As a huge Beauty & The Beast fan and lover of retellings, I really wanted to love this book, I just could not connect with it 100%.

With that being said, the book had its enjoyable aspects. I really appreciated the unique angle that was taken when it came to the heroine. Her being turned into an inanimate object was so unique and definitely sets it apart from other retellings. It also presented its challenges, because she gets turned into an inanimate object that made her a bit boring to read about. I did think it was a very unique idea though.

I also couldn't connect with the love interest, he came off as abusive and toxic.

Overall, I really wanted to connect with this story and love it but that just wasn't the case. I could see others enjoying it though, it just wasn't for me.

This book is a retelling of the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, but twisted in a dark and offensive way. The Beast is actually made out to be good, and the Prince is the evil one. The story is written from the perspective of a housemaid who tries to save the Beast by getting the girl Rose to fall in love with him, but her plan backfires, and she will need help and courage to save him.
This book was so offensive to me because of the graphic rape scene, the way the author makes you think a character gets an abortion, the suicide attempt, the foul language, the bestiality, and the twisted views of religion that were presented. I had to force myself to skim through the book so I could write an intelligent review. Don't get me wrong, I do read books that contain difficult subject matter, and I hardly ever give a book a bad review, but I would not recommend this book to anyone, and the realistic, descriptive writing does not override the blatant offensive nature of this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Beauty and the Beast is my favourite fairytale and when I hear of a new retelling I am always the first to get ahold of it. I'm afraid this is the first time I have DNF'd a version, and at only about 30%. As much as I enjoy dark retellings to stories, this just seemed unnecessarily cruel and bitter.

My thanks to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Um,,,NO! While I expected this to be dark, I also though it would be more teen friendly since it's rated YA/Teen. That said, I did not expect the level of description, especially during a rather lengthy rape scene between the two MCs.

I cannot continue reading this book. It was far more descriptive than I thought it needed to be on cruelty and I'd not expected that, especially as I had read the summary a while ago and didn't even remember it. Perhaps the fault is with the expectations I had for it, but didn't enjoy what I read and won't continue reading.

***Trigger warning: This story contains a rape scene and attempted suicide***

I love fairytale retellings and Beauty and the Beast is a particular favourite of mine so I was really excited for this book. Especially when I realised that Lisa Jensen was going to turn things around by making the beast the hero rather than the prince. I was really curious to see how that would work and had very high hopes for this story but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to expectations.

I think the first thing people need to know if they're thinking about reading this is that there is a fairly descriptive rape scene within the first few chapters, told from the point of view of the girl being raped so you're inside her head and feeling everything that happens right alongside her. I really wasn't expecting that (although perhaps that's my fault for not checking any reviews before I started reading) and I came pretty close to quitting the book on the spot. How was I ever supposed to think of Jean-Loup or the Beast as a hero after seeing him rape the narrator? I know the prince was a nasty piece of work in the original story and that this is all about redemption BUT there are things I don't think you can come back from and that made it very hard to continue the story.

I am glad I persevered though because I liked some of the things the author did with this story, I really liked the fact that Jean-Loup was portrayed as evil and stayed that way even after the beast had been "saved" and turned back into a human. Lisa Jensen didn't, in fact, try to redeem his character in any way shape or form and it was the Beast who was the hero from beginning to end. It was fairly easy to think of them as two separate people because Beast has no memories of his life as Jean-Loup and he acts totally different too. That was good because it meant I could like him but at the same time it was bad because you don't get the redemption arc that you do in the original story. Beast doesn't redeem himself because he doesn't remember the things he did wrong in the past and Jean-Loup remains evil until the end so I just didn't get the same kind of satisfaction from the story as I expected.

I thought it was interesting to tell the story from the point of view of maid Lucie rather than that of Beast or Rose (the Belle character) but I found it really hard to watch her fall for the man who raped her, even though she was falling for the Beast side not the human (I'm not even going to get into the magical explanation for why they are two completely different people because it didn't make a huge amount of sense to me!). I also found her story much more interesting when she was in her human form, once she was turned into a candlestick via magic there were sections where she spent literally days sat in a cupboard or on a windowsill just listening to what was happening around her which didn't make for a particularly interesting story.

I think for me the big sticking point was the rape though and I would probably have enjoyed the rest of the story a lot more if that hadn't happened. Jean-Loup could still have been a terrible person without having to go so far as raping Lucie and then I would have found it much easier to get on board with the later romantic feelings developing between Lucie and Beast. I think my rating would probably have been higher if that was the case.

