A review by redhairedashreads
Beastly & Bookish by Catrina Bell

4.0

 
4 stars - It was really good

All Noelle wants to do is save the Winter Bliss Library and has a fundraising plan worked out. The last thing she needs is a distracting romance with the sexy, binge-reading demon she hasn’t seen since childhood. When an avalanche leaves Noelle and Rom stranded together, they can no longer ignore their feelings. But will their love come at the expense of the library?

This was an adorable and cozy story about a childhood friend reuniting and finding love.  I love finding books with book loving characters and librarians, and this one was even better because they were both book lovers. While I knew I would enjoy this book, I was surprised by how sweet and cute it was and that I didn’t want to put it down. 

Rom is a scarred up demon who never forgot about his first crush and now that he is back in town he goes out of his way to spend time with Noelle. I really loved Rom and how sweet he was. He has spent his life hiding half of himself away but with Noelle he can be himself and not hide his face. Also I loved his socials handle and that he was so knowledgeable about the book community. Noelle was a sweet and kind woman who goes out of her way to share her love of reading with the community. She tries her best to make everyone happy and keep the library a center of the community, but struggles to ask for help when she needs it. These two were just very sweet together and I enjoyed their romance. 

While I did like Noelle a lot, I still found her refusal to discuss the building issues with her landlord to be stupid. Everyone knows it's the landlord's job to fix issues, but she refuses to believe that and thinks moving buildings would be better. Also she has lived around demons her whole life and understands their bargaining techniques, but refuses to actually practice them when it comes to dealing with the demon patrons. Noelle is sweet but her naivete about demon negotiation and renting was a bit annoying. 

Overall, this was a sweet and cozy retelling of Beauty and the Beast that I enjoyed but I do wish Noelle had been a little less naive. 

TW: Noelle’s Uncle has dementia; 

 
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