Oh look! Another retelling of Beauty and the Beast…and here I go…Again!
Ok so this was a sweet, ok read 2.5-3 ⭐️)This book was very tame, and was the equivalent of brain soap for me. You know how when you are a kid and a parent threatens to wash your mouth out with soap after you spew some dirty words? Well, recently I have been reading a lot of kindle “adult” books and this book was like the soap to clean my brain of all the insta dirty love I have read.
Here is the scoop. The heroine(Gabrielle)ends up working for the hero(Deacon) to prevent her father from being charged with a crime by the hero. She has to work as his PA for 3 months and is not allowed to leave the estate located on/ near a Malibu beach.
The heroine believes that the actor hero killed her aunt in a car crash because no one is getting to the bottom of it and the hero won’t say anything about the details(he can’t, he lost his memory). So while the heroine works for the reclusive actor in his stately manor, she plans to give a certain tabloid daily reports(future black moment, you can count on)
The heroine stays in the guest house and is only allowed email and phone contact with the H since he thinks he is a hideous eyesore and possible killer. He has a mail slot at the manor house that she can put things through if it can’t be done by email. One day the door is ajar, and she goes wandering in the house. The bearded shaggy haired hero comes across her all grumbly in the library.
Of course the door is now open to begin operation “soothing the beast”. They chat, they laugh, they walk together, they cook together, they plan a fund raiser at his estate etc….She is the calm to his storm, the dawn to his dusk, the ying to his yang….I think you get the picture.
The hero feels unlovable due to his scars and possible involvement in the car accident. So, he pushes the heroine away. She tries to push him away because of her loyalty to her father and dead aunt.
Things come to a head after she comes back from visiting her dad.(he allowed her to go but thought she wouldn’t come back, she did). She decides he needs a hair cut and the beard has to go. He allows her to do so. To his amazement, the world renowned plastic surgeon they brought in after his accident did a marvelous job with the scarring that sent his “friends” and agent running away. The h and H make their attraction for each other in a fade to black union.
The h wakes up to an empty bed and a yellow rose. He had been giving her a yellow rose for a few weeks which means friendship. I think she was expecting a different color after sleeping with him, so she put a whole lot of meaning to that “let’s just be friends” rose color.
Then the black moment happens when the tabloid she was working for(that she pulled out of) published a bunch of lies quoting her. The hero told her to go. The sold out fundraiser at his estate can’t be cancelled. She ends coming to the fundraiser that she planned with her wheelchair bound dad and his caretaker friend Newton the newt. Newton causes a big stink that the author really didn’t need in the story and the truth of the accident comes out as the police report finally came out unbeknownst to the hero or heroine. Guess what? Hero not at fault, and is in fact being hailed as a hero(nice). The h and H say ILY at the same time to the applause of the fundraising participants in the very lets tie everything up with a nice red bow. There is an epilogue 6 months into the future. They are going on their honeymoon and from the h’s announcement to the hero in the limo, they had more fade to black sexy moments before the wedding.
So, overall the story was a sweet non taxing read. The author actually did a fine job writing it, because I felt compelled to keep going. I will read something else from the author, but one read of this story is all I need. It is advertised as a fairy tale, and she had no issue borrowing from Beauty and the Beast, even referring to it.
I think the author could have done without Newton. He wasn’t fleshed out as a character, and popped up to cause a scandal, and slinked away. It wasn’t needed. I wish the whole fundraising scene had been done differently.
The author doesn’t divulge ages in the story, but I am guessing the heroine was mid to late 20’s while the hero was probably early 30’s. She also doesn’t discuss h’s sexual experiences. The h does refer to dating and dating sites, and went to bed with the H easily enough, my guess is she wasn’t a virgin, even though she was beautiful and pure. This is definitely realistic giving the modern times, but if you are a virgin junkie then you can decide for yourself if that is something you need to enjoy the story.