I picked this up because it is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I liked how Beauty went to the castle by her own choice. I enjoyed the gradual progression of friendship and trust that develops between her and the Beast, especially as they read together and wrote notes to one another. Elizabeth Lowham created an interesting world where you need to be careful what you wish for, especially if fairies are around. A bargain, or wish, with a fairy never turns out the way you imagined it would.

I had a hard time with Beauty's reasons for being there. The author did a good job handling the subject matter, and it's mentioned in the blurb, if I'd taken the time to read it beforehand. Beauty is there at the castle trying to put some distance between herself, and the Gaston character of this story who romanced her then raped her. It put a heavier angle to the book than I had bargained for. The author covered this carefully, sparse on details, and more about Beauty's journey of recovery.

"I trust no man's word. But a beast's may have a chance."

Beauty Reborn is an interesting take on Beauty and the Beast that develops more of the backstories of our hero and heroine to make them more relatable and deep.

The author has a beautiful way with words that read at times almost like poetry. There were several passages where I was impressed with the way she wrote and the lyrical undertones of her writing.

I also really liked the magical elements that were woven throughout. It was fun to read a historical romance that still kept the magic alive in the retelling of this story.

There was a good balance between the tragedy of Beauty's experience and the hope and healing that can come with overcoming trauma. All sensitive topics were handled well, which I appreciated. Seeing Beauty and Beast overcome and heal together was refreshing. Also, I loved the just desserts to those who deserved it at the end of the book—I would be interested in seeing that story.

Unfortunately, this wasn't my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast. While, overall, I enjoyed the book, I had a hard time with the amount of repetition that slowed the story and some of the language that was too flowery to feel cohesive. I wish I had enjoyed this book more than I did.

My rating: 3.25 stars—I enjoyed quite a few parts of it, though I probably won't read it again.
Content: Discussion of rape (nothing explicit), some toxic relationships

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Shadow Mountain for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Yes - read it.

This was a great retelling of Beauty and the Beast! I don't like when the story migrates so far from what we think the story really is. This didn't follow the Disney version which is also a very good thing!

There were a many different aspects to the story that I liked and that I thought added to it. I liked the many characters and found myself hoping they made the right choices when confronted with a decision. Even though I knew the many plot, I really enjoyed the story.

I received an ARC from Netgalley to help me prepare my honest review.

“𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩,” 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙. “𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚. 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙨.”
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩. 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙨. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.
___

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this, but I enjoyed it so much!! It reminded me a little bit of the Disney classic movie, but also not at all. It’s quite dark with the theme of sexual assault (not on page) being one of the main highlights. It’s truly heartbreaking what Beauty went through and as her story unfolds, you can understand why she ran away and sought refuge in the Beast’s castle. I loved the slow burn of their enemies to friends to lovers relationship and how they connected through books. The descriptions of the castle and enchantments were so much fun! I highly recommend this Beauty and the Beast retelling!

Thank you to Shadow Mountain for an advanced copy. My thoughts are my own.

A stunning re-telling that for me was the perfect blend of staying true to the original while turning it on its head.

Beauty is a young woman who uses her words and wit brazenly, as well as to fill the silence making light of life's trials, disguising a life shattered by an event that haunts her. This is a beautiful re-telling of a classic tale, I loved how it captures the classic tale, while digging deeper and even though I know the original well, it kept me guessing how it would end.

The lovely prose flows through the book, weaving a captivating tale perfect for lovers of fairy tales. It also deals excellently with the topic of sexual assault in a sensitive but powerful way, that would be appropriate in my mind for teen readers.

Beauty is a flawed character, who is clever but not always compassionate, thoughtlessly flaunting her wit, but my heart still went out for her because despite all of her bravado it is a cover for her true heart. I liked how the beast challenged her way of thinking with his quiet ways.

Overall, I devoured this well written re-telling of one of my favorite stories, I haven't read a book so quickly in a long time, and I didn't want it to end. I honestly wouldn't change a thing about this lovely re-telling, and hope to read more similar books from this author in the future!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am so sad that I didn’t connect with the story! Beauty and the Beast retellings are my favorite. It was a very interesting take on the story dealing with the trauma of emotional and sexual abuse. That aspect was handled really well. I just felt like there was no world building and things just surprisingly happened out of the blue. I was a little lost with the storyline. It was great writing though.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

Wow. This book was amazing. Beauty Reborn is a retelling of Beauty And The Beast. In my opinions, retellings go one of two ways... and this one was a win.
I loved how fast-paced the plot was. That definitely kept me reading and engaged!
The characters were intriguing and whimsy. The banter between them was brilliant.

Definitely going to check out others by this author.

A twist on my favorite Beauty and the Beast story. This was a short read and while there were some new intriguing ideas to this always retold story, I felt it a bit lacking in my opinion.

I would have loved to see more to the story and see what else it cloud have developed into.

This was a super fast read and while there were pieces that resonated around the Beauty and the Beast story, it felt like Lowham made this her own with a few twists.