Obviously this is my personal opinion so you may enjoy this more than I did but I definitely think this story should come with a trigger warning because it's never nice to be blindsided with an unexpected rape scene closely followed by a suicide attempt.

I had a hard time reviewing this book. There were parts I liked and parts I did not like. I found the characters extremely unlikeable. I also was not expecting to find a rape scene in a book aimed at the young adult/ teenage audiences. I think some other reviewers were a little more harsh than necessary but I think that is do to the subject matter. I think it was a decent effort to try and make the story retold but it is somehow lacking something. I would not say this is a horrible read but its not something I want to read again or recommend to everyone who normally loves this genre. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. Overall I remain conflicted but due to it being well written I would give it 3 stars out of 5.

I won't be publishing a review on my blog because although I honestly enjoyed certain aspects of this book and appreciate it, I have nothing much to say about it other than the below.

I thought this book was okay. The concept was great, the fact that the author wanted Beast to have a happy ending as he is was great. But I felt like Lucie's constant monologue was a bit boring. I also don't really see how they fall in love? Friendship I understand, liking each other even. But I think there was too little happening for the love to really develop.

I also thought this book should've had a trigger warning in advance.

*** Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC! ***

DNF at 12%

I really liked the idea of this and was eager to see how this retelling worked, but it’s a big nope from me.

I’m not going to continue a book that has a two page rape scene of the MC. Oh and it’s by the other MC of the story who she falls in love with? The question mark applies to the love part, not the character involved.

Perhaps it gets better and it’s unfair of me to rate this one star without finishing it. However, it seems unfair to reference a brutal rape scene as “cruelty” in the synopsis.

**Huge thanks to Candlewick Press for providing the arc free of charge**

While I was expecting a less “sparkly” version of this tale, it’s fair to say that Beast surprised me with some jarring moments. This version is not a happy fairy tale. Lucie’s tale is not an easy one. She starts out innocent and light, but a life-altering incident leaves her angry and vengeful.

Over the course of the book, Lucie’s outlook evolves. Light is shone in dark places and truth is parsed out. Even so, Lucie never becomes what I would consider a likeable character. She’s one that I understood, but her hate becomes overwhelmingly potent.

In fact, most of the characters in Beast are so motivated by their own agendas that when you do run into someone who is actually “good” they almost seem one-note.

I have mixed feeling about Beast. Author Lisa Jensen’s retelling is intriguing, but it’s not something I would hand to younger YA — one particular moment of cruelty and its aftermath require maturity.

An interesting take on a classic tale. I wasn't sure how the beast could be redeemed after such a horrific violation in the beginning, but the author put a unique twist to the character that i was not expecting!

Lucie is a maid in a grand Chateau. The master, JeanLoup is young and handsome, but he is cruel to everyone and deliberately seeks to cause harm. At first Lucie is taken in by his appearance but after he rapes her, she wants revenge. Turned into a candlestick Lucie observes Jeanloup in his punishment until one day when he seems to not remember anything anymore. Curious, Lucie struggles to hang on to her anger and unfeelingness as she comes to know the Beast. But there is a girl and could be the one to break the curse.

I struggled with this book. It didn't end up being what I wanted it to be and that made it disappointing. To me. I didn't like it. I didn't like the curse. I didn't like the whobewhatee going on the JeanLoup and Beast. I didn't like the end. And frankly I don't think I liked Lucie very much either.

I didn't like the separation between JeanLoup and the Beast. And I didn't like how that ended at all. I was a bit confused about how everything worked. I didn't think that JeanLoup could recover from the beginning and Beast is weird. And there really wasn't any redemption or revenge. So not my favorite.

2 1/2 out of 5 stars

This was a hard book review. I actually found the story pretty enjoyable. It was unique take on the Beauty and the Beast story while still being about the two main characters. With the addition of the Rose/Belle character, we see a different way of how it all comes together in the end. However, there is a scene at the beginning that is so shocking and cold that it puts a dark cloud over the rest of the story. I think, I understand, what the author was going for on this but it was just too much. Especially considering nothing else in the story even comes close to what happened in this scene.

