The step-siblings Maddie and Holden are not the best of buddies, but their preparations for the Halloween costumes just refutes it. When Maddie chooses to go as the Beauty in Beauty and the Beast Holden decides to be the Beast. Though his nasty comments about Belle & the Beast and his shocking choice of costumes are not approved by the elders and eventually Holden turns up as a lawyer.

However their real adventure begins at the end of the day, when Holden makes an extremly rude comment on Belle and instantly a strange light blazing through Holden`s tablet draw them into the "real" world of Beauty & the Beast, where Maddie happens to be Beauty. The narrative flows with many hilarious twists...... As the Beast is imprisoned for kidnapping Bella and Bella`s father goes to courts against the Beast, It becomes the duty of Maddie and Holden the lawyer to protect the fairy tale by breaking the curse of the wicked fairy and proving that the Beast is not guilty! The narration is simple and the dialogs are light hearted and compelling : "Well hi hi hi! Resplenda giggled while circling around Maddie`s head.It`s that obnoxious guy and a sweetie pie! Guess she`s ready to uglify"?" However the author reinvents the fantasy while artfully providing the wisdom of " never judge a book by it`s cover" and of course believing in true love!

This age old fantasy: extended and twisted, is based on a French medieval setting though it`s given a touch of modernity through the story plot. And it appropriately touches the targeted kids by the thoughts of Holden and Maddy. At one instance when Holden discovers his tab while being in the fairytale, he starts thinking about playing "Astro Turbo Rush or Fudgie the fox 4". And quite naturally, he stops to play just one game of 'Fudgie the fox 4' before heading towards the Dark Forest seeking for Resplenda the fairy.

Perfect reading material for every girl from daydreamers to adventure seekers, as it combines fantasy with adventure, amusement and simple romance which eventually creates a brilliant,gripping fairy tale twist. A great series for reluctant readers as well !! ​​

Initially, I was irked because this is the second in a series but not labeled as such. Once I got over that, I had to admit that it wasn't hard to follow. The concept is pretty simple. The moralizing is rather heavy handed and much of the dialogue is needlessly repetitive. Briefly entertaining.

A good story. Cute and a good idea - something that I'm sure is entertaining for the age group that is intended for. So I'm glad that I read it. But, personally (and it could be that I haven't read a lot of middle grade and I had come off a story that I didn't love), I wanted a little more from it.

It’s Halloween and Maddie wants to dress up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Her stepbrother, Holden, decides he will be the Beast. But when his costume is too gruesome, their parents make him change into a suit and call himself a lawyer instead. Once they return from the Halloween party, Holden notices that their Beauty and the Beast story on his iPad has changed. The Beast still looks like a beast at the end, instead of the handsome prince that he is supposed to change into. They both enter the story, Maddie as Belle and Holden as a lawyer, to try to save the fairytale.

This is a good story. Holden often points out the negative parts of the story, such as Belle having Stockholm syndrome and the Beast’s vanity. This shows young readers that you have to read everything critically, even beloved fairytales.

This story is a cute adventure for middle grade readers.

Sounded like a great story, however my 6 year old just couldn't get into it and didn't want to finish it.

Maddie and Holden have a difficult relationship: they are step brother and sister, and Holden keeps on ruining the fairy tales Maddie loves so much.

This time is The Beauty and the Beast: Maddie and Holden find themselves in the story, and it already is a disaster; the beast is in jail, and Maddie, in the body of the beauty, is wondering about Stockholm syndrome... how to fix the fairy tale?

This children novel is nice and funny, it is a part of a series, Holden has in fact the tendency to ruin every fairy tale he deals with!

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.

Really great book about siblings and all we go through! Can't wait for my son to read this.

I wasn't sure what this book would be and I think that helped me enjoy it a little bit more. It appears to be at least the second book in a series since our main characters, Maddie and Holden, get sucked into a fairy tale and quickly take it in stride.
Of course, the main lesson that Maddie learns is that beauty is on the inside and I'm not sure what the irrepressible Holden learns but I enjoyed that there was a twist on the Beauty and the Beast trope with Maddie hopping into Beauty but Holden becoming a whole new side character. One who doesn't speak French. In France.
A fun book and I look forward to reading another in the series.

This book comes out August 1
Four stars

Maddie and Holden do not get along. Maddie loves fairy tales and Holden, her step brother, loves to ruin them--sometimes unknowingly.

After a botched Halloween costume Holden try to explain to Maddie what the Beauty and the Beast is really about-- and it isn't true love. As his explanations continue the tablet he carries with him everywhere begins to adjust the story--everything begins to wipe away! Soon, the two siblings are sucked into the story and are given the roles that they will play to right the mixed up fairytale. Maddie as Belle and Holden as the Lawyer.

A lawyer in Beauty and the Beast? I don't remember that character either--but I guess as the two attempt to make things right so they can go home we'll get to learn how he comes into the mix.

Does true love really win out in this story? What would happen if the Beast were not the one cursed but Beauty? Would their love remain? And how should we see those around us--with the eyes on our head or with the eyes of our hearts?

