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 started this book with very high hopes of what it could be and at times it almost was there. Unfortunately the amazing premise of the book was shadowed but the slow storytelling and plot. It is incredibly hard to write a retelling in which the reader can be surprised by the characters and Shallcross missed the mark. I did enjoy the book but it wasn’t something that I will be raving about for years to come.

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.

I stopped and started this book several times.I was disappointed that I did not fall in love with the narrator. I expected to experience his sorrow, his frustration, his rage, and instead I felt entirely disconnected from the beast, and through him, the entire story. Combined with the slow pacing, it just took a lot of effort to continue picking it up with, what felt like no reward

A magical tale as old as time. 2.5 stars rounded up.

This is a retelling of the classic, Beauty and the Beast, told from the Beast's perspective in a YA friendly tone. I am always drawn to fairy tale retellings, especially those from new perspectives, but this didn't completely work for me. I really enjoyed the magical aspects (animated house, forest, garden, mirror, etc), but I felt like there wasn't enough of an explanation to the magic or how it worked. The imagery and description, while vivid, felt unnecessarily bulked up almost as a way to get words on paper and not move the plot further along. The pacing is also a bit slow, and with what I felt was a rushed ending. There was a lot of potential here, but in the end I felt let down.

This was a rather unique take on an old classic. Beauty and the Beast told from the Beast’s perspective. Leife Shallcross was a new to me author and I find her voice unique and compelling.

We all know the story. The Beast was cursed into a lonely and broken existence until Beauty came along and suddenly he has hope of breaking the curse. It’s a familiar well treated story which means there’s really not a lot of surprises here. But that’s okay. There were other things that I found enjoyable in this book.

For one, I liked that the author spent time developing the romance between Isabeau and the Beast. The time they spent interacting were the highlight for me. I believed they really fell in love and it wasn’t just Stockholm Syndrome.

I did enjoy how this was told from the Beast’s point of view. It was definitely interesting. I wasn’t creeped out by his POV at all which was a plus because it could have easily gone wrong. But it didn’t. I genuinely liked the Beast and can see why Isabeau could fall for him.

Overall, I enjoyed the Beast’s Heart and would read another book by this author.

I really enjoyed this new take on Beauty and the Beast. Everyone knows the story from the point of view of Belle, the bookish girl who ends up falling in love with a beast, but for the first time, I got to see the story from the Beast's side. It was nice to be able to see the story from his side and really see his thoughts and feelings on what was going on. It gave a whole other depth to the story. I thought it was the small details that really brought the story to life, like when he is so proud of himself because he managed to clean his own face in a bowl of water or managed to learn to hold a book in his claws to read again. I found myself wishing that there was more story at the end, as it seemed a bit rushed from when she comes back to him to the end of the story, however, it was overall still a good read despite the rushed end.

This story was not new at all. It was Beauty and the Beast plain and simple, the only thing that made it different was that it was told completely for the Beast's perspective. I don't know how but that one little change made this into a completely different book that I loved!

There were no surprises here, but the raw emotion coupled with the beautiful writing made this book feel new and different. I loved reading the story from the Beast's perspective, seeing his depth of feeling, going through everything with him.

I great book that I would highly recommend.

*This book was given to be by netgally for an honest review*

You win some and you lose some, unfortunately this was a lose. I just couldn't get into it, which really sucks since I'm a sucker for anything Beauty and the Beast. Seriously the premise for this book is everything, and I honestly though this would be an insta 5 star for me, but alas "you win some, you lose some".

This Beauty and the beast retelling is from Beasts perspective (again genius idea) and has some very unique and fascination twists on the story. The idea of hearing how the world was and seeing the events through his eyes was brilliant, but for me personally I couldn't connect and it left it to, blah.

I think loss of connection was based on the fact it felt forced and like Beast wasn't the actual main attraction, I wanted more of him and less or everything else. Isabeau (Witty name by the way) wasn't exactly my cup of tea either, and though her life and family was eye catching it just kind of dragged on for me. I think more on Beast and revamping the character development would have made this book potentially my new favorite, because again, the idea of seeing the world of BB through beast was genius.

You might love this book, really and truly, and if you are looking for a retelling then you could always give it a shot. Just wasn't for me sadly.

Excellent read! I ended up purchasing this one. Give me a great retelling of beauty and the beast and I am in, hook, line and sinker. You really feel for the guy and I fell in love...

Never before have a read a book as enchanting as this one. It felt magical and brought me immediately into the story.

