A review by alexandrasramblingreviews
Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold by Demelza Carlton

Did not finish book. Stopped at 25%.

CW: Sexual Assault, Rape (not graphic, but it still made me uncomfortable) 

 
DNF @ 25% 

 
I started this about a month ago and was enjoying it but put it down to read other books, but I was in the mood for a fairytale re-telling and decided to pick this back up as I was intrigued (about 14% in there is a sexual assault scene and I must admit it through me off and why I put the book down in the first place), but I was interested in the characters and how the magic worked, unfortunately it didn’t work out for me.  There was no world building and little to no character or relationship development.  Zuleika hears voices when she first enters the grounds of Prince Vardan’s that say they can’t look after her as the master wouldn’t like it, but then you get the perspective of the master (Prince Vardan) and you find out that he is more than happy to help her, so I got a bit confused about how his character is supposed to be, he also very quickly becomes interested in Zuleika romantically and I don’t know why considering he hasn’t spoken to her or even seen her awake.  The world building wasn’t particularly there either, Zuleika wakes up in a strange place, automatically finds clothes and takes a walk around the palace and instantly finds her father’s missing merchandise – she’s not curious at all about the random place she has ended up, so you get no significant descriptions of where she is, how she feels being there, how long she has been unconscious and any plans to find out – she wakes up, gets dressed, finds her father’s stuff on her first try with no exploration and then she’s unconscious again.  This is where I had to stop, I couldn’t envision the world and even though you are in the head of two different people, I don’t feel like I really know either of them.  This is a short book and I may pick it up again, sometimes these books are better read in one sitting and maybe putting it down helped hinder my enjoyment of this book.