Jennifer Donnelly's fairy tale retellings are always so creative with their twists, but they always fall short of perfection.

To understand why I think so, let me give you a rundown of the strengths of Beastly Beauty first:
• It has one of the most original interpretations of the curse that nobody else has done before.
• It has strong and well-defined characters for Beauty and for Beast.
• It respects the tale’s core theme but characters have to work for their own redemption.
• It has the most original and heart-pounding Beauty-meets-Beast scene I’ve ever read.
• It has a nice cast of male and female secondary characters with their own personality and quirks.
• It has a setting that’s a mix of a realistic life in a castle and Alice-in-Wonderland whackery.

That’s a rock-solid foundation of positives, isn’t it? And all taken together, they make this gender-swapped retelling one of the best I’ve read, which for me is saying a lot.

(Full review in link.)

Interesting gender flipped retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. I always like books that tell a tale from a different point of view. If you like fairy tales this is worth a read! Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic for the opportunity to read and review this book.

“You think love is for weak people, but you’re wrong. Love is for the strongest. The bravest. The fiercest.”

I felt so honored to get this ARC from netgalley. I have read Jennifer Donnelly’s book Stepsister and absolutely LOVED it. I can say this one was just as good if not better. Jennifer is seriously so creative with her characters and the meaning behind them. I loved Beau! His sweetness and tender heart really shone once you looked past who he was pretending to be. Once we saw past Arabella’s walls I loved her brilliance, fierceness, and her desire to make the world more beautiful. This book had deep meanings that really spoke to me, but the fantasy aspect kept me so engaged and entertained. This is a must read!
🗝️Fractured Fairytale
🗝️Mild Swearing (No F words)
🗝️Kissing Only
🗝️CW: Violence, Death, Abuse

There were some really great things about Beastly Beauty, which was one of the best Beauty and the Beast retellings I've read. I thought the interpretation of the curse was phenomenal, I loved the extended cast, and I thought the world building was perfectly whimsical. Unfortunately, as someone who loves a multiple POV and short chapters, the format and general layout of this story had me so thrown of it made the entire book just okay.

A great reminder to live life and write your own story!

19yo Beau rides with a group of thieves who saved his life and expects him to earn his way by stealing, even though he only wants to get away and retrieve his younger brother Matti from the orphanage. 18yo Arabella is a daughter of a Duke, living in a cursed castle with a dangerous beast that appears at midnight. When Beau and his group arrive at the castle, no one is around but the dining table is set for a feast. They eat until a beast arrives, then run, leaving Beau behind. What Beau finds, as he’s trapped in the castle, changes his life forever.

Likes/dislikes: The story contains good messages. The clever names of the court ladies were fun to figure out. The romance could have been more developed.
Mature Content: PG for kissing.
Language: R for 83 swears and no f-words.
Violence: PG-13 for bloody fighting.
Ethnicity: Beau is Spanish and Arabella is white.

I really enjoyed this one! I was fascinated with the idea of a gender swapped beauty and the beast retelling and this one was great. I thought it had a unique spin on the fairytale and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. There were some very clever play on words and names throughout that I also enjoyed. I would have liked to see a more fleshed out ending, but the one in the book is a decent ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

'Beastly Beauty' by Jennifer Donnelly presents a refreshing twist on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, offering a unique gender-bent retelling. While it may not fully satisfy those seeking a complex plot, it does have its moments that could resonate with a younger audience.

One of the book's strengths is its portrayal of villains and overall message. The story deviates from the classic tale, adding more dimension and depth to the themes. Despite some confusion with the names, the payoff with the villain reveal is satisfying.

However, the romance between Beau and Arabella feels rushed and underdeveloped. It transitions from zero to 'insta-love 'with little build-up, and its impact on the plot could be better. The large number of characters also presents a challenge, as none of them truly stand out, making it difficult for readers to form a connection. A more focused approach to key characters could have given them more depth and influence on the story.

While the ending of "Beastly Beauty" is a saving grace, offering a satisfying conclusion, the journey to get there feels underexplored. More depth and dimension to the characters could have made their development more engaging and impactful.

Beastly beauty is a gender swap approach of Beauty and the Beast. While it’s been a while since I’ve read an YA book, I was intrigued by the premise of the retelling. The beast is this retelling is Arabella and Beau is the beauty, the story starts of slow Arabella is surrounded by creepy court and Beau is theif who gets left behind by his “family”.

The book is slow paced even though a lot is happening between Arabella and Beau, I felt like the actual plot didn’t really pick up till after the 55% mark and I found my self skim reading some parts. Over-all I enjoyed the authors writing style but I figured the whole secret before the “big” reveal and was a bit bored by the characters.

