Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Cazados

I think this has become my new favorite fairytale retelling. I was on the hunt for something beauty and the beast inspired and every list or recommendation i found online had this book on there. While I was skeptical at first based on the 3.89 star reveiw on goodreads, I gave it a shot and I am so happy I did. This was exactly what i needed and everything i had been looking for, I loved literally everything about this. The characters, the writing, the plot, I cant find a single thing about this that I didn't like and if you know anything about me, that's extremely hard to for me to do.
If you'll allow me to gush about this book a little more, ill provide some more reasoning as to why i love this so much, other than "i loved it". Starting with the characters, every one of them were interesting and they each had depth to them that made it very easy to love reading about them. They all had very good and nice personalities, but I didn't find it boring. Usually, in the typical YA fantasy, you'll have a character that ends up being a villain and often times end up hating that character, but that wasn't the case here. That may not make a lot of sense but I felt like this story needed this to portray the message that the author wanted. And it works. I wasn't bored reading about them for even one minute, each interaction betweem the MC and each side character makes sense. There's no unnecessary diolouge or scenes, and while having a majority of good characters may be boring to some, I think it helps break up stereotypes and make this story unique compared to other Beauty and the Beast retellings. I thought the pacing was perfect for a slower story even up to the end where I usually find the endings of YA standalones to be rushed and convenient, but that wasn't the case with this one. Sure I predicted a few things here and there but there were some amazing parallels between the beginning and the end that you usually wouldn't find in a standalone. Plus, because this story had a slower pace to it, it allowed the writing style to really stand out, and for a story with such beautiful writing, it just added another thing to my list of everything I loved.
Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised by this. I can see why some may not love this as much as I did, but if you want something thats slower paced with an amazing message, then look no further. But in the meantime, im off to buy every edition of this book that I can find.

Content Warnings

sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

4.5 ⭐️

I read this book as a buddy read in memory of a Booktok friend who passed away. This was her favorite book.

This is one of the better beauty and the beast retellings I have read. The beginning of this book was slower but once it picked up it just kept going. I loved the relationship between the sisters.

There is some cool formatting with the physical book that I found to be really immersive.

If you loved the Winter Night Trilogy by Katherine Arden I think you would also love this book.

My big wish was more from the beast POV but I would recommend this book!!

Content Warnings

ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

Content Warnings

marareading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read this because one of my favorite people loved this book. She isn't wrong. It is absolutely beautiful. I cried at the end, and I never cry. It is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I loved that it was non traditional in a lot of it's retelling. It felt very gothic in a way to me. Very much based on Russian folklore throughout the story.

Yeva is trying to find her father, who disappeared in the forest. He was convinced something was hunting him.

What does the story look like when Beauty is a capable hunter and is hunting the Beast?

I loved the folklore tied into the story. This will always be one of my favorite books now. I loved the ending.

To Karen ❤️

Content Warnings

hillarym's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

confusedmuse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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