I really enjoyed this Beauty and the Beast retelling. It had nice nods to the original tale, but went in its own direction. The moments of slow reflection and fast action balanced out nicely, and made for a very fun escape read. ( )

Lovely adaptation of beauty and the beast. I liked Bryony, and I liked that she involved her sister in the end. ( )

T. Kingfisher makes this world a better place, I am sure of it.

How about a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that is cozy, creepy, romantic, and very-very-very funny? Grab a copy, why don’t you… :)))

Bryony has a gardening obsession and goes to a very happy place at the sight of huge library. Yes, Bryony, it’s been lovely to get to know you. Both you and the Beast are absolutely adorable, brave and hilarious. The reader will also want to bang your heads together, as in “Are you blind or something? You are made for each other!” It’s the Beast, though, and Bryony has a regular human head, so it might not be such a good idea.

I want to quote a great many things, but will limit myself to just a few:

[Things happen when Bryony sees the Beast for the first time.]

“It’s not right that I am going to be both dead and mortified”, she told the Beast. “Either kill me now or give me a change of underwear.”

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“I did bring seeds”, she admitted. “But some of these plants are my friends. I wasn’t going to just leave them.” She ruffled her fingers through the lavender.

“Oh, good,” said the Beast drily. “Here I was afraid that I had kidnapped a sane person by mistake.”
( )

A mystery-take on a well-known fairy tale. I thought I solved the mystery a few times, but there were a couple of surprises yet. A fun read.

3.5/5 ( )