In my opinion, <spoiler> the author put in the rape scene so it would explain why Lucie hated Jean-Loup so much as to want to watch him suffer. I believe the author wanted us to look at the Beast and Jean-Loup as two different people, Jean-Loup being the "demon"/curse that took over the character of Beast. I think this was asking too much of readers though, given you don't find this out until the very end. In the mean time, you are just supposed to accept Lucie's rapist as a kind character that lost their memory. </spoiler>

The author had an interesting take on the fairy tale but I don't really understand what she or the editor was thinking, with the beginning.

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, so I will give every retelling a chance. This one just didn't do it for me. The classic story we all know is interpreted in act two of this three act story. Act one takes place before the transformation/curse. We get to know just how horrible and evil the man is. Then we get to know the beast, who is not mean at all. This story is told from the point of view of the candlestick, who is a girl transformed. She is the reason for the curse and wants to make sure the man doesn't get his happy ending. She becomes friends with the beast. The Belle character is not the one we've come to love and respect. She is quite different, although not entirely unlikable. Act three takes place after the "curse" is broken, but this story has a twist that plays out then. Overall, I didn't really like this edition. I thought it was clever, but the characters weren't really likable and it felt way too long. Since it was under 350 pages, it shouldn't have felt as long as it did. I'm going to have to mark this retelling down in the fail column for me.

I love the story of Beauty and the Beast. I have since I was a kid watching the Disney version for the first time. Fairytale remakes are some of my all-time favorite stories. Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge starts out pretty dark weaving it's way into the classic story we all know, but it has a fantastic twist that I didn't see coming that 1,000% redeems what you think is a dark twisted story. If you read through the dark parts that you're not sure you want to read, you quickly realize that you have to see the darkness to appreciate the magical bits.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy to review.

Who doesn't love Beauty and the Beast? 

It is definitely one of my favorite fairy tales and Disney movies! I also love reading retellings of stories as it is interesting what new ideas the author will bring to the story. So this story seemed like a perfect match for me. I was intrigued by the story not being from either Belle's or Beast's perspectives. 

Now when I was reading this book, it did take me forever to read it. And then all of a sudden today I just sat down and finished it. It reminded me a lot of The Book of Esther where I was enjoying it but I wasn't super eager to read it. Now I think that has to do with the first half of the book where we meet Jean-Loup, the antagonist of the story. The best way I can describe him is like Gaston but worse, like Calix worse. Jean-Loup is an arrogant, narcissistic, materialistic, selfish rapist. He does rape the main character Lucie and that was very graphic. It is after he violates Lucie that she finds help in Mere Sophie, who is a witch. Mere Sophie turns Jean-Loup into Beast, Lucie into a Candelabra, scares away everyone else, and enchants the castle. 

Now, this is where I had some issues and I was conflicted about how I was feeling about this book. First, I had already described what Jean-Loup was like and I found it hard to believe that I could actually grow to like this character or that he would ever change. (Spoiler: Beast is so sweet.) Second, I felt like turning Lucie into a candelabra was cruel as Jean-Loup use to call her "Little Candle". Also, Mere Sophie traps her in a castle alone with her rapist when Lucie asked her to punish him. Can you see why I wasn't super keen on this book in the beginning!!!!!

But then Beast did actually start to change. He started tending to the roses. (It is a retelling of BatB, of course, there are roses!) And then he was reading and writing poetry.  And I was starting to like him! And so was Lucie. Now before you go all Stockholm-Syndrome-theory on me, let me say something; I am going to explain at the end of this review or you can go read the book yourself, get mad and then realize everything and then get mad again, yes it is quite the process. 

But before I get there I would like to interrupt this review to talk about the characters and the prose. First, some would consider the prose to be boring and that I can understand. The story is told from the point of view of Lucie, who is an enchanted inanimate object. She can only tell what is going on if someone takes her to where the action is. Which is why Rose (Belle's name, I know so original) basically walks around with her like Linus with his blanket. The dialogue is what I call quiet. It is soft (some would say flat) and moves gently. I don't mind it but some do. 

Rose is basically the Belle that we all know and love. She comes to the castle after her father tries to pick a rose from the Beast's gardens (He also tries to steal Lucie which was weird) and she comes back in his place. Lucie is likable, she is not on my top 20 list of favorite characters but I didn't hate her. And speaking of hate, I want to dissect what some would call "girl hate". It seemed like Lucie was looking down at Rose for acting the way that she was. I can completely understand Rose's perspective. But I also get Lucie's. She doesn't want Jean-Loup to come back which will happen if Rose marries Beast. Therefore even though at some moments it seemed like girl hate when it was actually just two girls trying to prevent the worst from happening. 

