This was an adorable love story! Miles and Bella were both well developed and very interesting characters! I really enjoyed it!

I liked Bella and the Beast a lot, but I also struggled with it as well.

There are a couple of steamy scenes present, which I absolutely loved - I live for those, lol. The chemistry between the characters was well written and the build-up towards the steamy scenes was really well done. It got me all hot and bothered from time to time and I love reads like that. And there's also a mystery to solve as well, so the story-line held me captive in more ways than one.

I liked the characters but because of the behavior of some, like Beastly Duke, they didn't always feel reliable and believable to me, unfortunately. Because of that, the romance wasn't all that believable as well all the time. I thought the Duke's behavior switched too fast from being 'distant' to 'all lovey-dovey' you know? Which there'd been a more fluent progress there. But other than that.. the Duke is one hell of an entertaining character, HOT damn. I wouldn't mind coming across a guy like that, prrr..

Overall, It was an enjoyable read. Olivia Drake's writing is enthralling and she has interesting storylines and interesting characters. This was my first read of her and I'm quite curious about some other books she's written so far, so I'll definitely be adding some to my TBR.

Beauty and the Beast re-tellings can be very tricky and not many have been a huge HIT to me. This one falls in the category of an okay and really entertaining read. It was a lot of Fun to read but it didn't really Wow me, you know?

This was a fantastic beauty and the beast mixed with Cinderella retelling, even if the hero is a grave robber. I thought the characters were put together well, I was intrigued the whole time and couldn't wait to see how it all came together.The main plot pivoted around the treasure map that these two characters are vying for and there was a greater mystery about what happened all those years ago in the desert. The mystery complicated the loved story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.



For me, the ending wasn't predictable (except the love story otherwise why would we be here??) because of the mystery of what happened all those years ago. Bella was too young to remember everything and Miles was left out of the full loop and is dealing with his guilt of what happened. It was a pretty good ending even if the villain was kind of cliche which made it "ok" for the justice that he got.



Some of my favorite parts of the book included the description of the ballroom and the library. I loved how the ballroom was covered in Egyptian artifacts and how all the relics were described. His library sounded like my dream library. I also loved that these two were trying to get to the same ending but had two different paths to get there. Based on the secrets they kept they were floundering around in the dark way more than they needed to. My least favorite part also pivots off of the ballroom. I personally don't like the 'exploration" aspect of the grave robbing that took place. I also disliked that he and his family removed these things from their rightful place and he had no plans to share them with the rest of the world.



Bella was a pretty unique character. I loved that she was so used to taking care of things and she wasn't one to be cowed des[pite how she was being treated by those who judged her based on her dress. I also loved her siblings especially her brother who clearly thought he was supposed to be more of an adult than he truly was. I loved how they interacted as a family. It would be nice if we got their stories int he future to see how it all turned out for them, trying to fit into 'polite society'.



The POVs were good because it switched between them and gave us a chance to see their motivations and how they saw things so differently from each other. The Cinderella similarities are all there especially in the beginning and the beauty and beast parts come later. I really enjoyed this rendition of these two classic stories. A quick fun read. It doesn't read like a fourth book, which was great because I haven't read the first three yet.

Finally, a romance about a scholar!

Well, two scholars, which really just makes it better. At least for the most part. Well. Okay, this book had some issues but I was still happy to see the intellectual types as the main characters.

Bella's father traveled the world studying ancient artifacts until passing away and leaving her and her younger siblings a cottage in Oxford with little money to get by. Because of this, Bella jumps on the chance to take a position with the beastly Duke of Aylwin, Miles, who is the son of a former colleague of her father's. Connections, y'all.

Anyway, you can probably see how this is going to go. They end up in his house together, working side by side, she brings out his gentler side as the beauty to his beast, cue happily ever after. Oh, and throw in the hunt for a treasure map for good measure.

Where this book took a turn for the worst is the way Miles treats Bella on several occasions. He is truly beastly, forcing himself on her both knowingly and also in situations where he's supposed to be so caught up in his work that holding a woman's leg well above her skirts doesn't phase him (despite distressing Bella and also in that time period, simply not appropriate). Time and again he's just a jerk to Bella and everyone around him which didn't endear him to me at all. 

Now I am glad that Bella was a strong character on her own and put him in his place several times over but I never quite got the attraction between them after the way he acted. I know it's a retelling and a romance so there's going to be a happy ending but I guess I wanted Miles to be less of a beast in the crossing lines/verbally abusive way because it really wasn't necessary. If Disney can manage it, so could this story. 

And yet. . . I did enjoy this book to a degree. I loved the concept of the two of them examining ancient Egyptian artifacts because it made the book stand out, and the rest of the story was entertaining. There was a bit of mystery that wasn't terribly hard to figure out but did up the tension a bit. Bella and Miles had plenty of heat too so for that side of things, they were covered. My issues centered around the way Miles acted and the romance that ensued despite his behavior.

I'll say that I'm definitely interested to read the other books in this series, especially as there seems to be a central character who plans out each of these pairings and has an interesting backstory of her own. This one wasn't a winner for me due to the problems mentioned but the writing was good and I look forward to seeing what other fairy tales Drake tackles in the rest of the series.

Bella and the Beast is the interesting story of Bella and Miles. I enjoyed getting to know the two of them better in this book, and loved watching as their romance developed. The plot was interesting and fast paced. The action was plentiful, and I enjoyed premise of the story, with the Pharoah's treasure.

I could not get into this novel, and based on fellow bloggers/readers reviews, I am going to pass on this series.