Book Description:
Fantasy and reality collide in this retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” about a young woman’s heroic quest to save herself.
Beauty’s life is the stuff of fairy tales. The youngest in her family, Beauty isn’t trying to catch Stephan’s eye. He is the lord baron’s heir, well above her family’s modest station, but when he kisses her hand at a party, Beauty is swept away by his charm, his wit, and his passionate declarations of love.
Hearts can be untamable creatures, especially when touched by the fires of first love, and Beauty doesn’t see the truth of Stephan’s intentions until it is too late. Until he stops asking for Beauty’s love―and simply takes it from her one night despite her refusal.
Beauty locks away the secret of what happened to her, and when her father emerges from the enchanted forest with a stolen rose in his hand and the tale of a vicious beast on his breath, Beauty seizes the chance to run as far from Stephan as possible.
She has some experience with beasts, after all. Certainly the one in the forest couldn’t be any worse than the one she’s already encountered.
Breaking the Beast’s curse might be the key to discovering her own path to healing―and finding the courage to allow herself to feel reborn.
Rorie's Review:
I must apologize to my family for nearly completely ignoring them yesterday, because I was completely involved in this story and didn't want to stop reading. And yes, it was a one-dayer. I generally enjoy fairy tale retellings, so I was excited to read this book. The prologue kind of threw me off though, because it was very vague and made me worried that the entire story would be like that. I always get annoyed when past issues are hinted at, but never fully explained in a story. Thankfully, this book did not end up being that way. The full story did come out, just not all at once.
Before I started reading the book, I was unaware that this deals with sexual assault. I think the author handles that part of the story in the perfect way, and does a very good job of showing the reader how much that can affect the victim's entire life.
Having Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" running through my head while reading this book, I kept comparing the two. There are a lot of differences, but I liked them and felt that they worked well for this retelling. If you plan on reading this - and you really should - just plan on hanging out on your couch all day, because you won't want to put it down.
Title: Beauty Reborn
Author: Elizabeth Lowham
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: May 2023
ISBN: 1639931066
Source: I received a review copy from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.
Purchase: Amazon Deseret Book
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