I was pleasantly surprised with this story. The beginning was a bit slow for me, but once I understood more (by continuing to read) I became invested in the story.

While drawing closely to the normal fairy-tale, I think there are enough differences to call it a retelling. The character arcs were by far my favorite aspect of the story. I loved Beauty’s reflection upon herself, her actions, and the treatment of her family. The lessons she learns in while in the castle and the slow rebuilding of trust were extremely well written.

I love the humility of Beast. He had truly changed as well and while we don’t see that change on page, we see the effects of it. I also really enjoyed how Beauty was able to help him.

I was concerned with the depiction of God and religion in the beginning, but I also realized that Beauty had changing to be done, and there was growth that need to occur so I continued to read and I was glad with the later mentions of God and religion.

While I ultimately enjoyed the book and found much to compliment it on, I would not label this as YA. The sexual assault, while also off page, is a heavy topic and leads to heavy feelings and lingering issues for Beauty. I have a teenage daughter and I would not be comfortable with her reading this. It was too much for YA in my opinion. I do think it is fine for an adult level.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

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

It started out a bit weird for me and was a little hard to get into but overall the story was okay. It feels like it could have been fleshed out more but I'm guessing that's the trade off for only 208 pages.

It was a weird retelling of Beauty and the Beast that promises much but delivers nothing of what's expected. It works on the plot premise, very positive in my opinion, of giving Beauty a different reason to go to the castle of Beast on her own without the usual father messing up (... much) and give Beast a different reason for being turned into a monster than in the fairy tale and most other retellings.

That alone would've been one wonderful premise to build on. I mean, how many retellings have we already got that go for the usual rose theft or debt? And how many retellings have we read in which Beast is unwillingly shapeshifted for pissing off a magical being with zero sense of humour? Too many! So, if Beauty goes to the castle due to the workings of a rival that manipulates his way into her life and Beastie boy becomes Beastie boy for not being careful about what he wished for, the story is going to be promising, right?

Oh, no, you're a too optimistic person, Marquise. Always expecting good premises to end in good execution. When will you ever learn? Never, apparently. So I was deeply disappointed by the absolute lack of spine and character shown by both Beauty and Beast here. Especially her, the banana I just hate has more spunk than that girl, and I still feel like I'm insulting the banana. I'm not trying to overdo sarcasm here, it's seriously a lackluster main female lead, which is surprising in itself given how easy Beauty is to write. Even the evil sister had more backbone, and that in spite of being a bit of a caricature villain. And, it pains me to say because Beast is my favourite, he's a wet dog of a monster, about as scary as a toy poodle trying to posture in front of a Great Dane. The rival for Beauty's affection easily outshone him.

I can't believe I'm writing this, the baddies are the stars! And they're not even complex and nuanced baddies. You can't root for the main couple because they have little to no chemistry, and you can't root for the evil ones because they're not fetching villains, so you're left with just a sauce that has all the ingredients but no spice.

I absolutely loved this book. A beautiful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty is a strong, brave, and clever heroine who leaves her family to find out about her self and save a cursed prince.

2/5 stars! I love a good fairytale retelling. My concern will this story is that it was barely a re-telling. It was almost just the normative Beauty and the Beast by a new author, rather than a unique re-telling utilizing only some of the original constructs. An enjoyable read but it doesn't feel fair to rate something so unoriginal higher.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

First of all, thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

I do quite like fairytale retellings in general, so I was really looking forward to this one! I did find it quite slow…this story is definitely more about conversations and character interactions rather than action and major plot points for me. The world building was done really well, I would have liked a bit more background building. Also, check TWs! Overall, a solid, mostly enjoyable book without being particularly brilliant.

2.75 stars out of 5.

All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The first 60 pages of this book I didn’t really like it that much, it dragged on for me and didn’t have that much depth. The second part picked up its pace and was way better.

I did not love this book as much as I thought I would though, the characters didn’t have that much depth to me and the story itself like I mentioned before took a really long time for me to get into.

