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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Originally reviewed on Cyn's Workshop
Rebel Rose is the first in a new series that takes classic Disney fairy tales and puts them into history.
Setting and storytelling
What is interesting about Rebel Rose is how smartly written it is. It picks up after Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and puts the story into its historical setting. Here readers are transported onto the cusp of the French revolution, right after the storming of the Bastille. What is more, is how incredible is it to see through the eyes of Belle.
It is such an intense setting, grounding the reader in the history surrounding the fairy tale’s origins. Anyone who is a history buff has probably questioned whether Belle and her prince lived happily ever after, but now with this story, fans will have their answer. Theriault gives readers a definite look at their happily ever after, exploring civil unrest and the turmoil it has on Belle and her Beast.
Putting this story into its historical setting makes the unique story while also remaining true to Disney’s perspective. What Theriault has done is give that fairy tale new life and vitality. Rebel Rose does not lose the fairy tale’s magic even though it is diving into history, instead weaving magic into the story in another way. Readers see France and the revolution come to life with a new perspective. Through Belle, readers see the importance of the revolution and the importance of reformation and representation. It is important to note that it has a strong resemblance to today’s society, making it thought-provoking and relevant.
Characterization
What is also particularly good about the story is the characterization. Readers will recognize Belle, but they will also see a different side to her. Belle feels lost which is understandable. She no longer is a commoner, but she is not a princess either.
With this change comes a sense of confusion for Bell. She does not know where she kind of fits in at the beginning of the novel. She feels lost and without a voice. Belle has always been headstrong, but she is in a new environment with dangerous people and is unsure how to handle it. It takes a while for Belle to find herself throughout the story and readers will love how she grows and develops throughout the narrative.
It is also great to see Lio brought to life as well. He is no longer the Beast but remains haunted by the Beast and how he came to be the Beast. Lio is similarly lost, having been gone for ten years and now he has to navigate a France that barely remembers him and one that is unfamiliar. It sets up many challenges for him to face, and readers get to see him as lost as Belle and as eager to be better for his people. It is nice to see him be better and be thoughtful, and his sense of confusion also makes him more relatable.
Rebel Rose does not lose the heart of the characters and builds off what makes them charming. Theriault gives the characters more depth, making them more relatable to the reader. Once again, the realism grounds the reader into the story and seeing how real events affect the characters only benefits the story, making them more real.
Final thoughts
Overall, Rebel Rose is an engaging story. Rebel Rose gives new depth to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, keeping the magic and fantasy, and it delves into history.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
Rebel Rose is the first in a new series that takes classic Disney fairy tales and puts them into history.
Setting and storytelling
What is interesting about Rebel Rose is how smartly written it is. It picks up after Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and puts the story into its historical setting. Here readers are transported onto the cusp of the French revolution, right after the storming of the Bastille. What is more, is how incredible is it to see through the eyes of Belle.
It is such an intense setting, grounding the reader in the history surrounding the fairy tale’s origins. Anyone who is a history buff has probably questioned whether Belle and her prince lived happily ever after, but now with this story, fans will have their answer. Theriault gives readers a definite look at their happily ever after, exploring civil unrest and the turmoil it has on Belle and her Beast.
Putting this story into its historical setting makes the unique story while also remaining true to Disney’s perspective. What Theriault has done is give that fairy tale new life and vitality. Rebel Rose does not lose the fairy tale’s magic even though it is diving into history, instead weaving magic into the story in another way. Readers see France and the revolution come to life with a new perspective. Through Belle, readers see the importance of the revolution and the importance of reformation and representation. It is important to note that it has a strong resemblance to today’s society, making it thought-provoking and relevant.
Characterization
What is also particularly good about the story is the characterization. Readers will recognize Belle, but they will also see a different side to her. Belle feels lost which is understandable. She no longer is a commoner, but she is not a princess either.
