Louise Vandercourt lives in a modern day castle, but she does not believe in fairy tales, nor the silly ideas of love that are associated with them. However, she does believe in the power of money and knows it can buy her anything, including the Beauty that walks by her property every day. No one tells Louise no, and no matter what the cost, Louise will have her Beauty by her side forever.
Though life seems to be at its worst, Adara Monroe still believes in fairytale endings, and the majestic castle not far from her home may be the very place where it could happen. Love, laughter, and happily ever afters, all these things must be so close…
When a series of events forces Adara to reside in the castle, she soon realizes that not all fairy tales are filled with happiness and princesses full of love. In fact, some are cursed with darkness and a very cruel Beast. In order for Adara to have the happily ever after she has always desired, she must find a way to break the curse of the castle, and the curse of the one that has taken hold of her as well.
Emily Sharp writes contemporary lesbian romance with characters as flawed as herself. Her books provide readers with stories of real women on their journeys to love and with promises of heartbreak, laughter, and tears along the way that will have you cheering until the very last page.
Currently living in the Republic of Ireland, she finds herself exploring ancient ruins and castles when she is not writing.
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I like a few of Emily Sharp's book and I am a sucker for fairy tale sorta stories. I found this one annoyed the check out of me and that I didn't just dislike Louise I hated her and it takes a lot for me to hate a character. She was just too mean and the stuff she did was beyond forgivable at least that quickly. I also found it annoying how vain everything was and how how Adara never seemed to tire of the beauty comments. I felt like this was a mix of beauty and beast with phantom of the opera thrown in the mix. So...I didn't really like it but I liked the enough to give it 2.5* plus another half star cause it's a kU book. Oddly enough though I am getting ready to read the second book in the series.
This is a re-telling of Beauty in the Beast, set in the US about now. It's been 40 years or so since I read the original fairy tale in my thick, dark-blue, hardback collection of Grimm's fairytales. And I have never seen the Disney version (I know, I know...), so my memory of the story is bit vague. I loved Caren J Werlinger's 'The beast that never was' version and so I gave this one a go. Overall, I'd say this is not one for me. I find it hard to say whether the elements that I disliked and that made me feel deeply uncomfortable are due to the fairytale origin or a product of this modern retelling. In any case, here we have the Beast, Louise, a once beautiful, immensely rich woman whose face was disfigured in a fire. She lives as a recluse in a castle with vast grounds. When she spots beautiful Adara move into a cabin neighbouring her grounds, she devises a plot to capture and own her. What follows is a story that for the first 80% is just downright abusive, vile, controlling, violent, manipulative, objectifying etc. In fact, I cannot think of a single positive relationship featured. Following on from this horror we have 10% of angst and some instaforgiveness, with some taking a bit longer. And then the rest is declarations of love. Now, clearly there was something that kept me reading, rather than just put the book away and start a different one. I got this free on kindle unlimited, so there would have been no sense of loss in not reading on. What kept me going was the hope of some redemption for the Beast, and hope that the other characters would develop some self-love and ditch the beast. In fact, I was hoping for a different relationship to develop. As the story built and the Beast was more and more vile, spiteful, manipulative and abusive, I was becoming less sure how you could ever get any sort of redemption. If this were a different kind of story you'd tell Adara (Beauty) to get out of there, because abusers do not change. I am not sure that I felt any sense of a resolution at the end. I think the characters were taken too far down the dark side for that. But the author does make every effort to turn this around into a happy ending, and I think that this will work for many readers. People with different sensitivities will enjoy this modern-day fairy tale, but it left me a bit conflicted.
This one was ok, I liked the author's other book The Perfect Fit a lot more. I feel like Beauty and the Beast gets a bad reputation about being a huge Stockholm syndrome as love story, which I usually feel is unfair. This story made it feel like that was exactly what was going on. I really couldn't stand Louise she felt like this entitled spoiled abusive jerk, I hated how it felt like I was reading the script of a Lifetime movie except the abuse victim stays with the abuser this time. I will say I was torn between 2 and 3 stars was there was some redemption at the end at least and I am a sucker for fairy tale stories. I do wish I knew what year or universe this took place in because in some ways the technology seemed up to date but then at other times it felt like it was in the 90's or a very isolated town. Some of the dialogue felt awkward too, and there were some misspellings that really bothered me.
Sometimes you get a book that is really bad, but you can't DNF it. You have to get through the tragedy. I honestly hate dissing books because someone did their best to tell a story that was inside of them. That's not easy to do. But who signed off on this?!?!
Concept wise, I was digging it. A modern retelling of a classic fairy tale with same sex characters. I mean...whats not to like? Plenty is the answer. Louise (The Beast) cons Adara (Beauty) into staying at her castle with careful plotting and manipulation. From there she is determined to make Adara hers. The idea of love being stronger than the superficial and that it can heal all wounds is the running theme here.