Overall it was good, but maybe with more pages it couldve given the characters more personality traits other than Whimsy and a Beast. I know almost nothing about Beast, except for what he was and that was at the end of the book.

I did find the way of healing very comforting in this book, please check the trigger warnings if you’re going to read this book by the way!

I was able to read this as an ARC provided by Shadow Mountain Publishing and Net Galley

I love fairy tale retellings. I love Beauty and the Beast. So, it was enjoyable to get another take on the tale with the author's unique perspective and approach to the tale.

The author remains true to the classic tale we all know, with the magic of fairies and curses that make a man a beast and a castle alive with helping hands.

Something I do appreciate about this book is how the author ties in real issues like sexual assault and emotional abuse in family dynamics. So, it was good to see that approach and have that representation and I liked seeing that growth and how it was addressed especially in building trust with someone new.

There were some developmental things that I had issues with, plot wise especially, and I feel like we could have gone more in depth with character and explored this world a little more. It felt basic, surface level. I wish we could have explored the magic of the world a little more and that the side characters felt more fleshed out and less cartoonish, especially in regards to the sister. But I think this is still a good book and I would recommend it to others!

A lovely retelling of beauty and the beast embedded with the very difficult theme that many can relate to. It reminded me of McKinley's retelling of Beauty as well as Deerskin and the trauma that comes from assault. While I found a few gaps in the narration and character development they were minor; I enjoyed the book and would read more by this author.

#BeautyReborn #NetGalley

ARC provided by NetGalley. Thank you!

Beauty Reborn is a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty is battling her demons due to a tragic thing happening to her. Beast is a poor fisherman's son that made an ill-advised wish from a fairy. When Beauty takes her father's place for stealing a rose they get to know each other and (spoiler alert?) fall in love.

Beauty and Beast are both developed characters. It was easy to imagine their story and invest in them. The book did not describe and detail why I should be invested in their lives and love though. The story followed the plot that you would expect from a re-telling of Beauty and the Beast.

Unfortunately, I did not love this book. I found myself bored with the chapters, finding them dull and a bit boring. Often I skimmed the pages rather than reading and savoring the words. It was obvious the author wanted to highlight religion, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but very much not expected. Then there was the underlying storyline of rape. While not graphic and blatantly spoken as being rape it was there in context. Honestly, if I was to read the book at 13 I wonder if I would even pick up on what was being alluded to.

This book is described as being for young adult; I would add a content rating for rape with an age range of 16+.

If this was re-directed as an adult re-imagining with more detail of the world and lives I am reading about this would have been a very enjoyable read. As is it didn't hit the mark.

I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! It captured my interest from the very beginning and I quickly and instantly fell in love. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

Thanks to Netgalley and Shadow Mountain for approving my request!

Overall I thought the book was good, the written was phenomenal, Beauty's character was really good. Beast I can't say a lot because he didn't talk that much lol.
This retelling is very close to the Beauty and the Beast, no much different.
I just wished there was more romance, and that the beast would had talked more.
I thought that the first 70% of the story was OK, after that it picked up and the real drama started lol.

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️
Reference to S.A.

Well, like I said the book was good and I would recommend it.
Hopefully there is a sequel about Astra. I would love to read it and find out what happens with her character!

I have always loved Beauty and the Beast and most retellings. This is a worthy addition!

A short read but once you get into it, it draws you in and then this passage knocked me over:
“I lived in a different castle once.” I swallowed. “And I gave a man a room. But when I wouldn’t give him anything else, he took the castle by force. And then I had nothing left to give.”

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pleasantly surprised by this book. There are many beauty and the beast retellings but I found this one whimsical, fast paced, and and an overall enjoyable read. I liked the characters but didn’t feel like they had enough development (my only complaint). But overall, I really enjoyed this and the writing style.

I love a good Beauty and the Beast story. This one was unique and touched on a subject that is often not talked about and hard to read about, but it was done in such a way that was healing and hopefully helpful for anyone who has had that trauma happen in their life.

