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

3 stars because I am still torn about this book. Before I started reading I was very nervous seeing the negative reviews on Goodreads about how this book had ruined the original story. As Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite Disney movie, I had low expectations for a re-telling. WARNING: in order to explain my mixed emotions- there will be spoilers. I think it is impossible to talk about this book without including any spoilers.

The first half of this book was very dark. More than I would ever expect in a novel advertised for young adults, which I think is one of this book's major flaws. The first quarter of the book involves the main character, Lucie, being raped by Jean-Loup, the chevalier of Chateau Beaumont who later becomes the "Beast." After Lucie determines that she is pregnant from the rape, she attempts suicide. These events end up being important to advancing the plot as they are the foundation for Lucie's desire for revenge on Jean-Loup which ultimately triggers his curse and transformation to the Beast we know from the story. Lucie ends up being tied in with the curse as well and becomes a sentient candelabra to witness his suffering.

The fact that Jean-Loup, the serial rapist, is also the equivalent character to the main love interest from the original tale is another flaw for many reviewers. The author attempts a plot twist that occurs much later (for readers who can stomach the brutal beginning) in which Lucie discovers Jean-Loup and the Beast are basically two different people- in summary, Jean-Loup is a changeling who takes over the Beast's body and the good, kind-hearted Beast is the actual true form all along.

Like most readers, I am of the opinion that rapists are not redeemable characters and should not be excused or ever portrayed as a love interest. However, while reading, I did feel the difference between Jean-Loup and the Beast's characters was stomach-able in order to keep enjoying the story. I think, as readers of fairy tales, sometimes we do have to set aside the overall moral in order to appreciate a story. Like I said, Beauty and the Beast was my world as a kid and I will defend it to my death. But...I will admit, that if you take a closer look at the plot- it is basically a woman who falls in love with the monster who is holding her prisoner. What kind of moral is there in Stockholm syndrome? Why should we expect a better moral from this re-telling?

Overall, I understand the bad reviews and can agree 100% with them. I also enjoyed the second half of this book despite those issues. I thought this re-telling, although dark, was original and creative. I liked that both Lucie and Rose got a happy ending. I also, surprisingly, really liked Rose's character. I mean, the Stockholm syndrome part makes so much more sense if she was really after his money (or his library...) all along!

I don't know that I would ever recommend this book. But I may not not recommend it, if that makes sense.

This book was bizarre.... I tried getting through it but the plot wasn't at all what I expected, I didn't enjoy the writing, and the story was boring. I felt like nothing at all happened. I got 30% in then skimmed to 50% and still nothing was happening. I think the idea of the MC not being "Belle" was interesting but because she was bewitched herself, she was only able to observe everything that was happening which I found extremely boring.

DNF 50%

This book is one of my biggest disappointments of this year. I was beyond excited to read it because I adore retellings and I'm always on the hunt for one of them, and the premise of this novel sounded amazing and so unique, but I ended up hating the book.

One of my main issues with the novel was the writing. I don't usually pay much attention to the writing style when I read a book, unless it's either very good or the opposite. In this case, I wasn't the biggest fan. I didn't clicked with it. I didn't like how the interactions between the characters were done or the descriptions of places.

The characters were so plain, lineal and had barely any development. I disliked the most of them, and as I kept reading I distanced myself from them and the whole story till the point I didn't care about what happened to them. The protagonist was especially annoying and dumb. 

The story itself was quite anticlimactic. The beginning wasn't bad, but there came a part where nothing was happening, and I was so bored. There wasn't any important information provided to us until the last 20% of the novel, and frankly, when I reach that point I didn't particular care about any of those big revelations.

I had such high hopes, but overall I found more things that I didn't like that the ones I did, so sadly I had to give this book 1.25 stars.

The Good
I wanted to like this book. A “Beauty and the Beast” retelling? Count me in. “Beauty and the Beast” is my all-time favorite plot cliche. And this book promised not only to be a retelling, but a twist on the old story, with a love triangle that (dare I say it?) sounded interesting and enough to complicate the story significantly. All that is to say, the premise of this story is amazing.

