This was a fantastic retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
To take an incredibly familiar story and still have me wondering what'll happen on the next page is a great feat. It somehow managed to feel very unique and original and I loved that we got to see this story from a different point of view.
The characters in this story are lovable and charming and i thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.

This is definitely one of the stronger Beauty and Beast retellings I've read. I'm always on the look-out for one that can recreate the charm of the story without glossing over the more unsavoury issues too much. Shallcross does a decent job, partly by telling much of the story from the Beast's perspective and laying down some groundwork for his character and psychology before introducing "Belle" (Isabeau). There's a sense of his punishment weighing on him and the struggle to return from a wholly animal state in the forest to the semi-human state Isabeau meets was a original addition.

Shellcross draws on details of the original fairytale to flesh out her story and her characters, including the sisters cut from Disney's version. Watching them develop from shallow girls too used to relying on their younger sister is an interesting subplot. The Beast's distant observation adds depth to his relationship with Isabeau as he sees her through their eyes and gains a tenderness for her family is a nice touch.

Writing and story are quite traditional, full of enchantment and old-fashioned romance rather than the trend towards plumbing the darker depths of fairytale and myth. This isn't a bad thing. Shawcross's tale is pleasant, escapist magic with just enough depth to hold the interest. Her characters are likable, easy company for a comfortable afternoon of reading.

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast from the Beasts POV.

I was going in with high hopes that I would enjoy this book and even though there are some elements that I did enjoy I found that this book and its style for writing was not for me. I liked the idea of having a story told from the Beasts point of view but in my opinion it just didn't have that magical element. I liked Isbeau's character along with her sisters and how the Beast is trying not to be a Beast but that was it.

The book is enchanting with gorgeous magical elements but I think due to me going in with high hopes it just didn't meet them.

Am usually a fan of fairy tale retellings, but this one missed the mark for me. It seemed the descriptive prose that was suppose to evoke a sense of old-time charm and wistfulness created an incredibly slow pace and dull tone. The Beast came across as a creepy stalker instead of a tortured heart-broken soul. I have never before thought about how much of a boring and idle life Beauty and Beast would have had.

Unexpectedly, the most enjoyable parts were the snippets showing our 'Beauty's' family. In most stories they are usually portrayed as evil selfish sisters or forgotten entirely. Their inclusion was a real gem.

Beauty and the Beast is a story many are aware of from film, musical and animation. Leife Shallcross has retold the story from the perspective of the Beat himself. 

There are various things that remain a constant from the various versions of this classic children's story. A man cursed to live his day as a beast until he finds someone who loves him for what is on the inside rather than what we see on the out. There are also the gardens, the magic and for all bibliophiles  THE LIBRARY..........

While this is a very good read and sticks to my memories of the story I read as a child, I did find there where parts that did feel a little bit repetitive. Now as an adult it may be that I am being overly picky with a book aimed at younger readers, so I am now wondering if this is actually a way of showing a younger reader the time that the two characters spend together in each others company, building up a friendship and also the trust. 

I did like this story and from the point of view of the Beast, it gave this character a chance to say his piece and express his feeling and thoughts as well as expressing the hope that Isabeau (Beauty) is the one to break the curse.

As well as the Beast and Isabeau's story there is also the story of the family that Isabeau left behind while she stays with the Beast. I did really enjoy this section of the story as it went into how the family left behind had to deal with this change to the family, and adjustments to be made.

This is a book that I do think younger readers and also early Teens would enjoy. It is the perfect story for readers who like the traditional "once upon a time...happily ever after" fairy tale.

This was such a good, ostéalgie read, especially as I had only just watched the Disney remake (which omg it’s so good!!) and I really liked reading it from the beast's perspective because normally you’re rooting for a girl to escape her prison and a creepy captor, so it was nice to see a less psychopathy take. Also I love love loved the bits of French, because, I mean, it’s set in France so it seems logical that THERE SHOULD BE FRENCH AND FRENCH INFLUENCES but I’ve literally never seen that before, go figure, so that was a really awesome addition. In conclusion, we liked this.

