A modern-day Christian retelling of Beauty and the BeastA beauty who cuts herself to cope.A beast who steels himself to survive.A beauty and a beast who need healing from their scars.Life yanks Calysta Daniels out of her comfort zone when an odd request from a stranger becomes the only option to keep her father out of jail. Brendan Keefe is perfection-turned-beast. The last thing he wants is to … perfection-turned-beast. The last thing he wants is to grovel at the feet of this imperfect young woman, who happens to be the only way out of the curse he got himself into.
Will Calysta’s history and brokenness help reach out to a beast who considers himself beyond redemption? Or will Brendan’s stubbornness deprive him of the love he so desperately longs for?
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Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale and I love reading retellings – I’ve easily read 15+ of them. Most take a bit of the general idea. I liked how seriously this book took it. It was a wonderful tale – both new and old – all woven together. I really enjoyed getting to know these characters and am excited for the next book.
Great re-imagining of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale.
Heads up for this review: I read the book 2 years ago, decided to review it now, but haven’t had the time to re-read it again, so some details are fuzzy.
Having said that, I remember loving this story. Even going back through some notes I made, I said it was a “Beautiful story”. Let me expand on that: Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, so finding this retelling, and promised that it’d have its own Christian twist, I was all in. Yes, there were some parts that didn’t make that much sense to me, but I liked the general theme, how the author handled some difficult issues, such as cutting, feeling unloved, and pain, but also how she ultimately provided the reader with Hope and Love. ~4.5 stars
He makes all things beautiful in His time Ecclesiastes 3:11
I can sum Calysta and the Beast up in one word. Wow! There is so much depth to this story. The theme of Beauty and the Beast appears in so many places in this story, not just in the main plot. The verse from Ecclesiastes describes this book’s theme so well.
Calysta has always felt that she didn’t compare favorably to her older half-sisters. They were so beautiful and she was just herself, the illegitimate daughter. Driven to cutting herself to attempt numb the pain, nothing seems to be quite right in her life until she discovers the love of a God who will never fail her.
Brendan’s arrogance and self-centeredness lead to him lashing out at those around him. His thoughts about others are just about how they can fill his needs. Until he is cursed to become on the outside the beast he has been on the inside.
I have read many retellings of this classic tale. This one is quite different. The fantasy aspect of it is just in the way that Brendan really does end up cursed with the appearance of a beast. Every other aspect of the book takes place without magic or fantasy, in the world we know.
The focus of the book is on redemption, specifically the redemption that can only come from God. While the story deals with some hard subjects, such as cutting and human trafficking, it does so in such a way that it is not heavy or painful to read. There is so much hope woven throughout the story.
I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.
This review was originally posted on AmongTheReads.net
I would like to thank Joanna Alonzo for giving me this item. My opinion and review were not influenced by this gift.