Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

thank you to Netgalley and Brigids Gate Press for providing me with an e-ARC.

i probably set my own expectations a little too high, because i unfortunately just could not get into Beast. despite saying that, i was kept intrigued by the protagonist's on-page journey of treachery—like a messed up stage play that never stops spiralling into chaos—abetted by the circumstances and people around him.

Full transparency, I started reading the book because the guy on the cover is a DILF. The book gets better from there as the reader becomes immersed into a deeply complex world full of fugitive high members of society and magical powers.

This is a prequel to Beauty and the Beast, rather than a Beauty and the Beast retelling, which is an important distinction because the style and tone is different than your average Beauty and the Beast retelling. This might not appeal to all Beauty and the Beast fans.

For me, this had a strong and intriguing start, and I enjoyed the ending as some of the pieces came together. However, the middle portion lost me, as it was rather slow-paced and not much happened.

So I didn't love this, but it had a promising concept and I think others who like the writing style will enjoy this more than I did.

Although I liked the premise, and it started off well, it quickly became so twisted that i found myself lost. The Butler is such an interesting character, and not knowing much about him makes him more intriguing. I thought maybe this was a murder mystery but I was quite lost with the direction of this story. It felt bogged down by unnecessary descriptions and too many random characters, including the plot with many holes and questions that weren't really answered by the end.

Overall, slow and lovely concept that had more potential!

While this story was an enjoyable read, it did not make any impressions of note. I'd look into other works by this author in the future for a nice and easy read.

received Beast, written by Lindz McLeod, as an ARC via @netgalley.

I really wanted to read this book because of the awesome and intriguing cover. However, it did not exactly live up to my expectations unfortunately. I had a hard time getting through the book because I was waiting and waiting for the prince (or so to say, the beast) to take his spotlight, but that never happened. So, the book isn’t about the prince (or in this case the Majordome), but it’s completely written about the butler. I do have to say that is a very original point of view and I thought that was refreshing. But, unfortunately I just really really disliked the butler in itself. He was rude, arrogant and pompous. He seemed to think he was the most wonderful and smart person in the world and everybody else was just trash. He was supposed to be a Frenchman, but acted like he was some uptight British butler from the era of Downton Abby. Even the butler from Downton Abby had my sympathy, but unfortunately this butler in the story.. he did not.

I also was a bit shocked about the things this butler did and how the people around him don’t seem to notice or worse, don’t seem to care.

So, because I had expected something else for a story, this was a bit of a led down. However, I do think if you know what the story focuses on and you read it because that interests you, I think it might be a fine book. It definitely had some interesting parts to keep you reading.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Brigids Gate Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly this wasn't my cup of tea, even thought I really wanted it to be.

Beast by Lindz McLeod is about Le Majordome—the castle butler— who finds himself the sole protector of the castle's young heir. Hiding the teenager had seemed like a good idea, but the other servants don't agree; if the army return and discover they've been protecting a member of the aristocracy, all their lives will be forfeit. To make matters worse, the heir's now-dead elder brother left behind a bastard baby, calling the heir's inheritance into question. As tensions rise, Le Majordome must quell a murderous mutiny and rein in the heir's worst impulses if any of them are to survive. To add to his mounting troubles, it's rumoured that a local enchantress has been looking for her stolen child, and will stop at nothing to rescue him. To Le Majordome's horror, the bastard baby starts displaying magical powers, proving his parentage beyond a doubt.

It was a really cool concept, but really poor execution.

First of all thank you to Netgally for allowing me to read this. This was very interesting read. The character development was cleverly written. It made you want to read more of the book to find out what’s going to happen. With the plot and storyline of the book as well made the story more interesting also. With how the book ended I didn’t expect it to happen that way. I was shocked but it was a very interesting to read and see where the author wanted to end the story.

This one started so well, and I really REALLY enjoyed the writing style. But it went downhill pretty fast. The main character was so unlikeable, so uncurious and hung up on the wrong things.
This was supposed to be a "beauty and the beast" retelling, and while the POV was certainly a good one, it lacked in other areas, and the beast was not the right beast, and I have questions left unanswered. I suppose it was set up for a sequel, but honestly, thats too many open questions for me to want to read the rest.

