Review: A Beauty So Beastly - RaShelle Workman

Beatrice is American royalty, and she certainly acts it. She doesn't appreciate her friends, her relatives or her servants. She is crue lto everyone around her, selfish and vain. But this isn't the real Beatrice, and once a counter-curse is laid on her, she soon begins to feel a flood of new emotions: pain, joy, guilt... love. But her feeling are only part of the problem, and Bea soon discovers a whole new side to herself.

This modern paranormal take on Beauty and the Beast is pretty good. I loved the way it was gender-swapped and twisted in a way where the story is nearly unrecognisable. There are a couple of Disney references in Mrs Dotts (aka, Mrs Potts, the teapot) and the name Adam, who Disney fans will know is Beast's real name, but really apart from that the book is startlingly different to the original and the Disney version of the story.

Bea's character arc was brilliant in the way that she was learning the entire time. Yes, the arc was pretty steep to begin with, but it soon smoothed out. Bea came from being an unfeeling snob to being completely changed into a caring, loving girl, willing to put others before herself. She definitely came to terms with all her new-found feelings and abilities rather faster than expected and with a lot less freaking out than usual. This was actually kind of nice because the freaking out can get annoying.

Anyway, I also loved the way that her relationship with Adam grew quite steadily. There was an initial attraction for her, however, they never manifested themselves fully until very late in the book. Instead we see a great deal of uncertainty. Adam as a character was very nice but didn't quite have the prescence that Bea did. He seems like a good guy, but this proves uncertain as Bea learns more about her past. This is great to keep you interested.

This short book is great for teens with virtually no attention span and it is easy to remember where you left off. The pace is fast, the read is exciting and compulsive as the full situation finally gets revealed as to who Beatrice is. This is made really quite obvious, but it was good reading anyway. There is lots happening in this book and I really liked the world building that went on as it progressed. Things got even more interesting when other paranormal entities came in to play: Dragons, Vampires, Werewolves, Gargoyles... and I bet there are loads more where they came from.

While, as I mentioned before, some parts were obvious some almost unnecessary, I didn't really mind as the book was so fast I would forget it soon after. It was a good overall read and a nice fairy tale with a paranormal makeover. I am interested to read Rashelle's other works now to get more of a feel for the world, and there MUST be a sequel some time soon, too.

A Beauty So Beastly on Goodreads

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