A unique twist on Beauty and the Beast. More relatable for today's young adults - definitely a popular read among HS students. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This Book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast like I’ve never read before. It is brilliantly written. The world building is confusing at first, but you soon catch on and it is so interesting and intricate. You love some characters and hate others, but in the end you find out why they are the way they are! I will be telling everyone they need to read this book!

DNF @ 5%

Thank you Netgalley for the E-Arc exchange for an honest review.

I tried three times to get into the book and all three times I couldn't get past the 4th chapter. I even tried reading the audiobook which made it worse instead of better being a fan of Beauty and the Beast retellings, this one just didn’t catch my interest like I thought it would. Especially the fact of the concept of being gender swapped where the beast is female and the beauty is male which is the reason why I requested it. Since I thought that was an interesting concept to explore. I read and enjoyed Ms. Donnelly’s other book, Lost in a Book which was a brand new story in honor of the live action Beauty and the Beast which was actually good. I really thought this take would hold my interest but since I can’t even get past the 3th chapter, I might as well cut my losses.

Book Review: Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 0/🌶️
This review may contain minor spoilers.

Beastly Beauty is a fun twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast story. Beau is a 19 yo thief who finds himself trapped at an cursed castle with Arabella and her strange court. While Beau spends the story trying to escape and make his way back to his brother, Arabella’s court and staff are plotting ways to control their futures. This retelling includes forced proximity, found family, and hidden identities.

I enjoyed the whimsical tale of this gender swapped royal and prisoner. The play on emotions and character actions was a fun twist. Also very much brought me back to Inside Out 💛💙💜❤️💚. I was loving the anagrams and solving who each character represented.

The story did get repetitive after the halfway point and was a bit heavy on the same miscommunication happening. Some of the twists were predictable but still fun to read. And I wish the romance was a little further developed. I liked them both individually but didn't find myself rooting for them as a couple.

In the end, the overall message was powerful and heartwarming. I have a soft spot for Beauty and the Beast retellings and really enjoyed this story. Also looking forward to reading more from Jennifer soon.

I received an eARC from NetGalley & Scholastic for my honest review.

This story started off with a thief by the name of Beau almost being caught stealing. So he and his gang take off and ride to this castle where they find a table full of a feast fit for a king. Of course they eat and start taking whatever they find of value that they can sell. Only to be ran out of the castle. All of the gang led by Rafael make it across the bridge except for Beau, the bridge collapses and he is on the wrong side of the bridge. He goes back to the castle where he meets a court of ladies with Arabella at the head of them. She is dismissive of him and doesn’t give him the time of day, she puts him in his place repeatedly. This story grabbed me from this beginning and kept getting better and better!!!

The characters were well developed and the scenes weee drawn so vividly the movie in my minds eye was set and it was so hard to put this book down! There was no intermissions nor commercial breaks, I was captivated and couldn’t stop reading. If there could give this book more stars I would. I am off to find other books by this author because this one was great.

This is Beauty and the Beast reimagined in a way I've never seen before.

Beau is on the run, part of a band of thieves that have just finished their latest job. On a foggy night, they find refuge in a castle where the drawbridge is left down. Inside, they find no one, only a feast laid out before them. They eat their fill, and take what valuables they can, before being run out by some sort of beast. Beau is the last in line, and before his eyes the bridge crumbles, leaving him abandoned at the castle. His attempts to leave the thieves in the past, to get out and find his brother, were all thwarted. He was too valuable to them. Now, they barely blink as they ride away.

Beau is certain there must be another way out, some sort of tunnel that avoids the moat - which is filled with horrors just waiting for someone to get too close. Inside the castle, Lady Arabella is waited on by her court, who seem to advise her in restraint. The servants and the courtiers are at odds, and everyone makes sure to be locked behind closed doors by the time midnight strikes.

Arabella has been told her whole life to make herself smaller, quieter. That no one wants the girl who speaks her mind, who's intelligent and passionate about architecture, who wants to create a society that works together and benefits itself, instead of taxing people and putting them down. A marriage is arranged, and Arabella's binds grow tighter.

Now, this charming thief is trying to draw out the Arabella she's forgotten. To use her knowledge, her old passion, to build a bridge so he can get back to his ailing brother. Will it be enough for this stranger to fall in love with her, for her to love him? Or is there more to the curse than she ever thought? Clues right in front of her, both the ones around her every day, and the ones that have been forgotten and locked away.

This was a beautiful retelling, and the twists on the curse were brilliant. The journey to finding their way, the importance of never losing hope in a better tomorrow. The power in becoming who you are, instead of what you are told to be.

My one complaint were the chapters. I've always had a pet peeve about small chapters. At times, they were useful to change the direction of the narrative, but other times they seemed a little frivolous. A source of annoyance, and one that did at times draw me out of the story a little. For those of you who also dislike short chapters, be warned, but the story is worth it!

i have recently gotten into retellings of fairy tales and this one did not disappoint. i enjoyed the twist with the gender switch so kept me entertained.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Now THAT'S a twist on the Beauty and the Beast story.

Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly is a YA fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. What makes a girl "beastly?" Is it having too much ambition? Being too proud? Taking up too much space? Or is it just wanting something, anything, too badly? That's the problem Arabella faces when she makes her debut in society. Her parents want her to be sweet and compliant so she can marry well, but try as she might, Arabella can't extinguish the fire burning inside her -- the source of her deepest wishes, her wildest dreams. When an attempt to suppress her emotions tragically backfires, a mysterious figure punishes Arabella with a curse, dooming her and everyone she cares about, trapping them in the castle. As the years pass, Arabella abandons hope. The curse is her fault -- after all, there's nothing more "beastly" than a girl who expresses her anger -- and the only way to break it is to find a boy who loves her for her true self: a cruel task for a girl who's been told she's impossible to love. When a handsome thief named Beau makes his way into the castle, the captive servants are thrilled, convinced he is the one to break the curse. But Beau -- spooked by the castle's strange and forbidding ladies-in-waiting, and by the malevolent presence that stalks its corridors at night -- only wants to escape. He learned long ago that love is only an illusion. If Beau and Arabella have any hope of breaking the curse, they must learn to trust their wounded hearts, and realize that the cruelest prisons of all are the ones we build for ourselves.

I am an avid lover of Beauty and the Beast retellings. So when I saw this one, I couldn't help but jump at the chance to read it early. This is the first Donnelly retelling I've read, and based off of it, I will gladly reading the rest.

"Beastly Ambitions" is a refreshing twist on the classic fairy tale, following Arabella, a young woman punished for her fiery spirit with a curse that traps her and her loved ones in a castle. The narrative beautifully tackles themes of self-worth and societal expectations, with Arabella's struggle to break free and Beau's reluctant journey into love creating a compelling, heartfelt story. The mysterious, enchanted setting adds an extra layer of intrigue, making this book a captivating read from start to finish.

This book was captivating from the start.

I’m typically not one to enjoy fairytale retellings as much as I hope to, but this story really broke that streak.

The characters are written well, they are complex, and most importantly I cared to continue following them throughout the story.

I enjoyed Beau and Arabella individually, but felt like they needed to have more scenes between the two, to build their dynamic and to really get the feel of the fairytale it’s based off of.

Overall, I would say I like this retelling, it brought a unique flair to the beauty and the beast story, and I would definitely recommend others to try it out.

I really wanted to like Donnelly's reimagining of Beauty and the Beast and thought that her take with the switch of Belle being the Beast sounded so promising. I'm sad to say that it didn't live up to that for me. I loved the character of Bels when she was written as the smart girl who was excited about life and architecture and I liked Beau for the most part, but the other characters in the castle, most especially the court of ladies surrounding Arabella, were annoying with annoying names for an overwritten reason that is revealed later in the story. I truly wish that I had liked this one more to be able to recommend it to teen readers and am looking forward to some feedback from that cohort to see if my feelings are mirrored or not. Thank you to Scholastic and NetGalley for the early read in exchange for my honest opinion.

A fun twist on a familiar tale.
Arabella, a proud young woman with grand ambitions, is considered "beastly" because she is not the sweet and compliant girl her parents want.
After expressing her anger, Arabella and everyone she cares about are cursed, trapped in the castle for 100 years.
Can a handsome thief who wanders in the castle learn to love this "unloveable" girl and break the curse? Or is he so wounded by his experience with love that he cannot open his heart again?
Recommend to readers who enjoy a good re-telling!

A gender-swapped rendition of Beauty and the Beast, Beastly Beauty is a fun novel that I felt unfortunately fell flat in its execution.

While the prose, pacing and characters were all very intriguing, I found myself bored with the character's motivations and actions. I liked the idea of exploring beastliness without an actual monster as a love interest, but this also felt somewhat contrived.

I really wanted to like this book, but found myself wishing it were sooner rather than later.

It is marketed as a YA, and perhaps I am simply just not the target audience. 3/5 stars

Gender swapped retelling of Beauty and the beast…I’m in! I adore retellings, especially the dark fantasy/romance types! The magic and the power behind this once is a lot more subtle but I still found it extremely satisfying.

The world building was fantastic, I felt completely absorbed within this world. The characters whether they were the main or side characters, all felt important and not like an afterthought. The “lost” castle was very much like it should be, isolated, cold, and creepy but of chose we wouldn’t have a beauty and beast story without the library!

I highly enjoyed this book and the characters 🖤

My thoughts on this book were definitely a split decision. Overall, I felt this was a good read. The author offered an intriguing take on this fairytale that was inspired and fresh. That being said, I sadly felt that the story never reached the potential It had shown. Truly the worst thing for me was the romance. It is what I love and what I read for. I really didn't feel any chemistry between these two and I didn't feel any real connection to Beau and Arabella. Sure, I could sympathize with them in general but that was all.

Gosh, I really struggled with this one. I had the hardest time getting into the groove with it. The story just seemed to drag on and I honestly did not like the main characters and their “relationship.” I needed some extra backstories that were not there and then at other times the story just seemed to drag on.

One thing I did like was the portrayal of the human emotions within the characters. But, unfortunately, that was about all I did enjoy with this twist of Beauty and the Beast.

At first this story was hard to get into, but not to give any spoilers, I would love to see it on the big screen. The beast twist on the Beauty and the Beast story was a refreshing one to read. Beau was a cutie too. It's all about love and how to live in return but what kind of love? I'm not going tell you. You have to read it yourself.

I wanted to love this book and was so excited when I was given the opportunity to read it. The idea of a beast and belle swap was intriguing, but unfortunately the book came up short for me. There were brilliant points, but others were confusing and I struggled to get through it.

This was a really unusual and intriguing story that took a classic fairytale and gave it its own updated twist. The characters were well written and sympathetic. In this version, the “beast” was a young girl, raised in privilege as the daughter of a nobleman. Of course as in the fairy tale, she must find love or all in the castle will be forever frozen there. The beauty, meanwhile, is a young man who happens to be a thief.

I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading other tales by the author. 4 stars out of five.

Jennifer Donnelly has done it again! I love her dark spins on fairy tale stories! Such a page turner! My students gave it a thumbs up!