The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross

The classic version of Beauty and the Beast as told from the Beast's perspective. What I love about this book, because I do love it, is that this is more like the traditional version of the fairy tale and not Disney's version. Instead of their being an overall villian with an exciting fight scene at the end it's more man vs. self. The internal struggle of Beast fighting with who he perceives himself to be and who he wants to be and adding Beauty (in this case Isabeau) to the mix he wants to be a better person for her all the while trying to show her he's worthy of her love.

The story starts off with Beast in the woods living as an animal would until he's led back to his home and the iron gates lock behind him. Slowly he starts to remember thing and the magic slowly starts to repair the house and gardens. Beast is there so long he loses track of time the enchantment keeping the grounds in an eternal summer. Beast relearns how to dress and act like a man. The details of his curse still remain foggy in his mind all he knows is that a fairy cursed him to be the beast he is inside.

Isabeau comes along quite like she always does, to save her father after he tries to steal a single rose from Beast's gardens after everything else was given freely. In this we see Beast's side of it, when he allowed her father in he was longing for company but changed his mind at the last moment, but he saw into her father's dream a had vision of his youngest daughter. Beast manipulated the situation to bring her to his home; as soon as he did it he felt bad and after she got there he admitted what he did and told her she was free to leave but he was so lonely. So they struck up a deal she stays for a year and keeps Beast company and she will be free to leave after that. Everything else plays out Isabeau has her dreams she keeps to herself but the Beast when he's not with Isabeau is watching her family through his mirror, first out of guilt for what he took from them but then he started to care about them.

Overall, the slow and steady narration of the Beast is wonderful. I loved this version of the original story and I love how she didn't just end it after the curse was broken. Another thing I liked was how Beast didn't know until almost half the year was over that there was a way to break the curse, the details and the why of the curse slowly get revealed to him as he remembers more about his life before the curse. I loved the small details the descriptive narrative was spellbinding, I didn't want to put this book down. 

ARC REVIEW Grimm's End by Shiloh Walker

Grimm's End... in ten days (10/27/15) the conclusion to Shiloh Walker's Grimm's Circle series releases and we finally find out what happened to Will after he jumped into the portal. Oh my gosh this book what can I say about it; the action- outstanding, exciting, nail biting situations; the internal struggle- Will fighting for forgiveness, Mandy- never giving up on the fact that Will is alive even if it's killing her from the inside out; the sex- ooooohh for two years Mandy has been having dreams of Will dreams in which they both are able to profess their love and show it. My favorite quote:

"If I could have let myself, I would have loved you..."   

Will said it at the end of the last book one of the last things he told Mandy before sacrificing himself for the greater good. For two years Mandy has been slowly dying inside pining after Will. She often visits the place he disappeared and is visited by the wraith, the black winged angel of death who tries to convince her to just give up on Will.

Sina has taken charge of the Grimm's and like Will she is slowly losing her coloring turning her into a whiter shade of pale and silver. The demons haven't let up, even with Will's sacrifice, they seem to be just getting worse after one particularly heinous attack Rip and Greta are taking care of the carnage when a portal opens up and Greta gets pulled in; she's only gone for a minute or two and then comes back. But what she saw while over there changes everything. Only a few minutes on this side but it lasted six hours on the other side and she was there with Will. Mandy has developed more powers in the last two years and knows she needs to be at Sina's house she knows there's news about Will. SIna is still trying to protect Mandy and doesn't want Greta to tell her, but Greta is like a mother to Mandy and believes that Mandy deserves to know. Mandy now knows will is definitely still Alive she is willing to leave the Grimm's if Sina doesn't let her go and try to bring him back.

"I love him, Rip. I'll never, ever love another. My one chance is this...either I save him, or I die in the trying"

 Rip and Greta are willing to help because they know how she feels and would do the same if they were in her shoes, so they enlist the help of Rob. Rob is bat shit crazy, on a good day otherwise he's just plain fucking insane; but Rob knows how to open a portal. Everything goes wrong as soon as Rob and Mandy pass through the portal and they are attacked, and outnumbered. Will comes to save the day but almost too late Mandy is poisoned by one of the demons and accidentally gets some of Rob and Will's blood in her, the result is she learns the horrible truth of Will's past; first hand she lives through his memories.

Mandy lived through the memories and now the hard part is to convince Will to come back with them. They also finally get the chance to show and express their love and still Will does not want to go.

"I could have two thousand years...or two hundred thousand with you and it wouldn't be enough" 

Will is stubborn and doesn't feel like he deserves her and it takes and angel and a wraith to make him see the light. Overall, This really was a satisfying ending to a great series.


The quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different from the final publication.  

  

REVIEW Cinderella and the Ghost by Marina Myles

Cinderella isn't one of my favorite fairy tales but this one intrigued me and it paid off. Cinderella and the Ghost was a fresh take on an old classic. This is book four in the series The Cursed Princes, and a stand alone story. I was not expecting the story line to go as it did. I think that is why I enjoyed as much as I did, it wants predictable and it was a very pleasant surprise.

Jean-Daniel Girard died and it was rumored that it was either murder or suicide. His ghost was trapped in the painting his mother commissioned for him free raine of his old castle after the strike of midnight. He has been biding his time waiting for a woman gathering things together for when she finally arrives; four hundred years of waiting and she has finally arrived.

Ella Benoit lost her mother at an early age her father remarried a woman with two daughters of her own. Years later her father dies and her stepmother and stepsisters use her make a maid out of her and when her stepmother becomes sick Ella becomes a nursemaid. When her stepmother finally dies and leaves nothing but debt Ella was expecting it what she didn't expect was that her father left her a trust and a castle in France. Ella moves to France excited to be starting over and with high expectations of the castle. What she finds is a castle that needs more work than she thought and with a spooky reputation. Ella starts renovation on the castle but it also stirs up more activity. The painting of the original owner in the Georgian garb and the intense blue eyes starts to haunt Ella's dreams. Jean-Daniel knows he has found his Ella and will do anything to get her back.

I loved the story and where it went it makes me want to find the other books in the series just to see what she did with the other fairy tales.