Scan barcode
jkpiowa's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kbeddes's review
3.0
Genre: Beauty and the Beast, artistic life,
Summary: Alix is a painter. She comes from a family of painters who always paint the Cromptons. When she receives a commission to paint the reclusive last of the Crompton line, she is intrigued. She goes up to his secluded house in the country and meets Leland who has been grossly distorted by a genetic disease. Leland is kind, generous, possibly the best man that Alix has ever met. When she falls in love with him, he doesn't believe her.
Response: I am always up for a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I was intrigued by the realistic setting of this story. It's a fairy-tale in the sense that there is a Beauty and there is a Beast, but it has a little different "happily ever after" than what I was expecting. The writing was fairly beautiful, however. I wasn't my favorite retelling by any means, but it wasn't bad.
Summary: Alix is a painter. She comes from a family of painters who always paint the Cromptons. When she receives a commission to paint the reclusive last of the Crompton line, she is intrigued. She goes up to his secluded house in the country and meets Leland who has been grossly distorted by a genetic disease. Leland is kind, generous, possibly the best man that Alix has ever met. When she falls in love with him, he doesn't believe her.
Response: I am always up for a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I was intrigued by the realistic setting of this story. It's a fairy-tale in the sense that there is a Beauty and there is a Beast, but it has a little different "happily ever after" than what I was expecting. The writing was fairly beautiful, however. I wasn't my favorite retelling by any means, but it wasn't bad.
sarahconnor89757's review against another edition
5.0
I'll love any book that has a disfigured leading character, and what was good about this book was that instead of it being 'At first, I was taken aback but I can see the beauty there. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' it was 'He's ugly. No, ugly ugly.' Aside from that, the leading lady was the right amount of feminine to make her believable and not annoying. So that makes for two winning characters in my book.
Lastly, the book is a great realistic version of a re-told fairy tale and despite the mood it left me in, I appreciate the short journey.
Lastly, the book is a great realistic version of a re-told fairy tale and despite the mood it left me in, I appreciate the short journey.
bibliogramy's review against another edition
5.0
Why'd they kill her off though?!? I can't. Otherwise, this book was positively lovely and I loved it!
alyson7's review against another edition
3.0
Beauty by Susan Wilson is a rewriting of Beauty & the Beast with a twist. The setting is not a magical fairyland with household objects who are under a spell that can only be broken by true love’s first kiss. Instead, the story is a realistic portrait of a young man whose own self-worth is distorted by a disease which has caused him to gradually become deformed. Unlike Beauty & the Beast where the “beast” transforms from a monstrous creature into a prince, the “beast” in this novel doesn’t change his appearance. Instead, he transforms his outlook on life and how he sees value in himself. The exploration of inner beauty is an interesting approach for a story based on the timeless fairy-tale of Beauty & the Beast .
This is my second time reading this book. It is a delightful adaptation of Beauty & the Beast , and guaranteed it will make you cry at some point. Even during my second time around reading this book, I teared up in certain places. I enjoyed its realistic storyline which demonstrates that the story of Beauty & the Beast it has a real-world application. Instead of solely focusing on Alix’s gradual realization of her love for Leland, the story tends to focus on Leland’s gradual acceptance of his deformities.
The novel is a quick and easy read. Wilson’s writing style is slightly lacking in places. Instead, her strength appears to be the plotline she has created rather than how she tells the story through Alix’s perspective. The surprise twist at the end was a little unnecessary. It seemed as if the author placed it in for dramatic effect rather than as a necessity to the overall plotline. Overall, I would say that this is a good retelling of the original story.
This is my second time reading this book. It is a delightful adaptation of Beauty & the Beast , and guaranteed it will make you cry at some point. Even during my second time around reading this book, I teared up in certain places. I enjoyed its realistic storyline which demonstrates that the story of Beauty & the Beast it has a real-world application. Instead of solely focusing on Alix’s gradual realization of her love for Leland, the story tends to focus on Leland’s gradual acceptance of his deformities.
The novel is a quick and easy read. Wilson’s writing style is slightly lacking in places. Instead, her strength appears to be the plotline she has created rather than how she tells the story through Alix’s perspective. The surprise twist at the end was a little unnecessary. It seemed as if the author placed it in for dramatic effect rather than as a necessity to the overall plotline. Overall, I would say that this is a good retelling of the original story.
bekki77889's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really great - then it seemed as though Susan got bored at the end and put and really bummer ending on it. I was disappointed in the end, but everything before that was great. I wasn't able to put it down.
More...