Beauty and the Beast was one of my favourite films last year so it’s safe to say that the idea of a re-telling gets me incredibly excited, especially when I still have the movie on my brain and this was a brilliant read. Leigh Shallcross is a fantastic author and I absolutely devoured this re-telling. Next one, please!

3.5 stars.
I liked this but didn't fall in love with it as much as I had wanted. I adore fairy tales and fairy tale retellings so this is completely my cup of tea. However, for the retelling to be successful it has to do something different with the source material, not just rehash it.
Things this book did well were the Beast's perspective, fleshing out the characters of Isabeau's sisters and describing the beautiful enchanted mansion, with magic that seems to have a mind of its own.
Things it didn't do so well were making Isabeau a sympathetic character, establishing much chemistry between the Beast and Isabeau, or keeping the pace of the story up by having things happen.
I have no problem with books in which very little happens because I am all about the character development (one of my favourite books is Mansfield Park in which nothing happens but we spend time seeing Fanny's character grow), but there were times when the story lagged a little for me. As it is a retelling, the readers already know or at least have some idea what is going to happen. So the small details or character interactions have to be even more carefully constructed.
In many ways, I found Isabeau's sisters and their love stories more interesting than hers and the Beast's, partly because her character suffers from only being seen through the Beast's eyes.
I also felt a bit short-changed when we found out the reason for the Beast's enchantment as it really seemed as if his father should have been punished, not him!
I would recommend this for fans of either the original story or the Disney version, or for readers who can enjoy the beautiful descriptions without worrying too much about a pacy read.

This book is beautiful.

Which is kind of why I feel so disappointed. I had such high hopes for this book. I thought it was going to be a 5 star read. That I was going to love it and fly through it in like a day. Fairytales are my weakness. Those and fantasy, epic or otherwise.

I honestly don't know why I didn't exactly get along with this book. I mean in no way is it bad it just took me so looong to read. I feel like I've read nothing else all month and that I'm so far behind. It took me TEN DAYS to read a 300 page book. Seriously? I'm annoyed at myself.

I feel like such a shitty person giving this a bad rating it just didn't pull me in. I felt not emotions or chemistry between Isabeau and Beast and at times preferred reading the parts about her family.

Maybe this just wasn't for me.

This was a unique concept really, switching it to the beast's POV, but I wasn't as swept away as I wanted to be. It had some beautiful moments, though!

Monsieur de la Noue was a successful businessman but having been ruined he lives in a tumbledown cottage with his three daughters. Having travelled to Rouen in the middle of winter he and his exhausted horse decide to take a shortcut through the forest where a beast lies in wait. However after being taken in to a beautiful chateau, fed and watered overnight and sent on their way, he falls for a trick and plucks a rose from the garden as a gift for his youngest daughter, Isabel. The Beast demands that he bring his daughter to him but this is no ordinary beast.

At face value this is a simple retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale but from the perspective of the Beast. However it is also a love story about two lonely people and a sense of honour and duty. I found it compelling and incredibly emotional. The writing is very assured for a debut novelist and both Isabel and the Beast are far more complex characters than the reader initially thinks.

This book was exactly what I needed after the somewhat disappointing Fearie Tales (please see last week’s epic review for details) because it was wonderful. I LOVE Beauty and the Beast, so much so that it has had a major influence on my own book-in-progress. Of course, it isn’t a story without its faults – keeping a woman prisoner in an attempt to make her love you is in fact not romantic and is in fact a crime – but my love for it refuses to die. The Beast’s Heart takes the original tale and the subsequent popular culture built around it and retells it from the perspective of the ‘Beast’, cursed for his cold-heartedness and trapped both within his own monstrous body and within the lands he once owned.

When Monsieur De La Noue stumbles across the grounds of the castle, The Beast sees his chance not to be alone, and when he takes a rose from the gardens for his youngest daughter Isabeau he unwittingly choses the Beast’s companion. The curse seems to act independently of its caster – who may or may not be a majestic lesbian fairy, let me know your reading of it! – and while it affords the Beast some control over his domain, it increasingly disobeys him for its own agenda as the novel progresses.

