A review by camryndaytona
Elfhame by Anthea Sharp

3.0

This review was originally posted on Camryn DaytonaI recently searched 'elf' on kindle unlimited and downloaded the first few books that popped up. This was one of them.

It's supposed to be a strange Beauty and the Beast retelling, and while I suppose it is that, I feel like it tries to hard.

Some Notes:

• There is (small) a cliffhanger at the end of the book


• It came out in 2016


• Book two came out in 2019


• I don't know if there will be any more books, goodreads doesn't say


• I don't mind gaps between books, but when you've got a potential three year wait between books, I'm afraid to get invested.

So now that we have that out of the way, lets get onto the review.

A Retelling, I Guess?
I said earlier that it 'feels like it tries too hard' and what I mean by that is that it was a good story, so I'm not sure why it needed to be Beauty and the Beast. I suppose that it's possible that books sell better with an advertisement like "fairytale retelling but with elves!"

There were a few times throughout the book where I thought "oh so this is why it's beauty and the beast" because the author would throw in things like "oh these elves are so repulsive" or "they're so different I hate them" (not exact quotes).

Without that, it's still a good book, which is why I found it strange that it HAD to be Beauty and the Beast.

The Characters
I liked most of the characters.

The main character, Mara, is your typical YA heroine. She's an 'outcast' who doesn't fit in with her family and wants more from her life than just marrying a village boy. And of course, she's the only one in her village who still believes in magic.

I found Brannon (the "beast") to be fairly tolerable, which is unusual for a YA love interest. Although, again, I'm not sure he's very 'beastly' so I don't get the connection to the fairytale. He is very much driven by what he needs to do for the good of his people, even if it means marrying someone against his wishes.

Overall
I do have to admit, I read this book over a month ago, and it was pretty forgettable. To write the review I had to go back and skim the summary and a few highlights I made while I was reading it.

Is it a good book? Yeah.

Is it a great book? Not really.

Will I be finishing the series? Probably not.