Book 3 (A twisted, tangled, romantic retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.)
The curse of the de Bar siblings continues as Stefan de Bar, eldest of the seven, takes a small group of his brother’s soldiers and goes on a search for his missing sister, Rapunzel. The witch, Hecuba, has stolen his sister and they have been spotted near Breckenridge Castle. Stefan’s cautious nature and … nature and hesitance to make a decision is the cause of what turns into a deadly ambush. Bloodied and bruised, Stefan manages to take the castle, but in the process suffers severe damage to his face. He finds and confronts the witch, but this time she curses him, and it is possibly worse than the curses she’s previously bestowed upon his twin brothers. He needs to love a woman and be loved in return before the last petal falls from a rose, or the beast that is emerging within him will consume him forever.
Bonnibel of Breckenridge returns home after 15 years to marry a man of her father’s choosing that she’s never even met. But when she gets to Breckenridge Castle, her father is missing, most his men are dead, and a beastly man named Sir Stefan de Bar has claimed the castle as his own. Thinking she’ll gain his favors, she stitches up his face, but the man’s anger is out of control and it causes his body to start to change into that of a beast. While all she wants to do is run, something deep in Stefan’s eyes makes her want to stay. However, she has no choice when Stefan takes her as his prisoner.
Can Bonnibel not only find her father and a way to escape, but look past Stefan’s outward appearance and learn to love the real man deep inside before it’s too late? And will Stefan realize that love can’t be forced but has to be earned and given freely from the heart? A battle of good and evil grows within a man who wants nothing more than to love a beautiful young maiden and be loved in return . . . before the last petal falls.
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Beast Lord Book #3 . in Tangled Tales. I like this book It was twisted in a way where Sir Stefan de Bar was transforming into a beast. Unlike his brothers where they shifted. Reading this story I felt like I was in the actual animated movie Beauty and the Beast. If I had any criticism, It’s that in this series the brothers treated him unfairly, but all I love the Beast. Hecuba is one of my favorites.
After a wicked witch places a curse on Stephan de Bar he starts to turn into a beast.
Bonnibel Harcourt is on her way home to see her father, in hopes of changing his mind about her upcoming marriage.
She comes home to find out that her father has been taken and that Stephan claims her family home is his own.
Will she be able to break the horrid curse
A very good rendering of the fairytale of Beauty and the Beast. Stefan is cursed by the witch and turning into a beast. Bonnibel is returning home for the first time in 8 years to find her father missing and her home taken over by a stranger. Both characters clash on ownership and how to run the castle. This is an ingenious way of telling a children’s tale for an adult audience. As in any fairytale there is a happily ever after as the Beast vanquishes the bad guy and wins the heart of the beautiful girl.
Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales. I enjoy reading variations of this theme set it different times and places, with and without magical elements (except love, of course). In Beast Lord, all the pieces are here: a cursed hero, a captured damsel, and the need for true love. There is also an angry, vengeful witch (loved and left by the hero’s father, thus the anger issue), a family sired by said father (who is himself a warlock), the damsel’s missing father, and a missing and unwanted suitor for the damsel. Yes, it’s a mess. The story is somewhat similar to the original, a variation as I said. In order to break the curse, Stefan, the hero, must fall in love with and earn the love of a woman without her knowing that this is how to break the curse. When Bonnibel shows up at the castle to find her father and betrothed, he decides she’s the one. Can he do it? It’s a little iffy. She wants to find her father. He isn’t exactly Prince Charming. There are some interesting twists in the story, one to do with Belle’s love of books (teaser). The timeless lessons of the original story are here. Stefan must learn that to receive love and trust, you must give them. He must learn that love can be sought and encouraged, but not forced. Will he discover this truth, and can he and Belle find love before the last petal falls from the rose? Read this enjoyable tale and find out.
Oh, yeah, one more lesson. This one needs to be learned by Father de Bar. It has to do with the saying about a woman (in this case, witch) scorned. Stefan is not the first or only of his siblings to endure a curse from Father’s former lover. Father should learn to use more care when choosing his paramour.