The Bad
The execution, however, is where it falls completely flat. First of all, there’s an extended rape scene. So huge trigger warning there. I found it very cringey and not really relevant to the whole story the way it was done. I don’t think that we shouldn’t write about rape, but I think that we should think critically about how and why we’re doing it and what happens to our characters next. I just didn’t feel like it was handled well.

Then the story just drags on and on but I never felt invested in any of the characters. I could see everything happening and I knew enough of “Beauty and the Beast” to understand where the story was going to go, even with the new love triangle element. And even that wasn’t handled well, because honestly everything hinges on the love triangle in a way that’s supposed to be a shocker but isn’t at all.

Oh, and the major backstory and mystery surrounding the beast are all explained by a character that we only meet briefly through paragraphs and paragraphs of dialogue. Lucie doesn’t even figure it out on her own. Someone else has to tell her. Again, this just feels sloppy. I think the outline for this novel was probably great, but then the ball got dropped when it was actually written out.

On another note, I’ve seen several reviews saying that this book glorifies a rapist and abuser, and I wouldn’t go quite that far. Plot-wise, there is definitely a strong argument to be made that the person glorified is not a rapist. However, I also see why people are saying this and again think that this problem is due in large part to execution.

The Verdict
I do not recommend. I almost one-starred this, except that I like the idea so much that I bumped it up. That said, I still don’t recommend the actual book. Just let your imagination play with the idea instead.

I am a fan of fairytale retelling and I did like many things about this book. I liked the ending in which beast was the truly beautiful person in the story. And, while I understand why the author needed a horrifying incident to happen to our heroine, the circumstances of her need for revenge make it difficult to suggest this book to teen readers.

I really enjoyed this retelling of Beauty and the Beast! It's one of my favorite Disney movies, mostly because of Belle (Go books!) and I was interested to see how things would play out in this retelling. This was a dark book, probably more like the original then the movie.

The idea that the guy who was transformed in the Beast was both a really, really bad guy and then not the Beast at all, just another person in this different body, was pretty interesting. It's a different take then the guy becoming the beast and learning how to be a better person. So that was very interesting to read about!

I felt bad for Lucie, she's had it tough, being a peasant whose father has died, and basically sent away from home to protect herself from her step-father's wandering eye. But things go from bad to worse because of Jean-Loup. Really hated that guy! But there were some moments once Beast arrived on the scene, were I was like, something bad is going to happen and I don't want to read it!

The actual part with Rose is maybe the last third or so of the book. More important was the things that happened beforehand, like Lucie being a servant, that weird thing with the maybe ghost, and the sorceress lady. But how everything worked out, that was a elegant solution and I loved reading it!

This book was a really fantastic retelling with such a different focus, and I enjoyed reading it so much!

Trigger warning?



I could not finish this book (DNF). I really wanted to love it - I’m all about fairy tales retellings but unfortunately, this one is badly written. Like many other readers, the rape scene shocked me. It was simply in poor taste, the story could have done without it and romanticized sexual abuse. Nope nope nope.

I'm saddened that I didn't enjoy this more, especially since I had been waiting over a year for this book's release. This is a more dark and twisted take on the classic Beauty and the Beast story, which I appreciated. I thought the writing perfectly matched the book's theme. 

Unfortunately, the pacing was slow and nothing really seems to be happing plot-wise for a good chunk of the story. The scene with Lucie that happens very early in the book was completely unexpected and I think a warning should be issued for unsuspecting readers. The way Jean-Loup/Beast's storyline evolved was convincing to me, but I could see how it wouldn't be to others and how some readers would take issue with Lucie's eventual relationship with Beast.

It was a lovely take on the classic Beauty and Beast tale. The unexpected twist was an interesting nod. I would love to have a sequel with Rose.

DNF at 41% and was shocked that I wasn't further because it felt like I should have been.  I love fairy tale retellings and I wanted to like this one; but, it was poorly written.  I was able to continue past the rape scene, which was shocking but should have stopped there.  The plot is slow and repetitive once the beast is changed.  Additionally, Lucie's character development is off-putting.  I didn't like any of the characters and decided not to waste another couple hours of my life.

I will not be completing this novel due to the violent rape depicted in chapter four, as well as the severely derogatory way that the Main Character (MC) refers to herself afterwards. There was no warning at all to accompany this, it was very sudden and very sickening. 

