Enjoyable but not for me at this moment. The characters and world building where good but something about the story just didn't click with me.

To say I was "pleasantly surprised" by this book would be an understatement. From the first sentence I was drawn in to a unique and wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

In an un-assuming story there are simple truths every woman needs to understand - Beauty can come from ashes, bad in the world does not mean everything is bad. There are, in strange places and people, amazing things found and discovered. Haven't we all hidden, run away, built for ourselves walls that no one was meant to breach? And, when the shadows press, have we not also faced them; pushed through the thorns, accepted the scratches and scars and faced down our fears? And what if in doing so something beautiful blooms, a rose so rare that it is a sacred thing? What if running to our certain demise turns into our destined salvation? This is the story of Beauty as never seen before. A story of undoing, and of becoming. A story of fire that burned a world to ash, first loves that destroyed and gentle grace that made the ash beautiful and second loves better than the first. Do not pass on this re-telling.

Beauty is the youngest of the Acton children, given to whimsy and musing. The Beast is an enchanted prince in a castle surrounded by an enchanted forest. And Stephan - well Stephan is painted in a much different light than ever before.

This book is worth the read, it's worth pre-ordering on Amazon. This book deserves a space on everyone's shelf.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book follow

"...But I knew it would fall again. Because what was lost would not regrow, and it would continue to struggle, so there was nothing to do but fall."

....it would have thrilled to the old Beauty. But this one was in hiding, and down the path ahead of me, I saw only exposing light. The beast had secrets, but so did I. Best to leave secrets in the dark.

"I'd foolishly opened the door, and the wind had blown in grains of truth I couldn't sweep back out"

"It was too much to ask a man to resist the beauty before him..../He [Stephan] would have said the rose had deliberately plated itself in my father's path to temp him. "Men fall for the sake of a rose," I said...."

"....I would have to pick through the pieces carefully, see the intentional harm when I didn't understand it, try to find where the cracks had begun, wonder if I should have noticed them sooner. I would pick through the tray of glass fragments until every piece was slick with blood and I could no longer see the edges and I was no closer to understanding and all I felt was pain"

"I lived in a different castle one," I swallowed. "And I gave a man a room. But when I wouldn't give him anything else, he took the castle by force. And then I had nothing left to give."

" ' there is a piece of me,' I said, 'taken by force. That is yours. Content yourself with it. My hope is that it will become a fire, and on your lowest night, it will turn on you and scorch your conscience'"

A Beauty and the Beast retelling, complete with magic, a fairy, intuitively responsive furniture, and many enchanted things. I could have frankly done without the magic. The thing is, I think there's a really powerful story here about sexual assault and I would have preferred to read it in a book based more in the realm of reality. That said, I do like Beauty, most of her family, not Astra obviously, but her father and brother were both great and supportive. Andre could have had more of an arc, but I did like that their HEA was not typical, that was more realistic for sure. Overall, a worthy read, I'm probably not the target audience but that doesn't diminish a book's worth. I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review.

Here is the review I posted on NetGalley.
Thanks again for allowing me to read this book.

** I’m not a native speaker 😊 **
Thanks to #Netgalley for offering me the chance to read a free copy of this book.

Beauty Reborn is a beautiful retelling of "Beauty & the Beast". While it follows parts of the original story and gives a nod to Disney's version, it also offers tons of original elements.

In BR, Belle is much more than a beautiful & clever girl. She has the kind of backstory that will make you curious about how her story ends... even if you know about her tale.

The first part of the book felt a bit rushed or at least very quickly paced. But the story slowed down after a while, offering enough flashbacks to provide all the needed decorum to fully enjoy reading Belle's journey.

Looking forward to seeing whether E. Lowham will offer us another retelling :)

“Beauty from ash.”

I did not really enjoy this book. It just felt like a silly story or a fluff piece. I simply didn’t feel any true depth to the characters or even the story itself. I think this is something a younger audience would more readily enjoy. There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with the story, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read this book before the release date. This is my honest rating of Beauty Reborn.

I found this retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story a bit basic. While there were some variations between this retelling and the fairy tale, I would have loved to see the story stretched a bit further.

Beauty's character arc was very well written. I loved getting to see how she gradually was able to recover and rise from the pain of her past.

Beast was a nice, considerate love interest, but I never really fell in love with him. I feel like seeing him encounter the villain would have made him a much more loveable character.