I liked the characters and how their relationship built and despite the shortened length, I felt like I was able to get enough that it didn't feel like an insta-love situation.

If you're looking for a quick retelling that will keep you engaged, consider picking this one up. I'll definitely be checking out more from Lowham when I can.

Beauty Reborn is a wondeful addition to the genre of fairytale retellings! Lowham strikes the balance between familiar and unique beautifully, blending the bones of the original tale beautifully with a unique twist on the original tale. These are the hallmarks of the best fairytale retellings; Lowham clearly understands this genre well.

My favorite aspect of this novel is Lowham's emphasis on beastliness being entirely dependent on one's character. The story includes the traditional beast character. Throughout the novel, he is artfully revealed to be entirely different than his appearance and entirely capable of great humanity and compassion. Another conventionally attractive character is gradually exposed as entirely vile at the core. Beauty, in this case, is both a lovely person and a flawed person simulateously; I love how she is depicted so authentically. The cast of characters is kept small, which allows for the message about beastliness to remain very clear throughout.

I appreciate that while her Beauty encounters many challenges and experiences trauma, that the coping with and overcoming are depicted with both hope and realism. In particular, I appreciated this in how Beauty's most impactful trauma was addressed. Sexual assault is no small issue, and Lowham's inclusion in of this in Beauty Reborn was executed with both grace and honesty.

Lowham writes with such lyrical, flowing prose throughout. I often reread sentences so as to fully soak in their meaning. It was absolutely delightful to read, because both the story and the writing are gorgeous!

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and look forward to additional books from this author!

Thank you to Shadow Mountain, Elizabeth Lowham, and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

It took me a bit to get used to the different writing style and the way the book was written. Beauty was a hard for me to like at first. But continuing with the story, she’d been through a traumatic experience. As the story progressed, she learned how to heal with the help of a Beast. And I appreciated her journey back to family and love.
I received an ebook copy from the publisher. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

Content warning: mention of rape, no details.

An enjoyable Beauty and the Beast retelling. This was a quick read. I liked the variation of this story - Beauty is dealing with trauma from her past and looks to escape to the Beast. I did want more from their relationship and didn’t really feel the chemistry between the two. However, it’s really well written and there are some truly beautiful lines. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys fairytale retellings. Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the arc.

A beautiful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I loved that it followed the basics of the fairy tale. It was easy to see as soon as you start to book that it was a retelling. But what I loved about it was the author changed enough that it didn’t feel like I was reading a word for word retelling. The little things she added made the story flow beautifully.

The siblings added a whole new dimension to the story. Adding them in was so much fun. Each one was so different and added an angle to Beauty’s story. It was just so well done. It is a YA story, so it is fairly short and easy to read. But it didn’t skimp on details or romance!

This is a captivating retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The writing is beautiful and atmospheric. The story is familiar but much more meaningful and deep with well-developed characters and family relationships. I didn’t want to put it down. It’s one to read again and savor.

The story starts off right away and is fast paced. Beauty’s dad is a merchant but lost his fortune, so they had to sell everything and move to a cottage next to the forest. Her mother died several years prior leaving four children behind. Rob is the eldest and only brother, Astra is selfish but talented, Callista is more likeable, and Beauty is the whimsical baby of the family who claims her main skill is talking. She is broken inside but nobody realizes it. Stephan thinks it’s his right to take what he wants by force because he is handsome and wealthy.

The main theme is appearances: Beast looks harmful and scary but is good inside, Stephan looks handsome and charming but is a dangerous beast inside. Another theme is everything has a cost. I loved watching the relationship slowly develop between Beauty and Beast as they find similarities between them. He doesn’t realize she’s dealing with trauma that isn’t connected to him which makes everything harder. The ending was surprising but satisfying and I would love to read a sequel telling Astra’s story.

There is mention of sexual assault, but not in detail, and the author includes a note at the end with the number for the National Sexual Assault Hotline. Incredibly this is a debut novel from what I can tell but it is easily 5 stars. Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC to use for my review.

This is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, obviously, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the author's unique take on these characters and their story.

Yes, Beauty goes in her father's place to pay a debt to the Beast, but she does not do so out of loyalty or even altruistic love. Instead, she is running from a traumatic experience, dealing with the aftermath, and hoping that by sacrificing her life to her captor, the pain will stop.

I thought the storytelling was very engaging and loved the enchanted castle setting and how the present and past narratives are woven together. This story also has a different take on how the Beast's curse came about, and while I do wish his character had a little more development and personality, I thought the slow build romance between the MCs was well done.

Overall, this was a heartfelt retelling of a classic story, one that delivers on the romance, but more importantly shows how beauty and new life can come from horrible and traumatic situations.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Fantasy Fairytale Retelling
Age Level: Upper Young Adult
Content: sexual assault (not described, but on page)

An original take on one of my favorite fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast has always been the tale that spoke to me, taught me the lessons it was supposed to, made me look at what's inside of a person's heart rather than what they look like, and made me think of others before myself.