This book is beautifully written, combining the lyricism of classical literature with some of the humour and awareness of modern writing – Isabeau and her Beast have some very funny moments, and she is afforded much more agency and personality than in the original tales and those of the time. When the Beast asks her to marry him – which he does a lot, a point not working in his favour given her repeated uncomfortable responses – she is allowed to say no, she is allowed to leave, she is not threatened by his proposals, only sorry that she cannot give him the answer he wants. Given that she doesn’t think he is human, and he is bound by the curse not to tell her that he is, the fact that they fall in love is handled very well. She forgets, with his human attire and habits, that he is not human – and longs for a world where he is.

I like that we see his selfish intentions – if she loves him, he’ll be free, so she must love him – gradually give way to an earnest desire to please her even if it displeases him to do it. She is never his prisoner, he makes it clear she may leave, she is never bound to accept his proposals, he makes it clear she may refuse. He is desperate, but not desperate enough to demand anything of her – even her stay in his castle is voluntary after all.

You see the actions of Isabeau’s family during her absence, you grow fond of them, you root for them and you watch as they cope – or don’t cope – with the idea that Isabeau may never come back. It’s a very emotional story, and it manages to inject some humanity into the fairy tale. Her father especially struggles with the disappearance of his youngest child, fighting to keep a roof above the heads of his other two daughters and blaming himself for the misfortune that has begun to haunt their family.

I also want to add a quick shout out to the invisible, magical servants that maintain the Beast’s chateau, for putting up with this melodramatic man-beast for so long and somehow managing to be sarcastic despite being both invisible and silent. The magic in this story and how it works is definitely one of my favourite aspects of the book, it’s wonderful. It’s also the ultimate wing-man, single handedly setting up foods and events that will impress Isabeau when the Beast himself is slightly clueless.

This is a book about allowing yourself to feel emotions, instead of pushing them away or denying them, and accepting fault instead of placing it on others. It is about two people falling in love – albeit under very strange circumstances – yes, but it is also about a man unable to look at his own portrait for fear of what he will see there, learning to accept his part in what has happened to him and fight to change.

I would highly recommend this book to any fantasy and fairy tale fans out there, and any Beauty and the Beast lovers like myself. It was an absolute pleasure to read, and I adored it.



A copy of The Beast’s Heart was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I’m disappointed I didn’t like this as much as I thought I would. The pace felt quite slow and although I really wanted to like the characters I just couldn’t connect with them. The relationship between Isabeau and the beast as well just felt a bit wooden for my liking and considering (understandably) a fair amount of this book revolves around a romantic plot it just really wasn’t for me.

I received with thanks an ARC copy of The Beasts Heart from Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley.

This is my true and honest review of The Beast Heart by Leife Shallcross. This was published on 3rd May 2018

3.5 Stars - This book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite stories and have enjoyed most adaptations of this classic tale. This was good, and I found this to be enjoyable read.
Great book for YA fantasy and fairy-tale retelling lovers.

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, told from the Beast’s perspective in a YA tone. I was drawn to the new take on one of my favourite fairy tales, (and the cover, which is beautiful) but a lot of this just didn’t really work for me.

One thing I really liked was the magical aspects, which manage to keep this feeling like a fairy tale without overpowering the story. The secondary characters, the castle and other settings really help set the scenes and are the world building is good, with vivid descriptions that really help put the reader into the castle with the Beast.

I think my major issue was the writing style. Told in first person with a rather ‘old’ voice, I found it a bit stilted and unemotional. This made it difficult for me to really connect with any of the characters, and I felt little sympathy for the Beast and his growing feelings for our ‘beauty’, Isabeau. A lot of the plot is devoted to the romance, as I would expect it to in a retelling of this kind, and although rather contrived at times, there’s a decent amount of development over time (no instalove here). Unfortunately, I just couldn’t really get invested in the relationship, and at times it I do think it verges on unhealthy and manipulative.

