The Beast and the Enchantress - Camille Peters

The Beast and the Enchantress

Camille Peters

A Villain's Ever After

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

If there’s one thing Astrid, an aspiring enchantress with budding magical powers, has learned throughout her studies, it's that magic must only be used for good. But when an egocentric prince breaks her sister’s heart, Astrid’s only focus is revenge, and what better way to enact it than with a well-chosen curse?

A simple incantation is all it takes to transform the arrogant prince's appearance to match the state of his heart. But something goes wrong, causing the spell to affect not only the prince, but its caster as well. As the curse begins to change her appearance to reflect the state of her own vengeful heart, Astrid becomes desperate to break it at all costs, even if it means entering the castle in disguise and interacting with the prince she loathes.

To her surprise, Astrid encounters not a conceited prince, but one very different from the one she cursed. She soon finds her heart softening, but not in the way she expects—she’s losing it to the cursed prince she has vowed to hate. The closer they become, the more desperate Astrid is to free the prince, and herself, from the curse. But in so doing, she may lose the man she loves forever.

For how could a prince ever love the woman who turned him into a beast?

As a Retelling:

This is a more cozy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Astrid's curse only affects the prince and herself, and does not condemn a whole castle to ghostly status as in the original. This retelling also effectively combines the reasons for the curse in both the original tale (jilted love) and the Disney version (rejection of a rose). However, because the Enchantress was an invention of the Disney film, that solidly makes this retelling of said film, rather than the original story. 

Arista's Thoughts:
While I like the idea and the romance was sweet, unfortunately, once the curse was cast, the rest of the book was just a succession of conversations and nothing happened. There was no external conflict to challenge the characters, just Astrid and the prince talking and then feeling betrayed. 

I do appreciate that this book did let the heroine actually be the villain and that it gave her a proper redemption arc, which is ... not really the route taken by the rest of the series. However, I have read better retellings with the Enchantress as the heroine. 

Alternate Perspective - Beauty and the Beast

Alternate Ending

Reimagining 

Disney Influence

Book 

Magical 

Traditional European 

Multiauthor Collection

Have you read The Enchantress and the Beast? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Grace by Contract - Rachel Rossano

Grace by Contract

Rachel Rossano

Once Upon a Duchy

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase:

Official Blurb:

After her father uproots the family to the northern duchy of Brackenhurst, Grace Eldon and her four younger sisters struggle with a new life of hardship. Desperate to keep a roof over their heads amid mounting debts, she and her youngest sister seek employment in the Duke of Brackenhurst's household despite fearsome rumors.

Scarred and maimed from a terrible fire Silas Isling, Duke of Brackenhurst, buries himself in his work to avoid the stares of pity and fear. When one of the new maids shows no fear at his appearance, he is intrigued. That is until his meddling steward gives her the task of cleaning Silas' bookroom. It is a most unwelcome disruption since he prefers to be alone.

While a thief plagues his castle, an old nemesis reappears, and enemies invade in the guise of guests. Amidst the distractions and chaos, Grace brings some unexpected order. Once convinced his scars had stolen all hope for love, Silas finds his life forever changed by the quiet maid. Could she love a scarred Duke?

As a Retelling:

The basic hallmarks of B&B are here. An attractive young woman by name of Beauty ends up in the castle of a disfigured local lord, and ... wait, no (checks notes again), it's actually her sister, Grace who the Duke falls in love with. They are the daughters of a merchant, though this merchant is ... a bit of a rat, defrauded a bunch of his customers, and is currently allowing a fellow rat to impose upon his very beautiful but mentally challenged daughter, Beauty. Grace seeks employment from the local Duke in order to clear their debt and gain his protection.

There's a lot to this setup that has a definite feel of Pride and Prejudice - Grace's is a family of five sisters, Silas's history with Sir Webb is very Darcy-Wickham, and the head housekeeper plays a very good Catherine de Bourgh. It might have just been the fact that I read this coming right off an actual P&P retelling, but it was quite glaring to me.

Weirdly, combining the two stories in this format lessened rather than intensified the romance's conflict. There's little if any prejudice that drives our couple apart, though Grace does make a lot of noise about their class difference and his favoritism causes her issues with the head housekeeper. His disfiguring injuries are actually what throws them together, since he struggles to read and write due to weakened eyesight and the loss of his dominant hand. She used to keep the paperwork for her father, so the steward gives her the task of reading and writing for the duke.

The climax of the story does parallel the original story, with Grace leaving for home to deal with family issues, and then things quickly growing worse from there.