It was extraordinarily triggering and upsetting and completely and totally ruined the entire book for me.

-- I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley --

Here's what we're not going to do: romanticize a rapist/abuser. This book embodies a lot of the tropes and things I dislike in modern day literature. The writing in itself was fine, I might even say I like the author's writing style. The story, however, was irredeemable for me. 

I went into this book thinking it would be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Perhaps it was, for some, however, the book managed to romanticize a rapist. I LOVE fairytale retellings. LOVE them. Though, I could not finish the book all the way because the storyline just bothered me that much. 

Also, if you are sensitive to any of this, if your triggers include mental illness, suicide, and sexual abuse, I would under no circumstance recommend you to read this. That being said, I hope the author manages to include a trigger warning in any future versions. This book was just an all out 'nope' for me. 1/5.

No. No no no no no. I'm going to keep this review pretty short because I could not and did not finish the book and there was nothing I liked about what little I read. It is so problematic.

This book was an immediate DNF for me after a certain scene I'll talk about later, but if it hadn't been for that, I probably would have shelved it as a DNF anyway because of the writing alone. It was so bad. Everything is told, not shown, and Lucie read as a bad fan-fiction heroine. I found myself cringing a couple times from the very first chapter. That's not how you want to be introduced to a book.

As soon as the master of the castle, Jean-Loup, returns, Lucie is instantly infatuated with him. She becomes obsessed and everything she does as a servant is done in a way so she can look at him. Again, it read like a bad fan-fiction. It wasn't written in a way where I could believe Lucie was intrigued by him and maybe even attracted. Everything was done to an extreme so that I was turned off from the story.

But the part that made me go "nope" and close my ebook with as much vigor as I could (there's only so much you can do when you don't have an actual, physical copy to slam shut in anger) was an event that happens maybe 10% into the book, which is as far as I read. I don't really consider it a spoiler since it happens so close to the beginning of the book, so I'm just going to go ahead as say it: Jean-Loup rapes Lucie. It happens with hardly any warning and completely shook me. This whole book was clearly set up to be a romance between Jean-Loup and Lucie, and that is why I stopped reading where I did. There was no way I could read over 300 pages of bad writing about a sexual assault victim falling in love with her rapist. That's just disgusting.

I don't have anything else to say, so I'm going to leave it there. I was definitely disappointed, because when I'd read the description for the book, it sounded like an awesome and unique version of "Beauty and the Beast," but I couldn't get past the bad writing and the problematic material. Hopefully the next ARC I get is better.

This was okay. It was a very interesting twist and take on The Beauty and the Beast, and it was well written. Reading Hunted before this I think may have spoiled my view onBeast: A Tale of Love and Revenge. This was dark, and sad but not as well twisted and dark in a different way. I also while reading this I just kept thinking it was too close to Disney's version of this story. 

This seemed to be all about Lucie's revenge and hatred of Jean-Loupe, which is fine but it started to become overwhelming. I am not sure if the authors purpose was for her to also turn into a beast with her hatred and revenge, but I felt that is what happened. And perhaps the purpose was for her to find redemption through the beast and his changed and loving heart. I did find it really interesting that the beast was his natural form, and that Jean-Loupe was the monster. 

Other than that, I did find this book fast paced and it was a quick, easy and entertaining read.

I hate when a book is bad because I don't like doing bad reviews. I don't know how to start this review. I am a sucker for beauty and the beast retellings and almost every one I've read have been good ones, but there is always an exception for the rule, and sadly this was the exception. 
The writing is beautiful, feels almost poetic but the plot and the story were kind of weird. It feel like that kind of story that yoy know you do not like because is really bad but you still read till the end.  I didn't belive the relation ship at all, probably because is the most toxic I have read, or because the start was just so strange and bad that I just wanted the book to end and didn't really felt the development of the relation ship. I don't want to spoil but there is some rape scenes and also kind of zoofilic content that feel like a step back for this book comming out in 2018.  This book is like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde mix with the beauty and the beast, and just wasn't the book for me, besides the writing style there is nothing I really liked. 

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an e-arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.