The pace is also slow at times, primarily because of the focus on the romance. For a long time, not much else happens, and the ending is then rushed. I also didn’t really understand the side story involving Isabeau’s family and the enchanted mirror, as I didn’t think it really brought anything to the plot.

I loved the ideas behind this, and believe there’s a lot of potential here, but unfortunately this just didn’t work for me.

I wanted to love this book, I stuck with it to the end so it is readable. I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

I loved the idea of one of my favourite fairy tales told from the beast's perspective. The opportunity to get inside his head was really interesting and I enjoyed the darker elements of this story. At times, I found the plot slower paced but I appreciated the descriptive writing style throughout. Overall, this was an interesting twist on a fairy tale and I'll be interested to see what Leife Shallcross writes next.

This read was a bit of a mixed bag. I’m a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast, it was my favourite fairy tale as a child, I love the Disney version, I actively seek out retellings, hence why I read The Beast’s Heart. My love of the fairy tale is what kept me reading past the start of the book which was trying to say the least.

35667081When I first picked this book up I didn’t know it was a debut, but the writing style definitely gave it away. Leife Shallcross’s prose was self-consciously superfluous, with every description in the first few chapters utilising every adjective possible, which made it a bit hard going to begin with.

Eventually, though, this over the top description fades away and we’re left with a much more simplified prose style that is more reminiscent of middle grade books. This made me second guess who this book was even aimed at but it is marketed as YA though I wouldn’t class it as such, it doesn’t meet most of the criteria of YA, and it seems to only be placed in YA because that’s where fairy tale retellings thrive.

I’m going to go into the plot a bit now so there will be some spoilers ahead.

Okay so, most fairy tale retellings have a twist, right? Little Red Riding Hood fights werewolves, The Princess decides to live with the dragon rather than be saved, The Little Mermaid fights off people polluting the sea and so on. The Beast’s Heart is told from the point of view of the Beast, Isabeau’s (Belle) sisters are not the spoiled brats in the original tale but become self sufficient and have a much more interesting romantic arc than Isabeau, and there is a hint that the fairy that cursed the Beast was in love with his grandmother.

Having the story told from the Beasts POV was uncomfortable, but that made it a little more interesting at least. I was disappointed that the sisters were much more well rounded characters than Isbeau but I chalked this up to the fact that the Beasts narrative voice was so infatuated with Isabeau that she became just another boring Mary-Sue.

The thing that irked me the most was the fairy’s motives for cursing the Beast. Apparently the fairy loved the Beasts grandmother, an idea I liked as it makes sense that the fairy would know of the Beast before cursing him. Her motives were questionable though, apparently the Beast’s cold heart and his unwillingness to love (due to his emotionally abusive father who he watched abuse many women) caused his grandmother pain, and so the fairy cursed the Beast to wear his beastly form until someone loved him.

This is honestly ridiculous. I just couldn’t see this motive giving the fairy any closure at all about her love dying, she wasn’t presented as particularly evil so I can’t see her as the cruel sidhe type fae to take children leave changelings etc. Not to mention she laid no such curse on his horrible abusive father but instead laid a curse on his abused son? This along with Isabeau’s father attempted suicide happening then literally never being mentioned again I found the whole approach to mental health a bit surreal.

I did enjoy the book in some places, it was sweet, and I was looking forward to seeing the love story unfold. However, the ending seemed to happen all at once, much like the Disney version, and everything was wrapped up in a couple pages, which is satisfying on screen but falls very flat on the page.

Honestly, I’d recommend this book to any young kids that are particularly into Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, as it’s almost identical, but aside from that I really didn’t get much out of it.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

https://lynns-books.com/2018/06/05/the-beasts-heart-by-leife-shallcross/
After a rather crazy month of May I’m pretty much dedicating the month of June to catching up with all my errant reviews.

The Beast’s Heart is a retelling of my favourite fairytale – Beauty and the Beast. It’s a rather beautifully written love story told from the perspective of the Beast.

I can say immediately that I enjoyed this book very much. The style of writing is a perfect mix of beautiful description and bewitching storytelling and it’s a tale that I already know and love. I have a couple of little issues that kept this from going from a good read to a great one but overall this was a lovely story that I devoured in a couple of sittings.

