I received this book in exchange for an honest review - for a full review check out my YouTube or Goodreads account

I went into this one expecting a sexy read (despite the gross cover - why are his eyes gray???), and I did get a book about sex! I read the first page, and thought "wow... you'd think this was written by a man!" And lo and behold - it was!! He didn't literally say "she breasted boobily" down the stairs, but I'm pretty sure her boobs did greet the sunlight and she arched awake in the morning - or something like that.

There was a lot of ... thinking in this book. Everything had to be explained in a practical or awe-struck way, and everything the heroine saw had to be rationalized. It was exhausting. And repetitive. And ultimately, most of the book wasn't even relevant to the story. I found myself skipping sentences... then paragraphs... then whole pages.

It was just Isabel and her unexplored lusty thoughts, although I'm not sure I believe the sell on her naiivety. She does read pirate erotica in her spare time from helping her father build sex toys/bondage furniture. (Literally had to read that part a few times before my brain comprehended).

I'm also a *bit* confused on how this was sold as a Beauty and Beast retelling. There was a grotesque man, there was a female with an inventor-ish father, and she did go to the castle. But there was no relationship between the Master of the house. Was there a plot to this book? I'm honestly not sure. And was there BDSM? In some respects, but it was mostly just a book of corporal punishment of the naked kind - and most of it did not include the main character. Or lead to sex. Soo.

Thank you to Netgalley for the review!

I love Beauty and the Beast retellings, and this one was pretty good. Not the best or most original spin, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Who wouldn't love a sexy beast in their world? Beauty and the Beast, sexy and erotic! Looking forward to the rest of the series!

While A Beast's Belle is compared to the beauty series by Anne Rice but I felt it did have the same level of execution as the beauty series but I felt that it did have its own unique charm and the romance elements were amazing.

I wanted to like this book because I absolutely love Beauty and The Beast but, dear God I couldn't get into it. It went significantly too fast and some of the descriptions in the more explicit scenes were just bordering on juvenile, in my opinion. I'd be more than willing to read more from J Gambardella but, this book definitely didn't do it for me.

I have to say that this is one of the worst books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It is supposed to be an erotica romance novel based on Beauty and the Beast - which I have been all about lately since the live action movie has been released. Most of the book was filler and I am pretty sure that the only actual sex in the book was actually rape. It was a quick read but it is really not even worth your time. The book is very very loosely based on Beauty and the Beast - the main girl is named Isabel and she is the servant at a castle where they are whipped if they don't follow the rules and then when the prince has a party they all have to be naked servants for the party. Just... trust me and don't bother with this one.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

I tried several times to read this book and just could not get into it.

Unfortunately I have realised quite early on that this books is not for me therefore I have not finished it. I don't believe in leaving negative reviews so I won't be posting any on any book sites.

One thing I believe this story achieved, is that it is a pretty good course by course retelling of Beauty and the Beast - the plot points are at once familiar and also totally flipped on it's head. When I first read about this book I was intrigued, because who wouldn't want a Beauty and the Beast erotic retelling!? But unfortunately for me, this book was a let down. Firstly, I didn't find it particularly well written. It was overly repetitive - I felt like large chunks of the story were repeated in order to bulk up the book. Whether that was the intention I don't know, but that is certainly what it felt like. Also, I just constantly felt like it was lacking something. It didn't feel whole. Overall, unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

This was a good book however I don't think I will want to read from this author again.

Honestly, I had every expectation of loving this book. I've always associated more to Beauty and the Beast than any other story. Unfortunately, (and I could really cry about this) I found that this was not my taste. It was shorter than I expected and I didn't feel like there was any kind of resolution in the end. There is also no sign of romance anywhere. And although at first I did like Isabee because she was an innovator and seemed like a strong, ambitious character-she was disappointing throughout the story to me.
I will admit that it was kinky fuckery. There was a thread of bdsm, which was great. That aspect of the book was creative and exciting. The dynamics of the estate were fascinating and overall I felt it had a lot of potential but it just wasn't for me. I also think the aspect of sexual assault was not adding to the story plot, it seemed forced and cruel. I'm giving it 2 stars because it was an erotic tale for those who are looking for that. No real depth or feeling to the characters though.

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I love the Beauty & the Beast story, erotica books don't bother me.... I feel like there was potential but it just fell flat. Parts were redundant, others were slow. It was a struggle to read this. The only force that was real was me trying to finish this book.

