Briarley

I had been eyeing this for a bit (wooed by the cover because I'm shallow like that) but sort of iffy because I'm not a giant fan of fairytales. Imagine my surprise at being gobsmacked by this clever retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Oddly enough it was Florence's review of a separate book that gave me the needed push. Thank you. The story takes the basic structure of B&B but [a:Aster Glenn Gray 18008035 Aster Glenn Gray https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] makes it wholly original and her own. No Disney sugary sweetness in sight. Instead we get British stiff upper in the face of daunting odds. The author transfers the story to England in 1940, when the British were getting pummeled by the Nazis and there was no clear path out of the darkness, figurative and literal. The Beast's curse has turned him into a dragon, fire breathing, winged, and scaly skin included. The parson doesn't barter his daughter for his freedom, but remains himself and tries to puzzle out how to help this exasperating man. I loved everything about this, the writing, the clever plot twists, the way the characters held true to how people of their time would think while, at least as pertains the parson, being expansive enough in thought to encompass different ways of being. I loved that the women in the story were not hapless damsels but rather courageous, enterprising, and smart. My cold heart melted at how love was manifested in so many different iterations. The ending is bittersweet, the characters are still living in England during WWII, but I suspect that we wouldn't read romance if we weren't optimists at heart. Also for those interested there is no heat scorching smex and I was glad of it. Instead I was left dreaming of cottage in the English country side where two men, one older and one younger, could soothe each other's wounds after surviving a hundred year curse and WWII. Perhaps with some not-perfect puppies to boot.The image of a dragon-man with a puppy in his lap is the stuff dreams are made of