The description as a historical fiction meets fairytale retelling is spot on. I loved all of it. I found myself looking up images of the individuals mentioned to see their real life inspiration. Had it been in paperback I would have liked to have seen maps and maybe a few photos in the back.

This was a really interesting historical fiction. I had no idea that the story of Beauty and the Beast was possibly inspired by real people, Pedro Gonzalez and his wife Catherine. This book alternates POV between Pedro/Petrus and Catherine.

Take my stars with a grain of salt, because I could not finish Marvelous. It was very overwritten, which I noticed on page one, and the descriptions often grated on me and seemed awkward. I was waiting for a Beauty and the Beast story and got tired of waiting. A sudden time leap convinced me that the romance I had been patiently waiting for either would not transpire or would take place after some very irritating time leaps back and forth, and I could not continue. It's a pity that the novel had so many weaknesses because I felt for the characters and the story was quite compelling at times despite the mediocre writing. The next book I picked up convinced me that I was correct about the writing because the author of this book was also a debut author and the flow of the novel was instantaneous and carried me away in a nice prose rhythm.

The cover is gorgeous. The premise is solid. The characterization is compelling. The writing, pacing, and confusing time leaps ruin it.