purplefox 's review for:

Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly

DID NOT FINISH: 50%

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The beginning was so much fun between Beau's snarky attitude and the reader knowing how much trouble he and the other thieves were in when they arrive at the castle. But the Hope and her sisters plotline was dull and at times Arabella's storyline felt repetitive with several scenes of her backstory and her current life basically saying the same thing. I'm personally not a fan of

characters learning another's tragic backstory through other means (such as magic mirrors) instead of it being revealed by the character with the backstory.

I felt like the author didn't trust the reader to connect the dots or understand the themes and instead of being subtle, picked the most obvious way to convey everything.

The beginning will stick with me forever though. The dread that the dinner scene has when you know that this is a beauty and the beast retelling and that Beau and the thieves are screwed, is amazing.