I received this book for free from Netgalley in order to prepare an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Beauty of the Beast (Fairy Tale Retellings #1) by Rachel L. Demeter
Series: Fairy Tale Retellings #1
on March 15th 2017
Genres: Historical
Pages: 342
Goodreads

FINAL DECISION:  I really wanted to like this one, but I just didn’t.  I found the story too wordy, the characters not interesting enough and I just had to force myself to even finish the book.

THE STORY:  A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Prince Adam Delacroix has remained secluded since the death of his family.  Scarred both emotionally and physically, Adam rules his castle until a beauty, Isabelle Rose, comes to his castle and offers herself in exchange for her father.  Together the two must overcome the past and the dangers of the present.

OPINION:  A am a huge lover of Beauty and the Beast type stories.  I expected this book to be much better than it was.  I got bored almost immediately and it took far too long for things to happen and too many words to describe just about everything.  As a result, I felt very disconnected from the characters and the story.  If I had gotten this book in another manner (purchase or gift) I would have DNF’d it and moved on.  Because I got it for review purposes, I felt necessary to write a review indicating that I just was not impressed by the book.

The characters did not feel real to me nor did they feel part of a dreamy fairy tale style book.  Instead, the characters felt distant and not particularly intriguing.

The book promises a more sexual, dark telling, I think I expected too much.  In fact, this book wasn’t particularly dark compared to other available romance books and certainly did not have sexual content as explicit as many books these days.  I think that the warning is only in comparison to the Disney fairy tale.

WORTH MENTIONING:  The book contains a sexual assault by the villain.

CONNECTED BOOKS:  This book is the first book in the Fairy Tale Retellings series.

STAR RATING:  I give this book 1.5 stars.

NOTE:  I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in order to provide a review.  I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions contained herein are my own.