This paragraph will have spoilers. 

Mere Sophie is a really sweet lady but she is also horrible. 



To explain, and I forewarned you about spoilers so don't complain, Beast is his real form and Jean-Loup was just his mother's way of making him acceptable to society. Not that I have blown your brains (or at least that is how I felt after I read that), let me really explain. Beast's parents where both nobles and there was serve inbreed which caused his father to be infertile. But his mother desperately wanted a child and as Mere Sophie put it her love was stronger than that of nature. But due to this Beast (I am still calling him this because I feel that it is important to separate him from Jean-Loup) was born monstrous, wings, hooves, a snout, paws and he was feared but he was the sweetest child. Beast's mother begged Mere Sophie to change him so his outward appearance was as sweet as his disposition. Now if you are like me and you read a lot of fairy tales (or you have just been paying attention) you will immediately see what happened. Jean-Loup was formed, as beautiful as his mother wanted him to be but as cruel as his father made him. But when Mere Sophie changed him Beast came back and that is why Beast is so different. Now why I think Mere Sophie is a terrible woman. WHY DIDN'T SHE TELL LUCIE ANY OF THIS???? Lucie found this all out after Beast was turned back into Jean-Loup. She could have saved Lucie so much heartache and the reader so much hate for the Beast. I do understand that this was supposed to make a really cool plot twist and it was another way for the author to change the story into her own.  Also, I do understand why Beast returned. Jean-Loup was too much of a terror and if you punish Jean-Loup then you would also punish Beast, who is completely innocent to this. 

Oh and the other reason which I know I already mentioned but I want to emphasize this point, why Mere Sophie isn't one of my favorite characters, she kept Lucie locked in the tour with Beast, who Lucie still thought was Jean-Loup and he was still for the first month (it is complicated). The least she could have done was keep Lucie as herself but make sure she could never be hurt by the Beast. Though I will give Jensen props; it was quite clever of her to make Lucie into a candelabra and make sure her flames could never be extinguished. It was sort of screw you to Jean-Loup as his Little Candle was now his permanent reminder as to why he was there. 

One last thing because this review is getting really long. How I liked it in comparison to the original. It was definitely an interesting take on the story. The author cites Greta Garbo's response to the 1941 film adaption of the tale. She remarked about how she wanted the Beast back as that is who Belle fell in love with not the prince that the Beast was. I also liked how it was not Rose who was the Beauty, the girl who gets Beast in the end, but she is the one who sets him free.

This is an original retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but it didn’t work for me.

The story started off well. I liked the upstairs/downstairs aspects, where Lucie had to view the Chevalier from afar because she was a maid. But he wasn’t who she expected.

There was a sexual assault, which made me feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t the actual assault, but her reaction to it. She just wanted revenge in any possible way. Lucie was blinded by this idea of revenge, so she didn’t even notice other things that were happening around her.

There was a lot of description in this story. The mansion and the grounds were described in a lot of detail, mostly because the main character couldn’t speak for most of the story (you’d have to read it to understand why). This was great because I could imagine everything, but I would have liked to have more tension to move the story along. It would have been more powerful if there was less description and more action.

I won’t spoil the ending but the Beast wasn’t who she thought he was. The way the story ended was unique, but I couldn’t get into the rest of the story.

I love Beauty and the Beast, and retellings of this story are usually my favorite. This one, however, was not. This one was awful. I barely could finish it, but I kept going just to see if maybe the ending would make me like it a little more. I was completely disappointed in this story.

reader discretion is advised. This book has a rape scene in the very beginning!

Didn't care for this retelling at all. I was convinced after the rape scene that Jean-Loup was beyond redemption! This definitely wasn't your average retelling and I definitely wasn't expecting a rape scene in a beauty and the beast retelling. The book totally lost me after that and I basically seemed through the rest which was about 60% of the book to see what happens in order to review it. I love beauty and the beast but this was a total turn off. Lisa Jensen creates a story of what happen to beast to make him the way his was but I couldn't except it and just kept going back to what happened in the beginning. The way it happened just made Jean-Loup too big of a bad guy for me to ever see him as a redemptable beast.

DNF - I'm sorry, but the whole Jekyll and Hyde thing did not work for me on top of the rapist aspect of this novel. I gave it a chance, I really did but I can only do so much. Characters have a past and all, much like people, but I am not ok with the fact of making the Beast a rapist and attempting to make it be ok for him to be "cured".