Off the Books discussion

For those of us who have finished, I would love to hear your thoughts!!

I think the book was much too short!! I think it glossed over concepts and characters that needed more room to grow and everything was explained in a very quick rush by Alan about two-thirds of the way in. I fully believe the book could easily be double the length. I don't think I really got to know most of the characters, except maybe Sarah.

I also feel like Sarah and Alan should have been older - maybe 19, 20? And perhaps I was spoiled by Uprooted, but I probably would have liked it more if it had been set in some quasi-medieval time/land, though I think having a modern setting was a deliberate choice on Hellisen's part.

Thoughts?

I finished this book late last month/earlier this month so I've had some time to ruminate on it (don't judge me, I was Excited lol). I was shocked at the length and immediately suspicious that the book wouldn't be able to flesh out the setting/characters in such a short amount of time. The fact that Sarah didn't even arrive at the tower until almost halfway through the book made the following events seem a bit rushed. I felt like time wasn't really taken to explore the stipulations of the curse and the awesome magical castle?? I spent most of the book wanting to know more about the beasts (do you still transform into a beast if you fall out of love with someone but they still love you? Why do some of them stay feral and some stay sentient?) and I feel like something that was such a Big part of the story was kinda glossed over.

I wrote in my review that I felt like Sarah's young age was a major handicap to the author's ability to tell the story. I think having such a young protag really limited the information that the author was able to give us because a pre-teen doesn't have the same processing capabilities or life experiences as an adult. So what we're left with is this "the world is morally black and white/all the adults are being stupid" narrative...honestly, I would've been more interested if the book had been about Sarah's grandparents and their centuries-long Drama!

I'm going to come right out and say that the "Sarah falls in love with Alan and turns into a beast" story line skeeved me out. While I do think that pre-teens can feel quasi-romantic feelings, the idea of a kid Falling In Love was kinda ??? for me. When she started transforming I literally screamed "YOU'RE A KID, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS" out loud. lmao However, this may be because I am getting crotchety in my old age.

Lastly (because holy cow I did not mean for this to be so long!) I was disappointed by the ending/epilogue chapter? I felt like the whole point of the novel was that not every fairy tale has a happy ending; that the beast doesn't always turn back into the prince/princess. So the grandmother finally deciding to peace out and break the curse was...the antithesis of what the entire book was about, in my opinion.

I would've like it if Sarah had been in her mid-20's because then the transformation would've gone more like 'Oh? I don't have to pay off my student loans or flip burgers anymore? Leave me a beast.' :)

(And nothing compares to Uprooted, Betty. That book ruined me for all others.)