This book is targeted towards lower middle school aged children and I think for the target demographic it is a great book.

A new twist on a classic. This is a quick read, but a fun adventure. I was not able to read book one first, but that did not stop me from following the story and enjoying it. The underlying life lesson givens the ready a smile when they've finished the book. I look forward to reading the other books in this series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Why DNF? I did not realize that this book was part of a series (it’s the 2nd book). The first book comes out the same day as the second so I cannot review it. Also, what I read so far I was not into.

Liked: Cover (the beast and beauty are my favorite part of it)

Great series for those that love fairy tales with a twist. I can see this being a hot with the 3rd and 4th graders at my school.

This is a nice and imaginative book for kids of all ages!

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't wait to see what would happen and how the step siblings would escape from the book!

Better Than I Expected in Every Possible Way

The premise here is that Maddie and Holden are step-siblings who don't get along well. Maddie is pretty together, but Holden is a snotty pain. At the beginning of each book Holden says something smart-mouth or mean about one of Maddie's favorite fairy tales. This knocks the actual fairy tale off track, and Maddie and Holden get sucked in to the tale and have to fix it in order to get back home.

So, I looked at this set up and doubted everything about it. The signs were not good. Step-sibling discord is overdone. Nasty, mean step-brothers are a dime a dozen. The whole "drawn-into-the-book" thing has been showing up a lot. Everyone seems to be rewriting fractured fairy tales. It just felt like this was going to be a chore. Well. Exccuuuuusse me for being totally wrong and sort of an ass. This book, (and the entire series), is a hoot.

We do start slowly, with Maddie complaining about Holden. But, Maddie and Holden's newlywed parents seem O.K. And Maddie's voice is fresh and she seems good-hearted. Holden is more of a doofus, and maybe a bit thoughtless, but certainly not a mean bully. The drawings were light and high energy and the narrative feel was light and fun, so everything started to look up. Then, Holden observed that Belle didn't actually love the Beast; she was just a victim of Stockholm Syndrome. That was enough to fracture the fairy tale and so, wham, our two heroes found themselves in the story, with Belle walking down the aisle to marry a Beast who hadn't changed from being a Beast and who was about to be arrested, tried, and executed for kidnapping. Hey, this just got interesting.

At this point it also got good. Maddie is totally into being Beautiful Belle, until she learns some lessons about being the prettiest girl in town. Holden ends up as Beast's defense lawyer and has to grow up and fix his mess. From there the story gallops along with twists and turns and lessons learned by all. But get this - it's funny. And it's funny in all the ways a middle grade book can be funny - silly stuff, gross stuff, word play, sly throwaway observations, misunderstood words, slapstick, puns, confusing foreign words, silly or quirky characters, and even deadpan funny dialogue. So, as the story screams along at a remarkably breathless place, we also think about beauty, desirability, concern for others, true love, being true to oneself, loyalty, and even sibling support and bonding. Holy cow, where did all of this come from?

The upshot? The book is a hoot; it's fast paced and funny. And it even offers food for thought and some upbeat lessons. What a nice find. Was I a jerk, or what? (Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This is a great series for kids and even adults will have fun with it. Jerry Mahoney has taken 4 of the most well-known and beloved fairy tales then turned their world upside down using the sibling relationship between Maddie and her step-brother Holden.

Maddie loves fairytales while Holden just loves to pick them apart; sounds like a pretty normal sibling relationship. Best of all these books are full of humor, adventure and enough entertainment to make all kids, whether they are more of a Maddie or a Holden, happy.

The first book uses Cinderella, then Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin is third and finally Snow White. You should read them in order because little bits from the previous story will show up and you won’t fully enjoy it if you haven’t already trekked through the story. I didn’t realize that when I read Beauty & the Beast so there were things mentioned in the book from the story in Cinderella I didn’t get.

Even though I couldn’t appreciate the full context of who these characters are after whatever they went through in the first book I still enjoyed it. There really is lots of humor and as a parent reading this trying to decide if it’d be appropriate for my kids (which it completely is by the way) I found myself laughing quite often. The 80s references from a kid confused about that decade were cute, I’m not old enough to have been aware of that stuff having spent my formative years in the 90s but even I still know who the Eurythmics are and also believe that yes 80s bands were weird. The description of her parents acting like middle-aged puppy love was adorable and something I aspire to one day so my own kids can have their freak out moments.

Beauty & the Beast is hands down one of my favorite fairytales but as an adult and having my degree in Psychology I can’t help wondering why no one has pointed out that she was essentially kidnapped and underwent Stockholm Syndrome – something this book touches upon in a completely irreverent way. Not to mention most of the time the story seems to be taking place in a French ‘like’ village yet everyone speaks English.

What makes these books so special isn’t just the fun the author had with the stories but the heartwarming and beautiful lessons he portrays through them which sometimes gets lost in the frenzy for the latest Blu Ray edition, Doll from Mattel, Clothing from Disney’s line, etc. These stories really were meant to teach us something and the over commercialization has weeded that out; thankfully Mahoney’s versions are reminding us once more the importance of books over merchandise.