I won’t go into the plot too much. I’m fairly sure that most people know the storyline for Beauty and the Beast and for the most part The Beast’s Heart is a faithful rendition that takes the opportunity to give us the Beast’s perspective.

We start off with the Beast living wild in the forest, terrorising the other animals until he remembers his humanity and the curse that brought him so low. After he recalls his past he returns to his home, a fantastic and crumbling chateau that is also cursed. The whole place is bewitched, it has it’s own seasons, the gardens can change at will and the house has it’s own personality being able to change from a place of warmth and comfort to one that is hostile and unwelcoming depending on it’s own feelings as events unfold. Eventually, following the natural course of the fairytale Isabeau comes to stay with the Beast after an agreement is reached that she will stay for the duration of one year.

Gradually the two form a sort of friendship and fall into a daily pattern however their friendship is hampered by the secrets that they both withhold from each other and a general lack of openness.

What I particularly liked about this was the style of writing. This story lends itself so well to the gothic and the author has a lovely way with words that evokes the classics. The descriptions and attention to detail are really well executed and I also particularly enjoyed the way the story splits between the time spent at the Chateau and the glimpses of Isabeau’s family and the lives they are now living, which we are able to witness alongside the Beast using his magical mirror. Isabeau’s sister’s both have their own storylines going on that help to break things up nicely whilst at the same time increasing the tension. I particularly liked that the nature of the two sisters was slightly different here. Yes, they relied heavily on Isabeau but to an extent the fact that she looked after them so thoroughly left them without the will to try things for themselves. When Isabeau left they had to cope and in doing so their characters flourished. Much as Isabeau needed more from her life so did the two sisters need more from theirs.

This is undoubtedly a love story, which I was expecting going in to the read. It focuses strongly on emotions with the Beast’s loneliness and desperation seeping onto every page. He despairs of his current form, he can’t imagine how Isabeau can ever love him and yet every day he persists in asking her to marry him – even though he can see how unhappy it makes her.

The issues I had with this book related to two different things. Firstly, the nature of the Beast’s curse – which was changed slightly but I’m not quite sure why – and in fact it made the whole cursing seem a little unfair to me. The other thing I felt was a lack of ‘beastliness’ from the Beast. To be honest, he was just too damned nice, always charming. Always trying too hard. I realise that he doesn’t want to scare Isabeau away but I almost felt like shaking him at one point. There was one part of the book where the altercations between the two became a bit tedious because of the lack of somebody having a bit more bite or backbone about them. Of course, don’t get me wrong, I can see the motivations for the Beast’s good behaviour but I think I expected every now and again for his animal nature to get the better of him and perhaps we’d witness a teeny outburst.

Fortunately there was nothing that really spoiled the read for me, just a short spell that could have become a little stilted but for the alternate chapters spent with Isabeau’s family.

On the whole I enjoyed reading from the Beast’s pov. The writing was quite captivating and rich with a delicious gothic vibe and I would certainly read more from this author. But – if love stories aren’t your thing – be aware that that is the major gist of the story here.

I received a copy from the publisher courtesy of Netgalley. My thanks for the copy and apologies for the tardiness of this review. The above is my own opinion.

In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the focus is on the Beast’s side of the story. A lonely beast, cursed and isolated, has a chance encounter with a lost traveller. In return for saving the man’s life, the Beast gains the company of his daughter, Isabeau, for a year, during which he finds both love and his humanity.

For the first half of this book, I felt a bit cheated. It wasn’t so much a retelling, but rather an almost identical version of the Beauty and the Beast story we’re all familiar with, from the point of view of the beast. To me, this felt like a bit of a cop-out and was a little disappointing. Fortunately, the second half of the book and the details of Isabeau’s sisters did take the story in a new direction.

The magical elements are enchanting. The book is very descriptive and beautifully written with a flowing plot and complex characters. Plus, how stunning is that cover, right?

It’s a classic story, and very well-written, if a little unoriginal. I enjoyed it a lot.