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!

The Princess Companion - Melanie Cellier

The Princess Companion

Melanie Cellier

The Four Kingdoms

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

Danger and romance await a woodcutter's daughter in a royal palace.

One dark and stormy night, lost and alone, Alyssa finds herself knocking on the door of a castle. After a lifetime spent in the deep forest, Alyssa has no idea what to expect on the other side.

What she finds is two unruly young princesses and one very handsome prince. When Alyssa accepts the job of Princess Companion she knows her life will change. What she doesn't know is that the royal family is about to be swept up in unexpected danger and intrigue, and that she just might be the only thing standing between her kingdom and destruction.

This retelling of the classic fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, reimagines the risks and rewards that come when one royal family goes searching for a true princess.

As a Retelling:
What if the prince's true love was the first to try the bed? What if she just failed to tell anyone that it was insanely uncomfortable, and then she's hired on to be companion to the prince's younger sisters, allowing her to properly get to know and fall in love with the prince? Alyssa is also a woodcutter's daughter instead of being an actual princess. The prince is also the son of Cinderella and her prince, who have fallen out of love due to her feeling like she can't handle the pressure of being queen.

Arista's Thoughts: 

Very sweet romance here, though it was a bit infurating as most of the book's conflict boils down to "lasp in communication." I also was quite disorinted as most of the book was in Alyssa's first person POV, but there were some "extra" scenes that were in Max's and Ava's, also first person. Lily and Sofie were adorable little girls, the showdown in the final act was pretty nice, and the ending was perfect. 

Fairy Tale Romance - The Princess and the Pea

Twisted Tale

Indie

Fallout - Cinderella

Alternative Covers:

Have you read The Princess Companion? 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!