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marieketron's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
slow-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
Oh I really enjoyed this retelling! The heroine can generally fend for herself, and her gardening skills come in especially helpful when your main enemy is an evil rosebush. This retelling also uses one of my favourite possible endings for a tale that follows the pattern of Beauty and the Beast: the Beast does not transform back into human form in the end. I have a soft place in my heart for Angela Carter's notion of the Beauty transforming into a Beast as well (I fervently believe this may have been some inspiration for the plotline of Shrek), but there is a certain loveliness and innate acceptance in the two continuing to live together in the forms in which they learned to love each other.
The pacing of the story is also exactly right, and while there is a short montage scene of the two spending time together, we get plenty detailed scenes to fully buy into the sweet romance between the two. I was happy that this is also a relatively feminist tale in that the heroine is explicitly not a virgin and refers to masturbation, even if there is no on page sexual action. Loved the sister side character of Holly as well.
I might have rated the story slightly higher if it weren't for the narrator of the audiobook I listened to, whose inflection at the end of every sentence was mildly grating and I would have to get swept up by the story before I could tune that out. It's a mark in favour of the story that it was indeed able to sweep me along so well that I stopped noticing a voice quirk that might otherwise have meant I wouldn't finish the book in question.
The pacing of the story is also exactly right, and while there is a short montage scene of the two spending time together, we get plenty detailed scenes to fully buy into the sweet romance between the two. I was happy that this is also a relatively feminist tale in that the heroine is explicitly not a virgin and refers to masturbation, even if there is no on page sexual action. Loved the sister side character of Holly as well.
I might have rated the story slightly higher if it weren't for the narrator of the audiobook I listened to, whose inflection at the end of every sentence was mildly grating and I would have to get swept up by the story before I could tune that out. It's a mark in favour of the story that it was indeed able to sweep me along so well that I stopped noticing a voice quirk that might otherwise have meant I wouldn't finish the book in question.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Medical content, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Vomit
Minor: Death of parent
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