Beauty Reborn | A Young Adult Novel - Retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”

CW: mention of rape

Probably more of a 3.5.

I'm not someone who reads a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings because it's not a story I grew up with. But this one had a lovely looking cover, so I requested the publisher for an arc and was excited to read it. And turns out it was enjoyable.

The prose was definitely the best part of this story. There were some very beautiful lines throughout and I highlighted my copy quite a bit. However, it also felt like this was a story that was very close to the original, maybe even assumed that you know the actual story and only parts of it are changed or retold to give it a new feel. There's an enchanted forest and castle, one faerie who grants wishes and that's it - it's the extent of world building here and as a huge reader of fantasy, that was a tad bit dissatisfactory for me. But the pacing itself was quick, and the way the past of Beauty is told in short bursts of flashbacks was done quite seamlessly.

This is a fairly short book, almost like a novella, which is probably why I felt that we didn't get enough time for the characters to be developed. Beauty is suffering because of the trauma in her past and wants an escape from that, so I liked that she gets the slow healing that she deserves through the time she spends with Beast. He on the other hand doesn't have a POV, and is a very limited conversationalist, so I felt like we only got to know Beast through Beauty's perspective which was maybe enough to show his kindness and compassionate nature, but we never truly get to know him in depth. I liked that Beauty's family was mostly supportive and there were only a couple of twists with the villains. But there really isn't too much to do for the supporting characters.

In the end, I liked reading this book. It was a short and quick read, and has a charming quality to it, but I think I was expecting more yearning or romance. This might be your cup of tea if you love the original Beauty and the Beast fairytale but haven't read too many retellings, and are ready for a shorter read.