I went into this book thinking I knew everything about these characters, but this book, made me look at every character I thought I knew differently and it was such a roller coaster of emotions.

We all think we know the story, of Beauty being torn from her family to pay the price of a stolen rose, but what if Beauty made that choice for herself, to escape a life filled with terror, to save herself?

Beauty Reborn tells many tales spanning the best and the worst of humanity, with moments that make you remember that some people can be so much worse than Beasts while others can be kind for no reason other than kindness and it reminds us that what's on the inside is really what's important.


I have to say I found Beauty's love of music to be something that made me look at her in a completely different way, it just gave her more depth and made her a more complex character.

The letters, reading poetry, the interactions between Beauty and Beast, there were moments of such tenderness that I found myself wanting them to find love in this situation, it had started in desperation for both of them and I wanted them to have their own happily ever after.

On the other hand, we have Stephan, oh Stephan how could you be such an evil evil man and yet fool everyone, even Beauty's sisters had stars in their eyes where he was concerned if only Beauty had listened to her brother.

As the story goes on and you see what drove Beauty to make her decisions, what Stephan had done, some moments will be triggering to some but explain so many of the moments we have in this book.

It's a lovely example of visceral storytelling, I could picture the castle, I could sense the wonder of the magic, and I began to feel for almost all of our characters while being enveloped in this familiar story that's just different enough to keep me wondering what would happen next.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy of this e-book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The story is a reimagined version of beauty and the beast. While, this is one of my favorite fairytales, I wondered, how many retelling can I read? I was pleasantly surprised at the similarities, and yet quite different view, the author portrayed. Beauty was raised in an affluent home. She, being the youngest in the family consisting of an older brother and two older sisters, she was surprised that the son of a baron was interested in her. He asked her multiple times to marry him, but her answer was always no. Each time she refused him. He became more aggressive and more angry. When her father lost his business and livelihood, she thought her suitor would leave her alone. But he was determined to make her his, to the point where he went to her sick bed and defiled her. I appreciated the author using discretion and handling the situation tactfully. Beauty did not tell anyone what had happened. One day her father came home, after a bad storm, telling tales of a mysterious castle and the beast inside. Her father had clipped a golden rose as he left, and the beast said he had to pay his debt. When beauty heard of this, she took the opportunity to run from her demons, not caring what happened to her as long as she could pay her father’s debt. I truly enjoyed the characters in the story. They were well defined, and I found the story quite charming. It is a fairly short book and yet I thought it was packed with a lot of depth. I believe this is the first book from this author. I am quite intrigued to read more from her. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Beauty and the Beast retelling, where Beauty isn't there to save her father, but in hopes of being eaten.

She is suffering from a secret traumatic event and ends up sticking around an enchanted castle and talking to a beast who won't let her see him.

She may find healing and he may find the solution to his curse? Read it!

Beauty reborn

It took me a while to decide what to rate this one, but in the end, I've gone with 3 stars. Please check the content warnings. A big part of this book is the main characters trauma following a sexual assault. I will say I think it was dealt with in a sensitive manner, and the actual assault is not described.

I received an advance review copy of this book, and this review represents my honest opinion. Thank you to netgalley, Elizabeth Lowham, and the publisher for the opportunity to read the book.

I wound up really liking the book, who doesn't love a magic castle that can provide an entire library for you. The journey the main characters go in together towards healing themselves and each other was nice to read. Especially her teaching him to read and him helping her see thay she can allow herself to relax and feel safe even if it's just for a little while. Beauty's character development is very well summed up in this quote
"There is a piece of me, I said, taken by force. That is yours. Content yourself with it. My hope is that it will become a fire, and on your lowest night, it will turn on you and scorch your conscience. "

It took me a while to connect with the main character. The overuse of the word whimsy was definitely a contributor to this issue. We get it you're not like the other girls, but it just detracted from the other aspect of her that i did like. I also wish the character wasn't just named beauty, I found that quite off-putting for some reason.

I think the book could maybe have benefitted from being slightly longer. It would have given more time for romance and maybe even the beasts point of view. It would have been interesting to see what was going on in his head.

I liked this different take on Beauty and the Beast, which is famously my favorite Disney Princess movie and has made me slave to retellings. Beauty goes to the castle of her own volition, and Beast doesn't have the usual arrogance/anger issues seen in other retellings. I thought it was very cozy and enjoyable.

That said, I felt like the author gave too much away too soon. Right on the first page we find out that Beauty was raped (though not in so many words), and I felt it would've been better storytelling to withhold that information for later. If we had just been told that something happened between Beauty and Stephan to end their relationship, I would've been more curious and more inclined to keep reading to find out what it was. I do appreciate, though, that the author never goes into explicit detail about what happened, but tells the reader just enough that we know what happened.

Overall, I was expecting a bit more from this, but I'm not disappointed with what it ended up being.