It is a Beauty and the Beast retelling told from the point of view of the beast. In the beginning, he is a beast running on all fours through a forest, in complete anguish over his state. Soon he finds the mansion he once lived in before he was cursed to become a beast. Within he finds many of the things that he remembers from his life as a human and begins to live his days in a more human way. Attempting to walk up-right once again and reading books to pass the time. One day a man stumbles into his forest and through his magic, the beast coaxes the man to his home in order to help restore him to health. While the man dreams, the beast gets a view into the dreams and discovers the man has three daughters at home. He gives the man an ultimatum to bring the youngest daughter to him or the beast will seek the man out to kill him.

What ensues is the beauty and the beast story. However, the beast is no malevolent mean creature and he had no intentions of killing the man. He only wants companionship as he greatly misses human interaction. The man’s youngest daughter, Isabeau, arrives at the beast’s mansion and the beast gives her the choice to stay with him for a year in companionship or go back home to her family. Of course they spend a year together, growing a lovely friendship.

If you know the Beauty and the Beast story, I am not spoiling anything for you. The magic of this story however is in the telling. Leife Shallcross has such a way of writing that brings the words on the page to life in a completely magical way. And of course there are twists to this story that make it it’s own. It is beautiful and I definitely recommend it to any romance or retelling fan.

This was a DNF for me. I had an extremely hard time following the story and found myself on multiple occasions rereading the same passage over and over again.

This was okay. It wasn’t amazing but I loved the characters and I liked the POV we read through. It was interesting but sadly not memorable. I read it immediately after another Beauty and the Beast retelling so I think I just compared them too much so this one didn’t stand out like I had hoped it would! I also think I hyped it up too much since BatB retellings are my favorite, and it sadly didn’t meet my expectations. But it highly suggest checking it out if you’re interested in more BatB retellings! I do think the author went too into describing things. There’s only so many ways to describe how old and rusty the gate it etc. we didn’t need that commentary in this novel. But overall a fun novel with interesting characters you’ll enjoy!

Written by Leofe Shallcross, this is Beauty and the Beast from the Beast's perspective. Starting from the dark place the Beast fell to after the curse began, we follow him as he learns to be a man again and falls in love with Belle.

What was most enjoyable about this novel is that Shallcross didn't make Beast out to be a monster.

Belle isn't the most interesting, but she is a good support character. I honestly found the stories of her sisters more interesting.

The writting was decent, but worked very hard to put the reader in a state of understanding what the time period was and on occasion made understanding what was going on a bit difficult.

Overall, a good retelling and an excellent novel unto itself.

This was a solid, well-written version of the classic fairy tale told from the Beast's point of view. Fans of the classic fairy tale will enjoy it, although the writing can be long-winded for readers who aren't as into the story. The author also paints the heroine's family in a much kinder light than most other re-tellings.

My rating is more of a 3.5, but I can't do that here. I loved how rich the language was in this interesting Beauty and the Beast retelling. I enjoyed the fact that it was from his point of view. It gave a whole other side to the story. I thought that Isabeau had sisters was a fun touch. More than just a Father who was obsessed with the Beast. I loved that Isabeau was so open-minded and gentle.

I did have a bit of trouble fully connecting with the Beast being so gentle. If feel like he would be much more gruff being so isolated for so many years. He was very sensitive to Isabeau, and her needs. Very unlike he was the way before. Isabeau didn't really seem to do anything to change his heart.

I liked the magic of the house, and it was interested how it changed the ruins that the house once was. The more the house, and rooms were used, the more it was restored to its former glory! That was a really awesome element!

All in all, I enjoyed it. It was whimsical and fun. There were just a few things I wasn't connecting with.

For the life of me, I could not get into this book. I'm inclined to think that it's a matter of personal taste, and not indicative of the author's writing abilities, so for that, I will not leave a low rating.

Beautifully written take on an old classic. I was very interested in how the author was going to tackle the story as there have been so many versions of it. I found it to be a nice combo of the Disney version and the original classic story.

I love the Beauty and the Beast story and I didn't really have any problems with this version. I just couldn't get into it. I kept setting it aside to read other books I was more excited about.

This is a very enjoyable retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale from the point of view of the Beast. The author very cleverly tweaked some things about the tale to make it more appealing to a modern audience while still staying true to the classic story line. For instance, she gave the Beauty, who goes by the name Isabeau, much more free will in her choice to stay with the Beast and ultimately marry him. This is a nice update to what was always a slightly troubling story line where a captive falls in love with her kidnapper. Also, their relationship as developed by the author relies more upon an emotional connection between the two rather than upon the Beast buying Beauty's affection with material goods.
However, while the author put her own unique touch on the story, there was still enough magic and beauty in the story to satisfy the true fairy tale lover. Overall, I really enjoyed this retelling. It was a sweet, fairy tale for grown ups.