A faded matron and a blinded musician… but which is the Beauty and which is the Beast?
Twice-widowed Arabella Mayor has made a place for herself and her son in Everland, selling and lending her beloved books to other bibliophiles in the sweet town. But she’s running out of money, and ten-year-old Eddie is giving her fits, and their future is uncertain. Re-marriage might have once been an … been an option, but Arabella knows she’s past her prime, and isn’t the Beauty she used to be. And as her beauty faded, so did her worth. What does she have left?
World-renown violinist Vincenzo Bellini is at ease with his carefully cultivated reputation of a beastly recluse. After all, the fewer people looking at his hideous scars, the better. Ready to retire, he’s trying to hide in Everland, but doesn’t count on the townsfolk being so curious… especially a particular bookseller who reminds him of the life he abandoned long ago. Can he teach her that worth isn’t tied to their appearances, or will he have to abandon his plans for a future here in Everland?
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The Brides of Everland, Ever After
Step into Everland, Wyoming, where the people on the street are more than what they appear, and there’s just a hint of magic in the air. From evil villains to mysterious godmothers, handsome cowboys to hidden princesses… welcome to Everland, Ever After.
LITTLE RED (Rojita and Hank)
ELLA (Ella and Ian)
BEAUTY (Arabella and Vincenzo)
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Enjoyed this book. The beauty in this book is as good as the character from Beauty and the Beast.
Great surprise story
loved it
The stoic heroine carves a life for herself and her son after the Civil War. Her bravery, selflessness, and hard work makes one root for her to have a happy ending.
I love this series so much… Caroline Lee tells a great story!!
a beautiful story. thank you
surprising turn of events
Loved the application of Beauty and the beast!
Nice quick clean read
This was a quick but very sweet read with a nice twist!
Good story and no yukky sex, Yea!
I really enjoyed this take off of Beauty and the Beast…. with a twist! It was an easy read and I’d highly recommend it.
I agree with the review given by Dawn Y, but was not as charitable. To me Arabella was a whiny pain in the butt. And I did not like to artificial manner that these people HAPPEN to both move to Everlast WY from Boston.
4 stars
I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the story. It was nice to read something I knew, from the beginning, would end up turning out exactly the way I expected it to. That’s the kind of romance I was in the mood for, and that’s exactly what I got. The best part was the ending, and it even brought a few tears to my eyes. But the rest of it dragged a bit. My favorite characters were Eddie and Rajah and the manservant, Gordy. I didn’t think Vincenzo was gruff enough to warrant being the beast to the story’s beauty. It took little to no time for him to soften to her. And Arabella whined about looks and position so much you’d never know she was just a bookstore proprietor. It got to be annoying every time she brought it up. The fact that she put so much weight on her beauty, or lack thereof in her opinion, was presumptuous, to say the least. She spoke of being independent but was dependent on others telling her how beautiful she was. I would have thought that her husband not having her under his thumb with all of his rules would have been more freeing. For two people who had been married to each other not to recognize anything about each other made me wonder if they’d ever looked deeply into each other’s eyes before this story, never had long talks where they listened to each other’s voices, their inflections, the way they spoke or how they expressed themselves. It truly made me wonder how superficial their previous relationship had been.
I also would have liked to know more about the town, more of the details of their surroundings and its residents, and the true nature of the characters instead of the superficiality. But I have to give the author credit for the last couple of chapters. They were the best part of the book and made wading through the rest worth it. I love a happy ending.
Besides the trouble with the dragging storyline, there were serious problems with the editing. There were missing and misspelled words. The punctuation was difficult for me to get by. There was so much of it that it made many of the sentences sound stilted and choppy while other sentences were missing necessary punctuation. This is why an author should never skimp on an editor, proofreader, Betas, and ARC readers. They are the ones who tighten up the story.
If a reader doesn’t mind a story that doesn’t dive too deeply, this was a good read. If you’re looking for something with a bit more depth, then you’re likely to be disappointed. I enjoyed it because I knew by the other reviews just want I was getting into and needed something light. It was an easy one-day read. I have other books by this author, even in this series, but I’ll probably save them for another occasion when I’m looking for just such a read.