And would it be a lesbian novel if it didn't throw in some melodramatic angst? Within the context of the story it actually works because there is some heavy emotion in that castle. With a more skilled writer this could have been deep writing that encourages discourse over PTSD and abuse. But instead there is very stiff and disjointed dialogue, over the top characters, and an slightly above average story. Throw in the obligatory plot twist, and there you go. Lesbian romance novel.
This makes for a good plane or beach read. Something you don't have to get too deep with. It does keep you reading to see what happens next, but the pacing of it is off. You rush to each moment and then that moment is excruciatingly drawn out. Because it's written from both perspectives, sometimes you get redundancy.
As an audiobook, I rate this slightly worse. The narrator has a beautiful, soothing voice but the material she has to work with leaves her hanging. I recall only one mention of Adara's father in regards to age. I believe it was late 40s but she voiced him like he was damn near 80. Sometimes the distinction between Adara and Louise wasn't apparent enough and it could make for confusing listening. I'd give her another chance with better material.
Side note: MC Adara is annoyingly naive. That bothered me more than the over the top villainy of Louise.
god. after having high hopes because the plot literally sounded heavenly, a lesbian retelling of the beauty and the beast - hell yeah - i suffered. the main character was a naive mary sue which i ended up tolerating since she showed a bit backbone towards the end and her cruel, horrible and plain out manipulative abusive suitor. like hell christian grey had more character depth in fifty shades of grey than that binch.
i kept listening, hoped the main character would show some backbone and had to stop multiple times because my hatred towards louise - the suitor was just too strong.
i am a sucker for love stories where horrible characters redeem themselves. but the things louise did were just too cruel to be redeemed. so i forced myself to listen. gritting my teeth every time she called the main character beautiful and almost started a drinking game but then soon realized id end up with a serious case of alcohol poisoning before id be able to finish the first chapter. 90% of the dialogue between mary sue and narcissistic cruella de beastly revolve around looks and said mary sues beauty. the rest of it is gaslighting and outright bullying.
the ending was horrible. i get that it is supposed to be a romance book, a sexy lesbian retelling or whatever. but god. the book is basically 70% louise being cruel, manipulative and abusive POS and then she cries a bit, plays the victim, neglects herself and is suddenly a changed woman who is able to redeem herself tru the power of love and the mary sue who eases her self inflicted and DESERVED heartbreak. boom happy ending. certainly anticlimactic & i‘m surprised i forced myself to finish it.
I really, really wanted to like this book. The concept sounded amazing, but the execution of it was lacking just from the first 1/5 of the book.
The characters are very 1 dimensional and flat. They lack all personality other than a single defining trait. There's a lot to be desired just from that.
The thing that turned me away from this book the most was the way everyone spoke. It's all stilted and robotic conversations. The characters are supposed to be living in contemporary America, however everyone talks as though they were written by an 18th-century author and not in a good way. It's all too formal. The prose in between conversations isn't bad, but if the characters can't converse like actual human beings? It's not a good sign.
Characters are the main reason I stay to read, but these ones? I found them the reason to put the book down. It's actually really sad, because I wanted to like this book.
It's entirely possible that the characters get better as the story progresses, but for me it is a DNF and a 2/5 stars.
Not to sound harsh but this is one of the worst romance novels I've ever read. The "beast" character (who honestly is more like the phantom of the opera) was fully manipulative, cruel, and pretty much evil. Irredeemable. 75% of the book is manipulation and cruelty and then she cries a little and all is forgiven and they're in love?????? I have literally never said this before in my life but uhh the straight version is better. I think the modern setting was also a poor choice--having her just be scarred from a fire instead of magically transformed into a monster makes her behavior less excusable/sympathetic....just put some foundation on sweetie.
A retell of Beauty and the Beast but with two women in the lead. There was very much a fairytale element, with deception, intrigue, and the happily ever after, but this served as frustrating. The level of cruelty went beyond what was palatable at times. It made sense in the end but was still quite exhausting. It took a long time to get to where I wanted the story to go, and then the book was over. This made me pick up another book immediately so as to get the storyline I craved - more of the love between two women. The 'beast' could make me cringe, and I found myself trying to will the 'beauty' to break free from the deceptive control. Fans of the fairytale will enjoy the lesbian twist. This fairytale has always left me feeling awkward. The emphasis on beauty could be annoyingly over the top...I guess that's what you sign up for when the book is about beauty and a beast.
The writing was very basic. Girl meets beast, beast is manipulative then sees the error of her ways. Then they separate for a while, grow a bit, then make up. I feel there could have been more to this. The author could have given this more depth. It was just flatline. Basic characters, and plot. I did enjoy the whimsicalness about it, but it left me feeling lacking. The love scene was boring as hell, no details.
I gave it three stars because of the concept and the lack of too many grammatical errors, and because of the price. It costs about what I’d pay for this level of writing. Wish other books and authors took heed to that.
The characters: Louise= Starts out as a cold, manipulative, heartless, judgemental, jealous woman. Almost hates herself as much as the world around her. Adara=Is the opposite of Louise; she is sweet and kind, compassionate and fun, and caring, smart, and beautiful. Eventually things start to change between them, but there was a constant "Is Louise even capable of being in a real relationship?" to answer that I had to read to the end and wasn't disappointed in what I saw from her character by the end.