I really enjoyed this gender-flip retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I like it when Donnelly gives a literary nod to the Grimm brothers as she does in this book. My favorite part is the epilogue when she tells the readers to boldly write their own stories.

Not my usual genre, but I was intrigued by the gender swap approach and wanted to try this one. It's an entertaining take on a "tale as old as time."

This book just rides in the middle for me. I didn't love the characters, but I didn't hate them. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the darkness of the retelling.

A young thief, trapped inside a cursed castle, is the unwilling guest of a beautiful, yet distant noblewoman, her creepy ladies in waiting and her loyal servants. Confident in his good looks and braggadocious ways, Beau is certain he can escape and make off with loot to rescue his brother - until he encounters both the fearsome beast that roams the night, and the luminous little girl locked in the cellar. A reimagined, baroque Beauty and the Beast gets a comprehensive update that will resonate with modern readers. Allegories tend to the didactic, and some clunky anagrams and anachronistically modern attitudes may irk fairy tale purists, but the romance, drama and on-point introspection will engage readers looking for a thought-provoking love story. Set in a fantasy medieval Spain. All characters read as white. LQBTQ diversity included. Thanks to Scholastic and NetGalley for an Advance Readers Copy in return for an unbiased review.

Beastly Beauty is a gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It features Arabella as the beast and Beau as the beauty. Both with tragic backstories of the time and not completely of their own making, though they are held there by their own hearts.
I didn’t want to like this book. I read Stepsister and loved it, and requested this book because I was hoping for it to be told in the same style. It was not, some how it was transformed. I struggled through the first third because of this and how shallow some of the characters seemed. I am incredibly glad I pushed on as this hit parts of me that I didn’t know needed to be soothed. Childhood trauma and emotional health are both in your face and handled with care. For a moment I felt seen, and whole while reading and I think that is the epitome of someone’s perfect book. Its not whether or not the book that is perfect, but that it’s the perfect read for that moment in your life that makes the largest impact.
I received an arc and am leaving this review of my volition.

A Beauty and the Beast retelling that is not only gender-swapped but offers a commentary about learning how to accept who you are, flaws and all. Beau is a thief who is worried about his little brother, the only family he has left in the world. He plans on using the stolen ring that he has hidden away to build a new life for the two of them, but his plans are derailed when the band of thieves that he travels with stumbles upon an seemingly-abandoned castle. When they are chased by a beast, the rest of the group leaves him behind to die, and Beau must confront both who he is as a person and the dangers that lurk in the castle to make it out alive.

I didn't expect some of the turns that this story was going to take, which is something that I tend to love about Donnelly's writing. The opening with Espair and the little girl playing card games. The subtle hints to who each of the ladies of Arabella's court actually were (especially when Espair goes back to play what basically amounts to Scrabble with the little girl). The clock that had fascinated the band of thieves so much but ended being much more terrifying. The pieces were woven so well together, and even though I saw the ending coming once the reader was told about the events of the day that Arabella was cursed, it was revealed so beautifully.

I look forward to returning to this book one day, to see if there are other hints dropped like breadcrumbs along the way that I missed during this first read-through. Be ready to want to read this book straight through, and it might be prudent to keep a box of tissues nearby just in case.

So this was mid. Honestly, I can't say much more than this. The two main leads (Beau and Arabella) were not memorable. I thought that only really some of the secondary characters were developed well. And I thought that Donnelly's writing with the breaking of the fourth wall or whatever we want to call it with other fairy tale characters started getting tiresome after a while. She writes the whole story like something dark and crazy was going to happen and I was like, um this is it? Okay then.

"Beastly Beauty" follows thief Beau and Lady Arabella. Beau and his band of merry thieves come across a castle and then a horrible beast chases them out and Beau's supposed "family" leaves him to die. Beau though finds that he is not able to leave the castle and instead is trapped there like the servants in the castle and Arabella and her court. Beau does what he usually does (tries to charm people with his face) to figure out a way to escape. Things change though when he realizes that Arabella is not like the women he has met before. She seems unbothered by him and he wants to find out what she is hiding.

There's a lot going on plot-wise with Beau and Arabella and the whole book doesn't start to gel til about the 60 percent part. I think that is when most of the "secrets" were revealed and you just wanted things to get a move on. The flow was awful. I already guessed at things before the reveal and I found out I was right. I was also bored by it too.

The best I can say is that this is definitely a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but you also get some Sleeping Beauty in here as well. But it's not something I can see myself reading again and again.