With this change comes a sense of confusion for Bell. She does not know where she kind of fits in at the beginning of the novel. She feels lost and without a voice. Belle has always been headstrong, but she is in a new environment with dangerous people and is unsure how to handle it. It takes a while for Belle to find herself throughout the story and readers will love how she grows and develops throughout the narrative.
It is also great to see Lio brought to life as well. He is no longer the Beast but remains haunted by the Beast and how he came to be the Beast. Lio is similarly lost, having been gone for ten years and now he has to navigate a France that barely remembers him and one that is unfamiliar. It sets up many challenges for him to face, and readers get to see him as lost as Belle and as eager to be better for his people. It is nice to see him be better and be thoughtful, and his sense of confusion also makes him more relatable.
Rebel Rose does not lose the heart of the characters and builds off what makes them charming. Theriault gives the characters more depth, making them more relatable to the reader. Once again, the realism grounds the reader into the story and seeing how real events affect the characters only benefits the story, making them more real.
Final thoughts
Overall, Rebel Rose is an engaging story. Rebel Rose gives new depth to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, keeping the magic and fantasy, and it delves into history.
See more reviews at Cyn's Workshop and follow me on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Spotify Podcast | YouTube | BookBub | Goodreads+ | LinkedIn
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I honestly don't recognise this version of Belle, who was one of my favourite amongst the Disney Princesses. If book!Belle was really that Belle, she would have started to make changes and made her opinions known from the get-go.
The setting was beautiful and the new characters introduced were interesting, but all of that doesn't matter if the main character whose POV you read through is as inconsistent as this Belle.
The setting was beautiful and the new characters introduced were interesting, but all of that doesn't matter if the main character whose POV you read through is as inconsistent as this Belle.
Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite movies growing up, so I was excited to see this new book about what happens during Belle and the Beast/Prince's "happily ever after" aka what happens to them after the Disney movie ends.
I thought Theriault did a great job with this story. Expectations were high for me since I loved the movie so much. and Theriault did not disappoint. She did a wonderful job of creating a unique story that still included aspects from the original along with bringing in new characters. I also enjoyed how she stayed true to the time period and setting by weaving in the French Revolution to the story. Theriault stayed true to Belle's personality while also showing her adjustment to her new world. I would have liked to see more of the continued love story between Belle and Lio (aka the Beast), but overall this was a great continuation to a beloved fairy tale.
I thought Theriault did a great job with this story. Expectations were high for me since I loved the movie so much. and Theriault did not disappoint. She did a wonderful job of creating a unique story that still included aspects from the original along with bringing in new characters. I also enjoyed how she stayed true to the time period and setting by weaving in the French Revolution to the story. Theriault stayed true to Belle's personality while also showing her adjustment to her new world. I would have liked to see more of the continued love story between Belle and Lio (aka the Beast), but overall this was a great continuation to a beloved fairy tale.
Philippa Gregory meets Disney. Honestly I could have given this four stars except that french court politics from that time infuriate me to no end.
I do think the author did a great job of combining the 90s film story, the live action story and true events into this.
It was different.
I do think the author did a great job of combining the 90s film story, the live action story and true events into this.
It was different.
Well shoot. I really really wanted to love this one. I swear! There’s nothing I love more than a fairytale reimagined. Life after The Beast turns into Adam? I need it! And I loved the idea of Belle navigating through the politics of the revolution in France.
Unfortunately… this was a miss for me. Adam – though he’s called Lio in this book – is hardly in it. He’s always conveniently going away on business to do some thing or other and leaving Belle to figure out how to run things in his absence. The problem with that is his cousin Bastien, who has come to live with them from Paris, is a nightmare – and determined to undermine Belle at every turn.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Belle is headstrong and brilliant. She wouldn’t let some little man stop her from doing what’s right. But this Belle is so full of self-doubt and continually backs down from challenges. It was so uncharacteristic of the Belle we know and love. It just didn’t really make sense. And the whole story is so steeped in politics that it becomes a bit redundant.
