Lindsay Mead

This so far has been my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling. It was slow at first the book's opening heavily focused on world-building that payed off in the end. The places that the book describes are explained with enough magic and fantasy ground in reality to make it seem like a real place. The characters are the usual suspects, Belle, Gaston, Belle's father, the Beast, but these characters that have appeared in various stories for well over a century have a fresh feeling. Belle is still the girl we know who wants adventure it the great wide somewhere, but she is also a kick ass hunter who somehow also remains a lady. It's refreshing to have a female lead in a book who is equal parts bad ass, but does so in a fancy dress with minimal complaint. Then there is Gastone (aka Gaston) who I really dislike because of the Disney movie, but he proved to actually be an okay guy. He's still arrogant, but acceptably so. Belle's father is still an inventor but also the leader of a group of hunters that have been charged by the Catholic Church to find and kill hellhounds (kind of like werewolves or black dogs for my paranormally inclined readers). Then there's the Beast. The Prince Aleksander from the neighboring kingdom of Vakre Fjell and his entire kingdom is cursed. Those outside of the protection of the palace turn into hellhounds and those within the palace are trapped. The prince himself has been turned into a "hideous" beast and can only communicate with people through their shared dreams using magic.

The books is incredibly well written, and minus a few questions I have (like how does this shared dreaming thing work, and if everyone is trapped in the palace grounds and can't leave, how and where do they get their food and supplies for all their finery?) it's a well thought out world and concept. I can't wait for the sequels to be published. You can support the author here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-beauty--3#/… (més)

This so far has been my favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling. It was slow at first the book's opening heavily focused on world-building that payed off in the end. The places that the book describes are explained with enough magic and fantasy ground in reality to make it seem like a real place. The characters are the usual suspects, Belle, Gaston, Belle's father, the Beast, but these characters that have appeared in various stories for well over a century have a fresh feeling. Belle is still the girl we know who wants adventure it the great wide somewhere, but she is also a kick ass hunter who somehow also remains a lady. It's refreshing to have a female lead in a book who is equal parts bad ass, but does so in a fancy dress with minimal complaint. Then there is Gastone (aka Gaston) who I really dislike because of the Disney movie, but he proved to actually be an okay guy. He's still arrogant, but acceptably so. Belle's father is still an inventor but also the leader of a group of hunters that have been charged by the Catholic Church to find and kill hellhounds (kind of like werewolves or black dogs for my paranormally inclined readers). Then there's the Beast. The Prince Aleksander from the neighboring kingdom of Vakre Fjell and his entire kingdom is cursed. Those outside of the protection of the palace turn into hellhounds and those within the palace are trapped. The prince himself has been turned into a "hideous" beast and can only communicate with people through their shared dreams using magic.

The books is incredibly well written, and minus a few questions I have (like how does this shared dreaming thing work, and if everyone is trapped in the palace grounds and can't leave, how and where do they get their food and supplies for all their finery?) it's a well thought out world and concept. I can't wait for the sequels to be published. You can support the author here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-beauty--3#/… (més)