I always find it fascinating to see how a skilled author can give readers a fresh, fractured look at a fairy tale that has been ingrained into children's reading for ages. Jennifer Donnelly proved herself to be just such an author several books prior to BEASTLY BEAUTY. Donnelly has a fan following that easily surpasses Disney's. This time, she has delivered Beauty and the Beast into a setting cursed by the actions and attitude of Arabella and her prince to be, Beau, a thief just trying to escape the consequences of his own actions. The book is an excellent read. Donnelly continues to earn her Top Ten spot on my TRB list. 5 easy stars.

Wow, this book takes you through a twist on the Beauty and The Beast. Twist and turns and lessons learned. Really enjoyed this one!

A gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast that challenges societal expectations of women and encourages readers to defy limitations. The book's emotional narrative resonates with themes of hope, inspiration, and motivation. The author, Jennifer Donnelly, deserves to be praised for her extraordinary storytelling skills and vivid character creation. The book is not only an engaging read but also a testament to character strength, defiance of societal norms, and the power of hope.

Beastly Beauty is the first book I've read by Jennifer Donnelly. She did a very interesting reimagining of Beauty and the Beast that is also a gender swap. The beauty is a young man trying to get back to his sickly brother who happens to end up in an enchanted castle. The Beast, a woman stuck in time with a deadline to find love or sentence all in her castle to death.

***My story isn’t for the heroes out there, for the shining knights and perfect princesses. My story is for the screwups. For those of us who never seem to get it right. The ones who say too much, or not enough.***

Arabella is stuck and has lost almost all hope. She tried over the years to find love and failed each time. She was resigned to her fate, that is until Beau showed up and with him the glimmer of hope that perhaps, just perhaps this thief might be able to steal her heart and break the curse that is just days from killing everyone in the castle. As the story unfolds the reader gets to see not only through Arabella's but also through Beau's eyes the story of the past and an inkling of how Beau might be able to save the future.

I really enjoyed this re-imagining of one of my favorite fairytales. It was interesting how Arabella was the Beast and who all of her ladies in waiting were. Beau is just as broken in so many ways. He has traded on his looks to survive and while he hates the life he is in an wants an escape he is stuck with some feelings of worthlessness that are hard to overcome. Arabella and Beau understand each other in their feelings of inadequacy, how they have let down the people they love and how they aren't sure how to break the chains that bind them.

“Do not speak for love, Lady Espidra,” she said, her eyes blazing. “Do not hold that word in your mouth when you do not hold it in your heart.” She swept her finger in front of her, pointing at all the ladies in turn. “Not one of you knows anything of love. Love does not run. It does not turn tail. Love never, ever gives up.”

This is a story of redemption and breaking all of the odds against you. It had enough going on that I was always engaged and really loved the idea of the magic of the curse that was on the castle and how Arabella was supposed to break it. There is some great imagery and tender moments to awe over without going too overboard. Really a great read for those who enjoy Beauty and the Beast retellings.

“You must do one thing and one thing only— become the person you were meant to be. No matter how daunting that task may be. Otherwise, your life is not a life; it is merely a long, protracted death.”

Beauty and the Beast with a twist. I like how the beast in this story was a woman. A young woman raised as an aristocrat who is meant to be sweet and compliant so that she can marry well, Arabella is anything but. Arabella has her own mind and own ambitions that are frowned upon. As a result in an attempt to suppress her emotions things take a turn for the worse.

A curse is placed upon Arabella and all of the inhabitants of her family's castle and only an act of true love can break the curse. The author did a great job by portraying Arabella’s emotions as lady's of her court. Her emotions were so strong that they manifested into the physical embodiment of the emotion represented. It's clever how her strongest emotions: Despair, Rage, Fear etc were described as women but her emotions that she gave up on: Hope, Faith and Love were little children.

A failed robbery put Beau in her path. Beau is a thief and he just wants to get back to his little brother who is sick. Of course the castle inhabitants are thrilled to have him there as they feel he may be the one to break the curse.

Arabella and Beau had a rough go at things but once they started spending time together he was able to make her feel things which in turn was loosing the hold her negative emotions had on her.

This was a story of finding a love within in order to break the chains over one's feelings of vulnerability and worthlessness. The more time Beau spent with Arabella the more she opened her heart. The more her heart was open the more she allowed more positive emotions to enter. It was a hard fought battle because Despair, Guilt, Rage, Fear, Shame, Jealousy, Glee, Disdain, Sorrow and Remorse didn't want to release the reigns over Arabella's emotions but with Hope, Faith, Compassion, Pride, Vulnerability, Joy, Love and Beau’s love chiseling away at Arabella's heart only the strong will win.

Unfortunately, time is of the essence and the clock is ticking and if the curse isn't broken by death’s deadline all will be lost. It's a good thing that Arabella has a relentless thief and a couple of determined little girls named Hope and Faith working hard to achieve the impossible.