My only critique is that it didn't seem to make sense to have the characters talking in older english dialects when it was a modern re-telling of the story of The Beauty and The Beast.
It was a story about hate, love and forgiveness. I loved the story so much. It will make you cry, hate and laugh. I'm not going to give any thing away because it a great book. I gave it 4 out if 5 stars because it drag a little in the middle. But I still loved it. I had the audio book and the narrator was great. Gave the story life. It is a modern tail of Beauty and the Beast. Can not wait for the other 2 books to come out in audio book form. Thank you Emily Sharp for a great story that I love.
Got about 40% and quit. I cannot stand this much narcissistic, sociopath behavior. The gaslighting and verbal abuse. I can’t even enjoy the moments of growth because they are buried between moments of trash. I appreciate the contemporary “beast” being someone who’s had a tragic accident and turns out to be a burn victims. It’s a neat idea….. Louise it’s extremely flat and gets no growth. It’s all massively abusive control. Adara only gets to be a clueless good looking idiot. I’m out. Every character needs massive amounts of therapy.
I enjoyed reading the Beauty & the Beast fairytale as a young girl and always wondered what it would be like to read it with two girls. And my wish came true. A well crafted story and believable. A little over the top reading twenty somethings referring to each other as princesses, but hey, I'm not writing the story. It was believable that a father, treating his daughter as a princess, would build her a castle in the hills with a mountain view. A good one day read.
Content Warning: abusive relationship,Slut shaming,fatphobia,death and stockholm syndrome A lesbian rewrite of Beauty And The Beast with its own version of the magic rose. Thankfully no bestiality but a great symbolism on the beast inside. Louise starts out horrible due to trauma and loneliness but when she spends time with Adara she transforms slowly but surely through a friendship that turns into love.
Heavily into escapism and fluff at the moment, and I generally love alternate (especially subversive) takes on fairytales, which doesn’t even have to be Gregory Maguire level writing to be entertaining. But oh goodness, this one never got better. Fortunately, I was sick while listening to this audiobook, and drifting in and out of consciousness for at least the second half. It must have finished while I was asleep. I’m not even motivated to go back and listen to what I missed.
This is a very well written modern fairy tale about a beautiful woman who suffered a tragic incident that leaves her body bodily scarred and emotionally bankrupted. She allows the emotional damage to dictate her behavior, becoming beastly in her treatment of others. This is a twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast tale. Give it a read.
As promised the story is a modern day fairy tale. The only issued I had was separating the images on the cover to what was actually jeans and t shirt.
Notice, the cover is kinda Victorian, an era where woman didn't wear jeans. Deceiving. However, it was a wonderful reading with, of course, a HEA ending.
The author did such a good job at turning Louise into a true beastly and vile person that I had a really hard time hoping for a happy ending. Yes, she has a change of heart and realizes her wicked ways were morally reprehensible but it was not enough for me, I pretty much hated her by the end and I guess, not as forgiving as Sophie or Adara. I listened to this as an audible book and I think I stuck it out to the end because the narrator did such a good job. All that being said, I still want to checkout some of the other books in the series as I like the premise of the fairy tale's being retold with a queer twist very much.
Terrible! I mean I love a slow burn, but this is ridiculous. 9.50 hour book and they finally touch 5 minutes before the end and it is practically fade to black. The entire book is scene after scene of over and over the same thing about how beautiful Adara is and Louise is such a terrible beast.
I picked this because the voice artist is a favorite. She was the only thing good about this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I could not put this book down, such a beautiful and magical story! A must read! I also learned a lot about love and friendship from this story as well. I am looking forward to reading the authors other novels.
Can love transcend past mistakes and misunderstanding
A person who is disfigured by a fire hides behind her wealth. It is another young woman who with time and patience persuades the beast to confront her anger and lies and that there is someone who could love the beast.
A modern day beauty and the beast fairytale. The beast in this story was indeed cruel and had few redeeming qualities. I don’t know how the beauty fell in love with this character that I couldn’t muster much sympathy for, but that’s the story.
This story was entertaining and the feelings of the “Beast” suited what happened to her. There is a sort of surprise in the story that caused me to go “No wonder?”
What A brilliant take on a classic fairy tale.The beast is one of the best written characters I’ve read in a long while and it’s pure genius .The only thing I can say is you have to read this book
This retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale is an odd juxtaposition of age old themes mixed with diamond rings that activate high tech security systems. Never the less it all works out to HEA over the course of a decent read.
Though it is cheesy, this new spin on the timeless classic was a wonderful read! I love it even more because it was published the very year I got married to my beast ❤ and we both love the story, the favorite version, of course. Starring Emma Watson. Loved it! On a very personal level.
Modern lesbian retelling of The beauty and the beast. Listened to the audiobook version of this book. To be fair the story was a funny idea. A lesbian version of a well known fairy tale Between 3-4 in score. The narration was 5