Content warning: This book refers to rape (nothing is shown). Age range: 14+

Overall, I enjoyed this story about the individual worth of each person, no matter their internal or external scars.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"He reached for me, pulled me close. I raised on my toes to kiss him. He was as gentle in his kiss as he was in everything else. This was no consuming fire. It was comfort. Safety. And a little thrill all the way down to my soul."

This was a sweet, slow-burn Beauty and the Beast retelling. It was easy to read, and had enjoyable characters. While there are similarities to the original tale, this story still stands on its own. The magic and storytelling was throughly enjoyable. For those looking for a retelling without the spice, this story is very tasteful and clean.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although not very long, Beauty Reborn is a fantastic new addition to the YA genre. Readers who enjoyed Robin McKinley’s Beauty and those for whom Laurie Haulse Anderson’s Speak was written will find Beauty Reborn an important book to access on the shelves, as both a creative retelling of a well known fairy tale that still feels unique and as a character who reacts realistically to the trauma she is recovering from.
Beauty begins with the family recently impoverished and required to move to a small cabin near the woods and quickly differentiates the characters, making them decently well rounded for the short time we meet them before Beauty is alone in the Beast’s castle. The author deals with a hard subject well, weaving the history of what occurred into the current timeline and allowing Beauty to be both a human with mistakes as well as a person who was attacked and needs to find a way to recover. This balance is important; too often characters need to recover from traumatic events and are portrayed either as inhuman in their ability to “get over it” or as a victimized character that never made mistakes at all. Yet Beauty straddles the fence expertly, and should be offered hand in hand with Speak.

3 1/2 elevated to 4.

This was a surprising, intriguing read.

The cover and the premise pulled me in and the writing kept me going. It's a different twist on B&B but one that works. It's not a light version; there is trauma and darkness that drives the characters, and the development of the relationship between the main characters is the strongest point.

I receive a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This is a new author to me and am definitely going to have to look up more of her work. This was such a fun re-telling of beauty in the beast.

Beauty Reborn is a pleasant retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed the main characters, Beauty and Beast. Their intersections were genuine and honest. I loved Beauty's whimsy and their playful banter with one another. If I could change one thing, I would add more to the details of the story--giving the reader a more complete tale. Overall an enjoyable read.

I love Beauty and the Beast and reading various renditions of this classic story. Combining a classic fairytale with Fantasy makes for an intriguing story. There is a lot more backstory and history of Beauty's story that creates a creative and unique spin on this classic. It is also emotional and perhaps darker than other re-tellings. Instead of focusing on what the the Beast did to turn into a Beast and the ugliness of his character, if focuses on Beauty what true beauty is. There is trauma in her life that completely flips how she views the world, others and herself. It can be triggering for some as it is very sensitive in nature. She rises from the ashes of this traumatic event to learn to love and trust others and more importantly, herself. Andre was wonderful and so caring and patient. I loved the "not necessarily happily ever after, but still a happily ever after" epilogue. I loved this book and would recommend it for lovers of this classic tale.

Wow I am really surprised how much I liked this. When I first started I was impressed by the writing then I noticed how much it was like one of my favorite books Beauty by Robin McKinley. I wonder if she got her idea from that book. I have read that book so many times I knew where this one was different and the differences were awesome. There is room for improvement in the movement of the book. I would get a little lost at times. There was a lot of back and forth. I wonder if it the released version this will be broken up better. It was so fast paced I swallowed this book up so quickly. Beauty by Robin is a much slower book. But at the same time I wanted it to slow down and wanted more! This is an author I will be following. Just loved the writing.
Here is a sample of a couple of my favorite lines.
''We were shoulder-deep in truth, and I felt the thorns"
"I think......." I swallowed. "I think God makes light out of darkness. But the darkness still exists.'
This is not a book filled with religion but there is a part near the end with talk of God. I included a bit of it above. This is a sweet romance with a couple of kisses.
There is a rape and the aftermath that drives this book. It is handled beautifully. I would let my 16 year old read this.

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast with significant twists
This book although a retelling of Beauty and the Beast maybe darker than what you expect. This retelling has Beauty fleeing to the castle not only to save her father but escape her suitor who has abused her and forced himself on her while she was unable to defend herself. The book is well done but that dark thread weaves its way throughout the story as Beauty struggles to move on with unknowing help from the Beast. It also introduces the idea of finding happiness and joy when you strive for contentment in your circumstances. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy. This is my review and all thoughts are my own.