Cover Image: Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge

Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge

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I’m still not 100% set on my opinion of this one. Mostly I enjoyed it, but there were aspects I found problematic. Chief amongst these was the reality that a character was shown to exhibit sufficient change as to be forgiven for unforgivable crimes. Whilst I accept that the authors intent was to show that the character was in fact two separate characters, one having committed the crime and the other innocent, ultimately they inhabited the same body and so I find it difficult to accept that their victim was able to so willingly forgive and forget. I feel like I needed some additional separation between the characters, something to really sever them apart to accept this, and that was missing.

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Unfortunately I had to DNF this book. Typically beauty and the beast retellings are one of my favorite. The synopsis sounds great and the cover was gorgeous. However, there was a brutal trape scene in the beginning that I felt was unnecessary. The beast blames his mother for the rape vs taking accountability for it himself. This is absolutely not ok. The writing did not captivate me and I felt disconnected from the story.

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This book is not for me. Trigger warning:
But there was a horrifying rape scene in it and I couldn’t even finish the novel after that, I had issues with the beast from then on that I found irreparable and I honestly can’t,
Just, no.

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Told from the perspective of a maid in the house of a gorgeous but beastly chevalier, Beast is quite a different take on the Beauty and the Beast story. Lucie is initially smitten with her handsome employer, but after he uses and discards the young servant, she seeks the help of a witch in the nearby forest to get her revenge. But once turned into Beast, the chevalier is absolutely a different person. Beast may be hideous, but he is a beautiful soul. Lucie can only watch as Beast peruses books he once scorned, and tends the rose garden with his own hands, because Lucie was transformed as well, into a candelabra. She looks on in horror when the beautiful and mannered Rose comes to see Beast's charms, breaking the "curse" laid upon Beast, and returning the evil chevalier to his beauty and consciousness. Lucie must save Rose from his clutches, and Beast too.

A tale of redemption and second chances, where nothing is the way you thought it was.
One scene wherein Lucie is assaulted, but not graphically, but probably not appropriate for under 8th grade.

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Content Warning: graphic rape scene

I tried really, really hard to like this. I usually love retellings, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. In the end, this book didn’t work for me for a number of reasons.

Jean-Loup Christian Henri LeNoir, Chevalier de Beaumont, is cruel. And Lucie, a servant-girl, suffers at his hand. When she runs into a wisewoman, her wish is granted: the chevalier will suffer. He is turned into a monstrous Beast. And yet…the beast is kind-hearted, soft, patient, and remorseful, and Lucie feels herself starting to hope. Until a young woman arrives at the château, with the power to break the curse.

This was definitely an interesting take on the old tale, but it also didn’t seem that different from the original. The setting was quite similar to the original story, and the story itself wasn’t that different either. Nevertheless, I liked the twists that the book did have.

The rape scene was disturbing, but I also just didn’t quite get the purpose of it otherwise. It seemed almost as if it was used as a plot device, for the main character to feel enough emotion to set the curse in motion. It was mentioned briefly at the end when things were being explained, but in the bigger picture, it just seemed unnecessary.

Overall, the writing style just wasn’t for me. Some reviewers have called it lyrical, and while I can see that, it dragged out for me. While it definitely fits the setting and time period of the story, I just wasn’t engaged by it.

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Once again, Jensen wowed me with her retelling. I loved Alias Hook and was worried Beast wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I was so wrong! While Beast isn’t as dark, and has a vague YA feel about it, it was just as moving and engrossing as Alias Hook!

Inspired by a quote from Greta Garbo, who supposedly cried “Give me back my Beast!” after watching the Jean Cocteau film, Jensen turns the traditional tale sideways. The prince, or Chevalier, is still handsome and cruel – after he rapes Lucie she vows revenge – and he’s still turned into a hideous beast. Only this time, the beast is almost instantly a different person. He doesn’t have to learn to be kind and appears to forget his human past. When the beauty shows up after her father traditionally steals the rose, she now threatens to break the spell and revert the kind beast back to the cruel Chevalier. Lucie must do what she can to prevent that – only she’s been transformed by the spell too. I won’t say how; this part took me completely by surprise when I was reading and it was wonderfully done.

If you’re worried, the rape scene isn’t overly graphic, but that doesn’t make it easy to read. The aftermath of the traumatic is fraught with just as much, if not more, emotion. Lucie feels a constant, secret shame about what was done to her, though it wasn’t by any means her fault.

“I speak to no one, and no further notice is taken of me. I try to believe that if I’m quiet enough, insignificant enough, someday I might disappear altogether, like the dew off a rose. I will escape my memory, my shame, even my flesh, and the torment of my life will end. I pray for that moment.”

Her shame and guilt drive her to drown herself, though she’s unsuccessful. This is how she meets the wise woman who helps exact her revenge.

“He has taken a great deal from you, my dear. Don’t let him have the rest. Prove you have the stronger heart and survive.”

Lucie does just that.

The tone lightens somewhat after that. Once the Chevalier and Lucie are transformed, Lucie’s perspective on the beast and herself changes. She was a mousy, plain girl before, who didn’t think much of herself (though she wasn’t overly negative.) After her transformation, she considers herself beautiful and strong.

“I am strong, as I never was before. I am here to show him what he has become.”

