A review by cakt1991
Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly

4.0

 I was excited to hear Jennifer Donnelly was releasing yet another subversive fairytale retelling, this time genderbent spin on Beauty and the Beast with Beastly Beauty. I loved the fun twist on the story, with the curse shifting away from impacting the “beastly” lead’s physical appearance to entrapping Arabella in a magical prison she cannot escape. While at times aspects of the curse felt a bit vague, along with the choice to set the story in a vague historical period, these also added to the overall fairytale feel. 

Arabella and Beau are both compelling characters. Arabella is a charming, intelligent young woman, living under a terrible and mysterious curse. I felt for her, because she was expected to be gentle and compliant, but she has this fire in her that manifests in anger, which brought this curse upon her, and she’s lost hope over the years as she’s tried fruitlessly to find love. Beau, meanwhile, is a thief, who has had to scrape and steal to survive. I loved seeing them bond over the trauma they’ve experienced, and their love developing amid these intense circumstances.  

The story progresses fairly quickly, thanks to the fairly short chapters and engaging writing style. Some of the questions about the entities in the castle are slowly answered, although I liked that there was some solid foreshadowing and breadcrumbing that made it possible to figure it out before the final reveal. 

I had a lot of fun with this one, and I’d recommend it to readers interested in a fresh take on the Beauty and the Beast story.