- 2.5/5 Stars

I'm not going to lie, when I started this blog, I never thought I'd review an erotica book. I have nothing against the genre; it's just not usually something I usually find myself wanting to read. Although, coming back from vacation made me want to read something completely mindless. After reading some threads and watching BookTube recs, I decided a bubble bath and a smutty read was the order of the day. This book is marketed as a BDSM, erotic retelling of Beauty and the Beast. There are several parallels to the classic story, but not many; this is definitely its own thing.

*Trigger Warning for rape.*

The story was surprisingly slow and devoid of sex. Most of the erotic scenes were masturbation or spanking, reserving the only true sex scene for the rape scene. I saw that this book was the first of many and later books may "rectify" this, but it was something that I wanted to address. 

I did like the fact that Isabel helped her father create the designs and help build the inventions in the shop, in addition to her being quite sexual. It was refreshing not to read about a main character that was innocent to the world and discovered this lavish lifestyle. While it was unclear if Isabel was a virgin, she clearly had fantasies about tying people up and seemed fairly fluid in her sexuality. 

The other characters in the book were interesting as well. The Gaston character was as much of a prick as the man he was based on. The changes that they made to the character were fitting for the story. I also like the nod they made to Lumière by introducing a "human candlestick" aroused by fire play. The beast got very little back story (was he cursed? was he born a monster?) and played a surprisingly small role in the story. Kat was a fun new character though. She was an older maid that showed Isabella around the castle and taught her what was expected of her as a maid. It will be interesting to see what role she plays in later novels. 

As I said above, the story was surprisingly slow. Getting Isabella to the castle and learning what her duties entailed was fine, but when in the castle, I was expecting more. Honestly, nothing really happened after she got there (with the exception of a couple of sexy scenes, again not trying to get into spoilers, but this is where the TW occurs). 

Final Thoughts

As smutty reads go, this one was enjoyable enough but was surprisingly lack luster. I was expecting more with a Beauty and the Beast erotic retelling. The fantasies Isabelle described were erotic and the descriptions of the scenes were well done. That being said, little sex was actually in this story and it definitely read as though it was setting up for something more. Here's to hoping that the subsequent books expand this idea more.

This was a Good book. I would defiantly recommend .

This book was not what I expected. If you're looking for a light romantic retelling of this tale this is not the book for you. When I began the book it felt that Isabel was a bit more sexual than I would have thought, as I read on the BDSM part of the book became apparent, that was not what I was expecting, upon rereading the book blurb I missed the first line about it being a BDSM book, as that type of book it was an okay read. My main problem was with the vocabulary of the the book, too wordy and in parts I felt the author was trying a little too hard to go for a period feel. There were lots of description of the things around her but the reasoning for why she was going to to work for the Master and her capacity, well, I felt as confused as she did. Maybe I missed the story line because I was looking for a romance resembling Beauty and the Beast, not a more lengthy twisting story of a Master and his sexual den and the village girl. I did enjoy the take on the beast and his unique caring.

Not sure how this book could be classified as erotica. Even the whippings didn't really seem that exciting to me. They just seemed painful. I almost feel like this is the Part 1 of a series. Wish the author had clued us in to that.

This is a retelling of beauty and the beast with a twist.

The author has a talent for description but I would have preferred if he had stated an era. Some descriptive elements fit historical while the prose fit the modern era. The pace is slow in the beginning, the story really develops towards the end where he learn more about the Beast.

The second instalment should be interesting.

I would not classify this book as a romance.

A clever angle on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast
Obviously the first in the series
Not the usual content one expects in this genre too wordy and not enough erotica

The original story Beauty and the Beast is a lovely classical love story. When I see it being retold in an erotic novel with BDSM elements I was expecting to see her captivity being enhanced by maybe bondage and more sexual scenes added.

However this book is not at all about the Beast. It is about Bella working in his castle and longing for being beaten by her female boss. It totally failed to capture my attention. That might be because I am not at all into BDSM or just that the story lacks the beauty of the original tale of love.

I would recommend to create more paragraphs. Split the exisiting up and add a line of white in between them. That really enhances the reading experience. Now my phonescreen is one sea of letters of sometimes one big paragrapgh. That makes the text swim in front of my eyes.

When I do not like a book at all or it is totally not "my cup of tea" I refrain from posting reviews on my blog or in my Facebook group. It is a bit ungrateful when you have received it for free for an honest review.