Enjoyable but not for me at this moment. The characters and world building where good but something about the story just didn't click with me.

To say I was "pleasantly surprised" by this book would be an understatement. From the first sentence I was drawn in to a unique and wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

In an un-assuming story there are simple truths every woman needs to understand - Beauty can come from ashes, bad in the world does not mean everything is bad. There are, in strange places and people, amazing things found and discovered. Haven't we all hidden, run away, built for ourselves walls that no one was meant to breach? And, when the shadows press, have we not also faced them; pushed through the thorns, accepted the scratches and scars and faced down our fears? And what if in doing so something beautiful blooms, a rose so rare that it is a sacred thing? What if running to our certain demise turns into our destined salvation? This is the story of Beauty as never seen before. A story of undoing, and of becoming. A story of fire that burned a world to ash, first loves that destroyed and gentle grace that made the ash beautiful and second loves better than the first. Do not pass on this re-telling.

Beauty is the youngest of the Acton children, given to whimsy and musing. The Beast is an enchanted prince in a castle surrounded by an enchanted forest. And Stephan - well Stephan is painted in a much different light than ever before.

This book is worth the read, it's worth pre-ordering on Amazon. This book deserves a space on everyone's shelf.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book follow

"...But I knew it would fall again. Because what was lost would not regrow, and it would continue to struggle, so there was nothing to do but fall."

....it would have thrilled to the old Beauty. But this one was in hiding, and down the path ahead of me, I saw only exposing light. The beast had secrets, but so did I. Best to leave secrets in the dark.

"I'd foolishly opened the door, and the wind had blown in grains of truth I couldn't sweep back out"

"It was too much to ask a man to resist the beauty before him..../He [Stephan] would have said the rose had deliberately plated itself in my father's path to temp him. "Men fall for the sake of a rose," I said...."

"....I would have to pick through the pieces carefully, see the intentional harm when I didn't understand it, try to find where the cracks had begun, wonder if I should have noticed them sooner. I would pick through the tray of glass fragments until every piece was slick with blood and I could no longer see the edges and I was no closer to understanding and all I felt was pain"

"I lived in a different castle one," I swallowed. "And I gave a man a room. But when I wouldn't give him anything else, he took the castle by force. And then I had nothing left to give."

" ' 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'"

A Beauty and the Beast retelling, complete with magic, a fairy, intuitively responsive furniture, and many enchanted things. I could have frankly done without the magic. The thing is, I think there's a really powerful story here about sexual assault and I would have preferred to read it in a book based more in the realm of reality. That said, I do like Beauty, most of her family, not Astra obviously, but her father and brother were both great and supportive. Andre could have had more of an arc, but I did like that their HEA was not typical, that was more realistic for sure. Overall, a worthy read, I'm probably not the target audience but that doesn't diminish a book's worth. I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review.

Here is the review I posted on NetGalley.
Thanks again for allowing me to read this book.

** I’m not a native speaker 😊 **
Thanks to #Netgalley for offering me the chance to read a free copy of this book.

Beauty Reborn is a beautiful retelling of "Beauty & the Beast". While it follows parts of the original story and gives a nod to Disney's version, it also offers tons of original elements.

In BR, Belle is much more than a beautiful & clever girl. She has the kind of backstory that will make you curious about how her story ends... even if you know about her tale.

The first part of the book felt a bit rushed or at least very quickly paced. But the story slowed down after a while, offering enough flashbacks to provide all the needed decorum to fully enjoy reading Belle's journey.

Looking forward to seeing whether E. Lowham will offer us another retelling :)

“Beauty from ash.”

I did not really enjoy this book. It just felt like a silly story or a fluff piece. I simply didn’t feel any true depth to the characters or even the story itself. I think this is something a younger audience would more readily enjoy. There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with the story, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the opportunity to read this book before the release date. This is my honest rating of Beauty Reborn.