The parts that I really enjoyed were Belle’s interactions with Mrs. Potts and her new friend Marguerite. I like that Belle doesn’t want to become a princess or a queen. She wants to stay true to her roots and be able to connect with the people, no matter the social ramifications of her not taking a title. Marguerite seems to be as open minded and forward thinking as Belle and I think they make a good team.
I also enjoyed the ending. I think there were some characters who certainly surprised me. And some characters who got a little bit of redemption – or the justification of their actions was made a bit more clear. The mystical witch woman (I don’t know what she actually was – oracle maybe?) who comes to queens in their time of need was cool. I would liked to have seen more of her, but look forward to her role in subsequent books.
Unfortunately… this was a miss for me. Adam – though he’s called Lio in this book – is hardly in it. He’s always conveniently going away on business to do some thing or other and leaving Belle to figure out how to run things in his absence. The problem with that is his cousin Bastien, who has come to live with them from Paris, is a nightmare – and determined to undermine Belle at every turn.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Belle is headstrong and brilliant. She wouldn’t let some little man stop her from doing what’s right. But this Belle is so full of self-doubt and continually backs down from challenges. It was so uncharacteristic of the Belle we know and love. It just didn’t really make sense. And the whole story is so steeped in politics that it becomes a bit redundant.
The parts that I really enjoyed were Belle’s interactions with Mrs. Potts and her new friend Marguerite. I like that Belle doesn’t want to become a princess or a queen. She wants to stay true to her roots and be able to connect with the people, no matter the social ramifications of her not taking a title. Marguerite seems to be as open minded and forward thinking as Belle and I think they make a good team.
I also enjoyed the ending. I think there were some characters who certainly surprised me. And some characters who got a little bit of redemption – or the justification of their actions was made a bit more clear. The mystical witch woman (I don’t know what she actually was – oracle maybe?) who comes to queens in their time of need was cool. I would liked to have seen more of her, but look forward to her role in subsequent books.
for a while, i thought i was going to dnf this book because i wasn’t getting into it, but like after 150 pages, it really started to pick up. i enjoyed it although the plot twists were predictable and i lowkey called all of them except for one. but yeah, pretty great book.
La Belle et la Bête est mon Disney favori. Je suis un peu déçue de ne pas avoir accroché autant que je l’aurais voulu…
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
~POTENTIAL SPOILERS~
I'm finally done with this! And to be honest, even though I liked it, I felt like there still could've been a lot more done with this premise.
But, I do think the premise itself is very nice. I like the idea of connecting all of these stories with an overarching theme of the Queens' Council, which was introduced in the book and made me excited to see all of the different forms it'll take moving forward. I also really enjoy the idea of grown-up Disney Princesses growing into their own right to rule. It's a cool idea because I love the Disney Princesses and want to see a take on the Disney versions after the movie ends. I've see this premise done a few times with the regular fairy-tale characters but Disney has their own unique spins on their adaptations so it's fun to see those versions be realized in more than just their movies. Plus I just like the idea of doing something else other than: 'what truly happened after happily ever after? it sucked'
Not to mention putting the real history and location into their stories? I'm drooling already. I will admit the French Revolution is not really of interest to me and I feel this one was only picked because of the whole 'Belle and the Beast are royals during the French Revolution oh no' meme but I really liked the movie characters in this! I liked seeing the servants go back to their old roles but having trouble coping with their trauma, even the Beast, named Lio in this, has trauma related to the curse and I enjoyed seeing that handled in such a realistic way! Belle was her usual headstrong self in this. I enjoyed seeing her dilemma between wanting to be there for her people when they see her only as a queen and also just wanting to be herself since she was just a regular peasant before everything happened to her. It endeared me to her very quickly since I could easily see Belle having such a struggle. I also really enjoyed seeing more of her intellectual side as she takes over ruling duties and tries to appease everyone to the best of her abilities.
