The Golden Secret and the Enchanted Beast

by C.K. Johnson

A daughter seeking to free her father. A beast desperate to break his enchantment. With the help of a nameless stranger, can they save themselves in time or will they both fall prey to the curse?

After months of working on her spell, Beauty only needs one more ingredient—an enchanted rose. Though they don’t have much, her father is determined to get her the rose for her birthday. After all, there are magical roses growing for free on a property in the forest and the owner hasn’t been seen for years.

When she realizes the cost of her father’s gift, Beauty goes to the one person she knows might be able to help buy her father’s freedom—the unnamed sorcerer that lives in the woods. With a bargain struck and the funds secured at a hefty price, Beauty seeks out the Beast on a journey that will change both their lives. Will they get what they desire or will the curse destroy them both?

A retelling of Rumpelstiltskin and Beauty and the Beast

The Intertwined Tales is a multi-author series of clean fairytale retellings. Each novella entwines a famous fairytale with a lesser-known story to create one happily ever after. These standalone stories can be enjoyed in any order.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2025

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Golden Secret and the Enchanted Beast by C K Johnson
What I liked about this book:
🔳 An unnamed sorcerer
🔳 Magical roses
🔳 A difficult spell
🔳 A mysterious beast
🔳 Sweet and swoony romance, just kisses
A mix of Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin. I do love a good Beauty and the Beast retelling! I was really enjoying this one until the very end where I got a bit confused over the timeline and what actually happened with the dreams. I also feel the Rumpelstiltskin storyline fizzled out a bit but I still enjoyed the story overall. I did really enjoy all the Beauty and the Beast elements.
A standalone in the Intertwined Tales series
Favorite quote: “Magic is something we just can’t explain yet. It must follow its own rules like anything else, and when you learn them, you’ll become just as powerful as the wielder.”
Favorite scene: Beauty telling Patience her fairytale
Favorite character: Cenric (the Beast, our main male character)

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is alright. It "blends" together two fairy tales that you wouldn't expect (Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin), but really it is more like two separate stories that happen in the same book. I found the premise and worldbuilding to be underexplained and confusing, especially the Storm. When the Storm is first mentioned, I thought it was just a typo and "storm" was capitalized. Then I realized it's more like the storm from Fortnite??? Anyways, I think what really bugged me was the complete lack of resolution for the Rumpelstiltskin aspect of the book. She makes a trade for her baby, yada yada whatever, but this is just never addressed again once she goes to the castle. In the epilogue she finds a letter with Rumpelstiltskin's name, so presumably she doesn't have to give him her baby, but I thought it was strange that the whole subplot was swept under the rug. Also the time loop stuff was like some Howl's Moving Castle shit but less effective.

[Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Beast seemed kind of interesting in that he was different. He was looking for magic books to find a counter to the curse. However, his plan to get help with one of the spells seemed overly convoluted. Beauty just fell flat for me. She seemed to have less personality than her sisters to the point where that seemed to be her defining character trait. That's the reason she decided to concoct a convoluted plan to find the Beast, which her sisters agreed to even though it involved lying to and prodding the insecurities of a sister's fiance. They then justify their hurtful behavior to themselves, and I just stopped caring about them. DNF ~25%

[Cilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Beauty (yes that's her name, with sisters Patience, Faith and Noble!) is determined to master the spell to save her sister but needs an enchanted rose. Interesting mix of the two tales.

[Sharon Hughson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The twist to the Beauty and the Beast tale was fun - having roses be part of a magical spell.

The inclusion of the golden straw and the Rumpelstiltskin "bargain" seemed like an afterthought and I kept wondering how it would matter. And it didn't.