In the beginning, the story is actually good, the idea that we're going to learn what happened before the prince was cursed into Beast from the POV of the castle's butler is so intriguing! I've read other Beauty & Beast stories from the standpoint of the domestic service, but never from the butler's side. And Le Majordome has a very distinct voice, too. There's a possibility hinted at that he might actually be able to stop the curse, that he could change the master's behaviour so he can avoid the beastly doom. How will he do it? Can he do it? That's why I was so engrossed in the beginning and spent my time wondering how this could unfold.

And . . . it just didn't. The second half of the book is a downhill ride. Magic enters the plot, and it's magic the servants just accept without questioning. When the witch that curses the prince appears, Le Majordome doesn't question her powers, doesn't bother to find out who and what exactly she is, and what her relationship with the castle's former master is. And when he finally thinks he should, it's too little and too late. He's so incurious, always justifying it as improper to snoop on his "betters" even if lives could be saved if he bothered to find out how to stop the curse or help the people under his supervision. He doesn't even want to deal with the magical child the castle is saddled with! It's all "none of my business, I'm too superior in my butlery status to stoop to such basic levels as learning more of what is under my nose because it's not part of my duties." Even Stevens (the butler from The Remains of the Day) was more knowledgeable about the comings and goings at the manor than Le Majordome is about the castle and its inhabitants.

And this makes for a very anticlimactic conclusion. The servants start turning into furniture, like in Disney's tale (which is why I think this retelling was meant to be for the Disney version), and that is all. The fact that we have the butler as the POV means we don't know much about why or how of most things that happen in the castle. There's too much magic and non-magic unexplained, and Le Majordome is so complacently ignorant that we simply don't know much. It's not a problem of a limited POV, no, it's a problem with characterisation. Le Majordome could know much more than he does, see much more than he does, but the author chose to characterise him like that, so the writing being the real issue is evident. Besides, the author chose to make the epilogue a univerasal POV type, breaking from the first person POV pattern, and yet even there we still don't know. It's all very unsatisfying.

I really struggled to finish this book.
I really loved the premise but it did not live up to it...
The book was just really slow and I didn't really like any of the characters.
Sadly I don't think I can recommend this book.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I unfortunately dnfed this book. I was quite excited and the premise sounded absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, it has an incredibly slow start. The characters are built up and well thought out. The problem lies in the fact I got to chapter nine and the story was still being set up. For me personally that’s a bit too long of a set up. Other a than the slowness, it appears to be well written and you can see a hint of what the characters may become. If you like a slower paced book this might be the one for you.

3.5 stars

The writing was immersive and the characters great, in that they were both likable and flawed. I really hope there is a sequel though, otherwise I feel a bit dissatisfied.

This book appears to be a speculative prequel to the familiar story of Beauty and the Beast, focused on one particular resident of the castle from the fairy tale. The book begins as a story of the servants of a noble family affected by the French Revolution, and gradually changes until there isn't much of anything historical left.

The author did a very good job of creating tension here. I always had a sense that the events were building toward something, but wasn't sure how the book would make its own story mesh with the familiar one. The main character was not exactly relatable, but did undergo character development at a quick enough pace that I was able to continue from his POV without becoming too irritated. The side characters were also all fairly well fleshed out-- they all had at least some purpose in the story, and defining traits that kept me interested in what happened to them.

I did feel that certain original elements to the story, that is, those that didn't seem to tie in to the fairy tale, were not adequately resolved. I had trouble figuring out what role a specific child character was to play going forward, and the ending was of course inconclusive because it's a prequel, but this character doesn't appear in the common version of Beauty and the Beast, so I'm left to wonder. Similarly, I wasn't clear on the witch's whole deal, because she only appears in tiny fragments-- she wants the child, but what is her backstory and connection to the family, exactly? I know that when you're working with the limited POV of one character, the reader can only know what that character knows, but that limitation worked against the book in this case.

Overall, I don't consider the time I spent reading this book to be wasted, since the writing was good and the suspense enjoyable, but if the author doesn't plan to write another in the series, I don't know that I'd recommend it without a warning that it doesn't wrap up neatly.

I was excited to read this book but I couldn't get into it. I feel like Le Majordome would have learned the other servants' names after a while and wouldn't have addressed them by their titles. I couldn't even get past the first three or four chapters of this book.