The writing here is also great, evidently this is the author's first book! I didn't even know until I looked it up! It reads very easily, almost Disney-esque in a way, but still complex and beautiful way to keep your mid visualizing and not getting bored.
Aside from those things, however, I feel like this book was just okay purely because the remainder of the characters weren't very well-developed at all. I really wanted to like Marguerite but she wasn't in it too much and when she was she fell flat as a character. Same for her brother, he was mentioned once as not getting along with her, then he shows up once at the climax and suddenly they're close again. It's really a shame since I had interest in both of them as characters, Marguerite especially. You never actually learn what the villain's motives are despite spending basically the entire book with him. You also never fully get a sense of what Lio is like as a literal and figurative changed man because he's always off somewhere else. I get he's the king and all, but the book seemed to be banking on the fact you believed in their chemistry in the movie, and even if I did, there's none of that here which is a shame since I wanted to see that explored too.
Several aspects of this book seem to be taken from the live-action adaptation such as the Enchantress being involved in kingdom politics, Lio's relationship with his parents, and Gaston's backstory. I didn't mind that actually since I liked seeing the two mediums be combined together into a more fulfilling story. I also appreciated all of the callbacks to the original movie that were in here.
Speaking of Gaston though, one of the familiar faces we see here is LeFou but I also feel that was such a waste. There was a lot of great potential for his character, I could see what they were going for, he wasn't genuinely malicious, he just went along with Gaston's schemes because that's what one does, but since he was barely in the story his redemption along with Belle finally learning his name didn't really feel earned. If we spent more time with him, even just a little bit, it would've felt more natural.
I also feel like the whole climax and ending were rushed. At first the book progressed slowly and built up a lot of things, then all of a sudden everyone is running around, getting kidnapped and thrown into the dungeons, oh never mind everything is okay now, they're crowed now! Maybe it was just me but it really felt like it came out of nowhere with little progression, but given the context maybe it was on purpose?
Overall, this was a decent start to a series with a few things I really liked, but the bulk of it could've been a lot better. However this was also primarily an introduction to the remainder of the story so I hope the rest from here will only get better and better. Some ideas I want to see; Pocahontas as a super cool Chieftain of her tribe and ten years later John Smith comes back and the two try to make a new settlement together or something, or Jasmine as a badass Sultana with Aladdin by her side, I'm mainly thinking of the live-action version because she wanted to rule in that version but I could also see the animated one wanting to take over after her father, and how about Tiana and Naveen traveling the world and making the world a better place especially after the Great Depression, and don't forget about the older princesses, I'd love to see Aurora and Prince Phillip trying to catch up on their lost childhoods together, and Aurora getting some well-needed bonding time with her parents too, and Prince Phillip's parents too as they teach them how to rule, and maybe adding some other 'Disney Ladies' to the mix who aren't princesses but might still be interesting, like Megara or Esmeralda, especially considering they wanted to make a sequel for Hercules primarily focusing on Megara so the authors could reference that.
Also, I'd like to thank this book for giving a friend and I the 'Communist LeFou' joke we reference sometimes so the book is a masterpiece from that perspective.
Overall, a decent start, but not super developed on its own terms.
I'm finally done with this! And to be honest, even though I liked it, I felt like there still could've been a lot more done with this premise.