Arista's Thoughts:
All together, a touching romance between a duke who thinks no one can love him and a servant girl who has the world against her. It's set in Rachel Rossano's greater world that contains most of her books, and it works pretty well. I've seen most of the themes implemented better in other retellings, but they came together well for a very cohesive whole here. I felt the villains were a bit over the top, and I think the author shied a bit too hard away from Sir Webb's vileness and thus made certain aspects a bit confusing, but seeing them go down was satisfying regardless. If you like your retellings without the magic, I definitely recommend this one.

Loose Retelling: Beauty and the Beast

Unintentional Retelling: Pride and Prejudice

Cameo - Wild Swans, Twelve Dancing Princesses

Non-Magical
Indie

Traditional European

Have you read Grace By Contract? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Beast Hunter - Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunter

Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunters - Prequel

SPOILER WARNING for "Arista's Thoughts"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

Ro’s people are starving. A curse has overtaken her land, blackening the soil, wiping out crops, and bringing ruin to all. She doesn't know what to do.

The only people who thrive are the huntsmen, brought in by the mysterious Gautier to stem the flow of ravenous creatures looking for food.

When Ro accidentally kills a wolf, an idea begins to form. Could she become a huntress? Earn enough livres to feed her family?

But her world is shattered when her father promises her to a beast in exchange for his own life. If she doesn’t go, a curse will fall on her family worse than the one destroying their land. But Ro is determined to save her family another way.


Will Ro have the courage to seek her own fate instead of the one pressed upon her?

As a Retellling:

This is basically set-up for Harper's full-length novel Kill the Beast, but it does cover the first act of the original fairy tale - with the twist being that instead of our heroine's demure sweetness, Ro is quite resentful of the hard times that have overtaken her family, and she also has more than her fair share of Rebellious Princess Syndrome, and instead of going to the beast to save her father ... she runs away in search of the means to save her land. The Red Riding Hood parallels come up in the fact that there are Hunters who kill wolves (the book actually opens with Ro killing one accidentally), and the climax involves Ro meeting with a "grandmother" character who's not who she seems.

Arista's Thoughts: 

I really love the concept for Kill the Beast, and this prequel hasn't turned me off from my goal of tracking that book down and reading it ... but Beast Hunter suffered for being, well, a prequel. There was a lot set up in the book that wasn't really resolved, and the climax happened when there was still a bit of book left, leaving the final act feeling a little underwhelming. Ro was also a very inconsistent character and had no real growth. I feel that these issues could and probably will be resolved in the main book, but I just couldn't connect with this prequel.

Prequel - Beauty and the Beast
Inspired By - Little Red Riding Hood
Twisted Tale
"I'll Save Myself"
Traditional European


Have you read Beast Hunter? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Beauty and the Beast - K.M. Shea

Beauty and the Beast

K.M. Shea

Timeless Fairy Tales #1

SPOILER WARNING for Arista's Thoughts

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb: Once upon a time Elle made a mistake. A small miscalculation sends her through the roof of an enchanted chateau. Stranded until her broken leg mends, Elle is unwillingly forced to rely on the good will of the sour chateau owner —the cursed Prince Severin.

Prince Severin—the commanding general and staunch supporter of his brother the crown prince—is cursed to look like a beast until a maiden falls in love with him. He has given up all hope of shattering the curse, and has only disdain for Elle.

Unfortunately, the pair can’t seem to avoid each other thanks to the meddling of the chateau’s cursed servants. Eventually Elle’s playful manners and Severin’s hidden gentleness draw the pair together.

But not all love stories can end that easily. After all, Elle is not what she seems, and Severin’s life is placed in danger when hostilities flare between his brother and the monarchs of a neighboring country. When Elle risks everything to save Severin, will he be able to forgive her for her lies?

As a Retellling: Prince Severin is a Beast due to an enchantress's curse, and Elle is the daughter of a merchant who has fallen on hard times. However, she winds up in Severin's house not because of an extracted promise from her father, but because she is a really good spy and her kingdom is taking advantage of her family's debt to eek as much work out of her as possible. She had been assigned to spy on Prince Severin, and, belying her skill ... fell through a glass roof and broke her leg, forcing her to rely on his hospitality. All of his servants are immediately hopeful that she might, finally, be the girl to break their master's curse, and immediately start shoving the two together. 

Arista's Thoughts: It's an interesting take on the tale and I appreciate that there is very little, if anything, that feels Disney about it. However, B&B is a very slow fairy tale, and this retelling removed most of the story's action - it opened when Elle fell through the roof, and there's no occasion where she gets to go home and have Thoughts with herself concerning the Beast. As a result, while I love that it got the fairy tale's themes and messages right, it dragged painfully in many places. Also, the plot twist concerning Elle's spy position was rather clumsily handled, and, I felt, played up too much for drama at the end.

Fairy Tale Romance - Beauty and the Beast

Twisted Tale

Magical

Traditional European

Alternative Covers:

 

Have you read Beauty and the Beast? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!