Early Reader Review: Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly

Source: From the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly  

Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date:  May 7, 2024 

 

Format: Ebook


Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

From New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Jennifer Donnelly comes a revolutionary, gender-swapped retelling of Beauty and the Beast that will forever change how you think about beauty, power, and what it really means to follow your heart.

What makes a girl "beastly?" Is it having too much ambition? Being too proud? Taking up too much space? Or is it just wanting something, anything , too badly?

That's the problem Arabella faces when she makes her debut in society. Her parents want her to be sweet and compliant so she can marry well, but try as she might, Arabella can't extinguish the fire burning inside her -- the source of her deepest wishes, her wildest dreams.

When an attempt to suppress her emotions tragically backfires, a mysterious figure punishes Arabella with a curse, dooming her and everyone she cares about, trapping them in the castle.

As the years pass, Arabella abandons hope. The curse is her fault -- after all, there's nothing more "beastly" than a girl who expresses her anger -- and the only way to break it is to find a boy who loves her for her true a cruel task for a girl who's been told she's impossible to love.

When a handsome thief named Beau makes his way into the castle, the captive servants are thrilled, convinced he is the one to break the curse. But Beau -- spooked by the castle's strange and forbidding ladies-in-waiting, and by the malevolent presence that stalks its corridors at night -- only wants to escape. He learned long ago that love is only an illusion.

If Beau and Arabella have any hope of breaking the curse, they must learn to trust their wounded hearts, and realize that the cruelest prisons of all are the ones we build for ourselves.

Review: 

I adore Beauty and the Beast and all retellings of the original tale. When I saw this adaptation pop up in my feeds I was very excited to pick it up and was graced with the ability to read it early. 

In this twisted retelling, Arabella is the beast and Beau is our weary traveler trapped in the castle without an understanding of the magic taking place there. Arabella and her court and staff have been trapped in a curse for a hundred years and their time is about to expire. 

The story is told from Beau's POV with a little bit of whimsical storyteller inserted in a few locations throughout the read. Beau is a thief, a poor kid just trying to make a life for himself but also have enough money to support his younger brother. His gang come across the castle on a dreary night while being chased for a job they pulled. Once across, they encounter a lovely spread of food and after indulging are chased off by a monster, most of the group makes it back across the rickety bridge but Beau is trapped and the bridge has collapsed. While trying to plot his escape, Beau learns more about the castle staff and their curse.

Arabella is plagued with despair and longing and she knows her time is almost up, but it has been so long and no suitor has helped her solve the curses riddles. The company of characters in this book make it all the more whimsical, they are lovely and keep the story moving, because both Beau and Arabella are sadly really one-track minded. 

The overall story building was well done, and I really enjoyed the twisting of this tale. I wasn't sure how it was going to be done, with the MCs swapped but Donnelly does a really good job making the story her own and really diving into this new curse.

I think if you are looking for something true to tale just a M/F swap  - this is not for you. If you are relaly interesting a a good adaptation, retelling, I think you will enjoy this one. I really enjoyed the ending and the overall message - I won't spoil it though.