But, I do think the premise itself is very nice. I like the idea of connecting all of these stories with an overarching theme of the Queens' Council, which was introduced in the book and made me excited to see all of the different forms it'll take moving forward. I also really enjoy the idea of grown-up Disney Princesses growing into their own right to rule. It's a cool idea because I love the Disney Princesses and want to see a take on the Disney versions after the movie ends. I've see this premise done a few times with the regular fairy-tale characters but Disney has their own unique spins on their adaptations so it's fun to see those versions be realized in more than just their movies. Plus I just like the idea of doing something else other than: 'what truly happened after happily ever after? it sucked'
Not to mention putting the real history and location into their stories? I'm drooling already. I will admit the French Revolution is not really of interest to me and I feel this one was only picked because of the whole 'Belle and the Beast are royals during the French Revolution oh no' meme but I really liked the movie characters in this! I liked seeing the servants go back to their old roles but having trouble coping with their trauma, even the Beast, named Lio in this, has trauma related to the curse and I enjoyed seeing that handled in such a realistic way! Belle was her usual headstrong self in this. I enjoyed seeing her dilemma between wanting to be there for her people when they see her only as a queen and also just wanting to be herself since she was just a regular peasant before everything happened to her. It endeared me to her very quickly since I could easily see Belle having such a struggle. I also really enjoyed seeing more of her intellectual side as she takes over ruling duties and tries to appease everyone to the best of her abilities.
The writing here is also great, evidently this is the author's first book! I didn't even know until I looked it up! It reads very easily, almost Disney-esque in a way, but still complex and beautiful way to keep your mid visualizing and not getting bored.
Aside from those things, however, I feel like this book was just okay purely because the remainder of the characters weren't very well-developed at all. I really wanted to like Marguerite but she wasn't in it too much and when she was she fell flat as a character. Same for her brother, he was mentioned once as not getting along with her, then he shows up once at the climax and suddenly they're close again. It's really a shame since I had interest in both of them as characters, Marguerite especially. You never actually learn what the villain's motives are despite spending basically the entire book with him. You also never fully get a sense of what Lio is like as a literal and figurative changed man because he's always off somewhere else. I get he's the king and all, but the book seemed to be banking on the fact you believed in their chemistry in the movie, and even if I did, there's none of that here which is a shame since I wanted to see that explored too.
Several aspects of this book seem to be taken from the live-action adaptation such as the Enchantress being involved in kingdom politics, Lio's relationship with his parents, and Gaston's backstory. I didn't mind that actually since I liked seeing the two mediums be combined together into a more fulfilling story. I also appreciated all of the callbacks to the original movie that were in here.
Speaking of Gaston though, one of the familiar faces we see here is LeFou but I also feel that was such a waste. There was a lot of great potential for his character, I could see what they were going for, he wasn't genuinely malicious, he just went along with Gaston's schemes because that's what one does, but since he was barely in the story his redemption along with Belle finally learning his name didn't really feel earned. If we spent more time with him, even just a little bit, it would've felt more natural.
I also feel like the whole climax and ending were rushed. At first the book progressed slowly and built up a lot of things, then all of a sudden everyone is running around, getting kidnapped and thrown into the dungeons, oh never mind everything is okay now, they're crowed now! Maybe it was just me but it really felt like it came out of nowhere with little progression, but given the context maybe it was on purpose?
Overall, this was a decent start to a series with a few things I really liked, but the bulk of it could've been a lot better. However this was also primarily an introduction to the remainder of the story so I hope the rest from here will only get better and better. Some ideas I want to see; Pocahontas as a super cool Chieftain of her tribe and ten years later John Smith comes back and the two try to make a new settlement together or something, or Jasmine as a badass Sultana with Aladdin by her side, I'm mainly thinking of the live-action version because she wanted to rule in that version but I could also see the animated one wanting to take over after her father, and how about Tiana and Naveen traveling the world and making the world a better place especially after the Great Depression, and don't forget about the older princesses, I'd love to see Aurora and Prince Phillip trying to catch up on their lost childhoods together, and Aurora getting some well-needed bonding time with her parents too, and Prince Phillip's parents too as they teach them how to rule, and maybe adding some other 'Disney Ladies' to the mix who aren't princesses but might still be interesting, like Megara or Esmeralda, especially considering they wanted to make a sequel for Hercules primarily focusing on Megara so the authors could reference that.
Also, I'd like to thank this book for giving a friend and I the 'Communist LeFou' joke we reference sometimes so the book is a masterpiece from that perspective.
Overall, a decent start, but not super developed on its own terms.