Shallcross leaned HARD on purple prose - too many long descriptions on things which absolutely did not matter or really serve to flesh out setting or mood.

This book was so slow. I don't mind a slow pace, but this was too much. I did think the magical elements were really interesting, though!

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to read this ARC prior to the book's publication, and we did not end up buying it for our library collection.

WHAT DID I THINK OF THE BEAST’S HEART BY LEIFE SHALLCROSS?
I waited what felt like FOREVER to read The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross. This was another book that took months for my audiobook hold to come in on Libby. I could have gotten to it much faster and read the ebook, but I really wanted to experience this in audio. Unfortunately, it did not entirely meet expectations.

This book is Beauty And The Beast told from the point of view of the Beast. Set in seventeenth century France, the Beast is a cursed young man who lives alone in a castle that is falling apart. One day, a man stumbles across his castle and the Beast makes a deal. The man’s young daughter Isabeau ends up staying in the castle with the Beast so that her father may go free. She forms a strong friendship with the Beast, but it isn’t love. She also deeply misses her family. Anyways, the Beast asks her over and over to marry him and she keeps saying no. And well, I won’t go into spoilers. I’ll just say it was interesting to get one of my favorite fairytales from the perspective of the Beast, however, this book was just weird. Maybe not entirely in my wheelhouse.

HOW’S THE NARRATION?
You might want to know the reason why I was so patient about waiting to read The Beast’s Heart via audiobook. It is because it is narrated by Jim Dale – the same narrator of Harry Potter audiobooks. So, I kind of felt like I was going to be in really good hands for my listening experience. If anything, you should read this book via audio. I feel like my disappointment was dampened by my great listening experience. Dale’s narration is polished and excellent as always. The audiobook is 13 hours and 34 minutes and worth listening to if you want to read this book.

*thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for an honest review*

3 / 5 stars

I love reimagining of classic stories and I really enjoyed this one. Beauty and the Beast is one of my all time favorites and I’m so excited to see so many writers diving into the world of fairy tales and giving it a contemporary twist. Could the pace have been a little faster? Hell yeah. But did I like what I got and wouldn’t mind reading a sequel? Yes. Also, really enjoyed the magical aspects in the book. It wasn’t overwhelming and I really liked that. It’s like they found a balance that really worked out between our world and the fantastical, aka making it easier for the reader to connect with the world and the characters within it.

We will not be posting a review for this title. We tried getting into reading this but ultimately could not finish the book. The writing felt choppy and the characters never managed to grab our attention. We prefer not posting a negative review for this title at this time.

I really enjoyed this book! There are so many Beauty and the Beast retellings out there and this one just felt so unique. It retold the classic story, but with a lot more depth to it. I loved that it was told from the POV of the beast - a side we rarely get to see. It gives such an interesting and different view into his past and his reasons for bringing Isabeau to his castle. The ghostly servants and magical gardens are a nice addition and also help add a spooky, almost gothic feel to the story.

The writing is really beautiful. It has almost a lyrical quality to it, and really does remind me of a fairytale telling. I was immediately endeared to The Beast (as opposed to loving or feeling bad for Isabeau) and felt his desperation keenly as he got to know Isabeau. I think the best part of this retelling is that we got to see more of Isabeau's family and got to know them just as well as she and the Beast. These characters are so well done and are the real triumph of this story.

The ending was wild and desperate and had me on the edge of my seat. Even though I knew how the fairytale ended, I could not stop reading until I saw what happened with all these characters. I highly recommend this one, it's a really beautiful and complex retelling!

Jim Dale reads the audiobook and does an amazing job. I love when he narrates them.

This retelling is told from the point of view of the Beast as he comes to realize his fate and tries to adapt, learn about himself though this new lens life has handed him. It is a similar story to many Beauty and the Beast retellings however as it is told from his perspective there is the addition of essentially a new story - you get to learn how he feels about everything that is happening.

Beast's tale is one of depression and confusion and he is just trying to figure out what happened and if it can be alleviated. He is impulsive but kind and in this book seems very sensitive and overly aware of his beastly form. He is a wonderful main character and it is almost sad to hear his feelings and thoughts as the tale progresses, you just want the best for him. What makes this possible though, is that the curse is told a little differently - the best has not necessarily done anything wrong yet, but the fairy sees evil in his heart and is trying to circumvent it.

Isabeau, is a captive as she was previously, but she does choose to be imprisoned and her story involves two other sisters, which is a slight break from the Disney version. She was a bit somber at first but really turns it around and wants to genuinely befriend Beast and help him through his struggles.

Overall, this was a great retelling and I really enjoyed that it was told from the Beast's side. I liked the changes that were implemented to make it more modern and believable. So why not 5 stars? When you pick up this book, you have to understand that there is not really a full on climax to the story. There is no grand battle, all of it is emotional battles being fought by both Beast and Isabeau, so it takes a bit longer to get through than your typical fantasy novel. Otherwise, it was a wonderful listen.

THE BEASTS HEART by Leife Shallcross, what an great book. As a girl growing up and most recently the live version of Beauty and the Beast, you always felt bad for the girl, being trapped by the beast, till the end when she sets him free, but this book will put a whole new spin on the story for you.

This is book is told from the beasts point of view, and let me tell you through the whole book my heart really went out to the Beast and what he goes through and the actual emotions and feelings that he has. My heart was broken for him so much, I just wanted to reach through the pages with my arms and embrace him as he deserves to be happy with the rest of the world.

This book really opened my eyes to the whole other story between the beauty and the Beast. I would give THE BEASTS HEART 3/5 roses.

I found this book to be an interesting take on the classic fairy tale. I loved Beast! I was also thoroughly entertained by the storyline of Isabeau’s family through the mirror. There were a few times that I felt the story become slow and redundant but at the same time I can only imagine that’s how Beast and Isabeau felt in the story. Beautifully written, and would recommend to any fan of Beauty and the Beast.

This is a retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast and it took me by surprise, it was more than good!The writing was flawless, the story captivating and the characters interesting. In this novel, we get the story from Beast's POV and it was absolutely wonderful to see what he experienced, I find this brilliant!It was a little bit slow for my taste but I still like it a lot!

Beauty and the Beast retold from the Beast’s perspective. It was rather a very descriptive narrative and I felt it was kinda dragging and too much detailing.

I was excited to read this retelling as this type of format - the retelling of a well known fairy tale from a new perspective - has been done very well in other instances; however, this one seemed to be slow and hard to get through. I didn't feel that there were major new insights into the Beast and the struggle within.

I will probably recommend this for some of my students that enjoy this type of story but it will not be for those students (or others) that have a truly in depth desire for NEW stories from old tales.

I am a major Beauty and the Beast fan. I like to read the variations and see what new thing the author is going to change or twist. This book ended up being okay.

I liked the magic and how the spell worked. I also think that the secondary characters were great and added dimension to the story. I did appreciate that there was no insta love. The Beast and Isabeau had to work for their happy ending.

What I didn't like was the pacing. I found the story really slow until the end where it felt rushed. I didn't connect with Isabeau at all. Overall the book had a hard time holding my attention with it and I kept putting it down.