Her outlook on the entire situation was a refreshing one, yet another spin Jensen puts on the familiar tale. The story focuses more on the successful transformations of the two main characters, rather than the beast and his beauty pining for what he once was. Yet again, Jensen created an immersive story and characters that were easy to care about. Or, well, loathe, in the case of the Chevalier.

I loved every page of this book. From the surprising transformation of Lucie to the emotional transformation of the beast to the interruption caused by beautiful Rose – Jensen kept me guessing what would happen next and praying that my ship would sail.

I can’t wait for more from Jensen! I’ll leave you with an abbreviated quote:

“That’s the sort of story folk love – a clear moral, a happy ending. It comforts them to think the barriers between virtue and evil, love and hate, beauty and beast, are so clearly defined…Happily ever after takes hard work, but folk don’t like to hear about that.”

I highly recommend this if:

+You enjoy darker retellings
+You like your love stories with a side of revenge
+You enjoy books that fall into the rare, magical gap between YA and adult

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This was not what I expected at all which is why I ended up rating it so low. I did end up partly enjoying it but it was slow and super dark.

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DNF @ 42%
There is one fundamental problem in Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge for me, and it can be boiled down to a simple principle; and yet I realize that it's not as simple at the same time.

Trigger warning: an act of rape is the primary focus in this story (and is detailed out in the story) and this act is the focus of the discussion below.

Falling in Love
I believe that people can genuinely fall in love with a captor (above and beyond Stockholm syndrome). I also believe that people can fall in love with someone that they saw as evil or abhorrent at some point. Redemption is possible in many situations. However, there is a line for me. I can't scientifically quantify where that line is necessarily. And so, what follows is merely my opinion for which you can take or leave

What is too far?
I think there are two distinct scenarios in which most people will never be able to forgive someone:
1) Deliberate Rape,
2) Deliberate Death of Loved One (be it parent, child, spouse, etc.).
When I refer to deliberate what I mean is that it's done: without influence of drugs, alcohol, etc., with all mental facilities in place, with the knowledge of what they were doing and how it would affect the victim or victim's loved ones. This is an important distinction in our law today and one I believe in.
So, in Beast we are given to believe that after a deliberate vicious rape, that takes the virginity of our lead gal, that it's possible for her to 'forgive' him.
Here's my problem with that, for pages after pages our leading lady talks about loathing Beast. She talks about her need/desire for revenge or vengeance. She is thrilled when he is cursed to be the Beast and derives pleasure from his pain.
Yet, we are to believe that however many chapters later that our leading lady forgives Beast? Really Lisa Jensen? This is just too far for me. I feel it's a slap in the face to victims of awful crimes and, for me, shows a lack of understanding of the emotional, mental and physical destruction a virgin rape could cause.
Given the descriptions included in the novel I just don't see any way a girl, unless afflicted by Stockholm syndrome or an equal mental illness, would ever be able to love the person that did this to her. It's dangerously close to the circle/cycle of violence that many end up in. It seems to me that the idea of love is being misappropriated here.
To be clear, that's not to say that S&M culture is included in this analysis. It's not. I myself am not opposed to pain at times. BUT, there is a difference between consensual understanding and vicious rape. There is a clear difference for me and I feel that this is not that instance (no matter what is written in the book after I stopped reading).

Overall
Given that the writing is nothing special, our character descriptions are okay and the dialogue is fairly average this would never be a stunning novel (even with the attack taken out).
Unfortunately, the only thing that stands out for me is the idea of our leading lady forgiving and loving Beast. While I did not read the book to completion there is just no explanation (including magic) that I can believe that would allow this type of forgiveness to happen. Some victims are able to forgive their abuser in some way; but I have not heard of one who legitimately falls in love with them without some concerns about what is being defined as love. It's just too far and so is a deal breaker for me.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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As a lover of all things "Fairy Tale" I was so excited to gobble this book up, and it did not disappoint.. I really enjoyed this twist on the standard Beauty and The Beast story and found myself constantly wondering how the author was going to work everything out. It was well -written and kept my interest from the very beginning. The author vividly paints a beautiful and enchanting world that I so enjoyed visiting for a while. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a good twist on a "tale as old as time".

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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.

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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.

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The description makes this book sound so much better than what it was. Was expecting something different. I couldn't connect with the charaters at all.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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***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.

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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.

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Beast...A Tale Of Love And Revenge
By
Lisa Jensen


What it's all about...

As in many of these retold tales...a poor girl...in this case Lucie... is sent away to work for the chevalier. He is the unfeeling unkind ungenerous almost prince who owns everything and everyone around him. One evening he has his way with Lucie and she becomes pregnant. In her attempt to end her miserable life she meets a witch...Mere Sophie...who helps her.

Why I wanted to read it...

This book was fast paced and very difficult to put down. It’s a variation of Beauty and the Beast that is absolutely mesmerizing.

What made me truly enjoy this book...

I hate to say it but there was so much beauty as well as so much evil in this book that it was entirely captivating. I loved every word!

Why you should read it, too...

Readers who love retold tales with tons of evil, danger and excitement will eat up every chapter of this book!

I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley and Amazon. It was my choice to read it and review it.

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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! ***

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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**

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