WOW! 
Much thanks to the crew at NetGalley and Candlewick Press for this early copy.
I love fairytale renditions and have been on a bit of a binge with Beauty & The Beast ones recently.
I gotta say this book right hear kinda blew everything else out of the water.
This was a beautifully crafted, entirely new take on one of my favourite stories!
She managed to add an edge to the story I didn't know it needed while still staying true to the original tale.
I devoured this and hope all of you get a chance to do the same!

I don't know what to make of this book. I'm a massive Beauty and the Beast fan, it's my favourite film of all time. It was a good adaptation of the story but was hard not to compare it to the original Disney tale.
I would recommend reading this book to others. Thank you for letting me read and review this book,

A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for providing me a copy of “Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge″ by Lisa Jensen in exchange for my review.

When I first started reading this book, I honestly did not expect to enjoy it. This story depicts a dark retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales. Moreover, I really didn’t like the idea of the main characters portrayed in a negative manner. Having said that, I enjoyed reading this book more than I thought I would.

Let’s start with the story line. Frankly speaking, I found the story to be dragging in the first half and I had trouble with the pacing. The plot is indeed very dark and disturbing in the first few chapters as it deals with rape and suicide. However, once the transformation happens and the two protagonists are stuck in the Chateau, the story shifts pace and nothing really happens for a while to progress it. True, it is interesting to see the nuances in the Beast’s personality initially, but I found this to be repetitive after sometime. However, the story considerably picks up in the second half when Rose enters the Chateau. There are lots of twists and turns that happens after she arrives, and I found myself glued to the book. I also loved the climax of the book and was satisfied with how the characters were treated.

Now let’s talk about the controversial topic that others are talking about this book, which is the victim falling in love with her rapist. I completely agree that if that were the case, I would have hated this book and put it down immediately. However, I disagree with respect to this story because I feel that the Beast and Jean-Loup are two completely different identities. It is clear that the Beast does not have any idea about the actions or the personality of Jean-Loup and vice versa. Furthermore, they don’t even look alike when they transform into their form. So while they may be using the same body to transform in, I felt that they were two completely different people and Lucie could clearly distinguish between both.

Lisa Jensen has written this story in a beautiful and majestic manner. Her words are like fine wine and compliment to the setting and timelines of the story. The cover design of the book is also amazing and I hope it remains the same for the final publication. Overall, this was an interesting retelling to Beauty and the Beast and I rate it 4/5 stars.

I wanted to DNF this book so many times, and honestly, I wish I had. The only thing that kept me reading was my love for the story of Beauty and the Beast, but I couldn't get into this at all.

Firstly, this book should come with major trigger warnings. Rape, attempted suicide, and abortion all within the first 20%.

Secondly, Beast is a rapist and Belle is a gold digger, but somehow Beast is made out to be the good guy and our main character falls in love with her rapist anyway. Don't think I need to explain how this trope is not okay in ANY story. The way it was excused was really badly handled and it didn't work for me at all.

Thank you for providing me with a copy.

Château Beaumont is a rich, vast estate , run by a beautiful, stunning Chevalier. All house staff have warned Lucie to stay away from Jean-Loup., but she is unlucky enough to experience the young monarch's cruelty. When a wise old woman punishes the Chevalier for his crimes, transforming him into a hideous beast, Lucie will wish to stay at the Chateau and watch him be punished. The woman transforms her into an ever burning candle, and the two of them become the sole inhabitants of the ruined castle. As time goes by, Lucie realizes that the Beast is nothing like Jean-Loup - but could there be a danger of that horrible man ever coming back?

Beast is a wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast, an alternate plot that is very similar, and very different to the original story all at the same time. We have read and watched a lot about Belle, and we have seen the Prince coming back to life at the end of the classic fairytale. But what about the Beast? What was his role in all of this? If the Beast was a mere curse, why was he such a kind and generous creature? Lisa Jensen gives this beloved character the opportunity to have his own story, and the reader is wonderfully surprised by a different story: one with more depth, feelings and values than the original fairytale could ever have given us.

This intelligent, heartbreaking version portrays all the feelings of both a dark and a lovely story: betrayal, loneliness, sorrow, true love, compassion and remorse. Filled with carefully constructed, in-depth characters, The Beast is an interesting story that melts your heart in the end- after all, isn't this what fairy tales are meant to do?