I looked between the monster and the man, and I knew at once who was the beast.Isabelle Berger grew up hearing stories of a legendary beast who killed over a hundred people. When a new wolf is spotted near the forest, the men of her village are convinced that another monster is on the rise. Isabelle is less certain, until her father is killed in the hunt.Alone and hungry for revenge, Isabelle … hungry for revenge, Isabelle strikes out on her own to face the dreaded beast. But in this darker twist of a timeless fairytale, things might not be what they seem.
If you like inspirational heroines, unique love stories, and some darker thrills and chills this paranormal/shifter romance is for you! One-click now to start the magic, romance, and heart-pounding adventure!
CRY WOLF is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, inspired by the Beast of Gévaudan and the French Revolution. An early version of this novel was published in the Kingdom of Mirrors and Roses Anthology (2019).
What are HighTower Fairytales?
HighTower Fairytales lean more toward the original sources (NOT Disney) with rich semi-historical settings. They have magic. They have scary monsters. And, most importantly, they have unique and complex characters who are trying hard to improve themselves.
They also include plenty of humor and all the heroes marry their prince/princess charming and live happily after at the end!
Basically, these stories meant to inspire, but have a very difficult and occasionally dark tower to climb. They are conservatively marked at 14+ and are appropriate for teens and young adults.
Currently these stories include:
Winter Falls: A Tale of the Snow Queen (2017)
Cry Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast (2020)
Depths: A Tale of the Little Mermaid (2020)
Robin’s Hood: A Tale of Sherwood Forest (2021)
And more on the way!!!
more
Cry Wolf Boxset by Jacque Stevens is an amazing box set that I have read. I loved reading this box set cause it has to do with wolf shifters that I love reading about very much. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about wolf shifters, fantasy and paranormal romance.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is book 1 of the High Tower Beauty and the Beast series. I really enjoyed this retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I thought the story was well written and characters are well developed. The story held my interest from start to finish and was engaging. If you love retellings then you will love this book, I would recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A unique retelling like no other!
It took several minutes to adjust to the time and tone to the story , i think this takes place in ( 1790s maybe ?) and as the story progressed i loved it even more! Im glad i didn’t give up : so worth it! Forget what you think you might know for this will surprise you in the best way!
Wow! This is the first book I’ve read by Jacque Stevens, and I loved it! Jacque’s writing is fantastic–I loved that she was able to build a pastoral French setting that felt realistic and very different from the Disney version of the tale. She cleverly wove in history (my second love, beyond literature) and werewolf lore–and I loved the twist at the end! I knew from reading other reviews to expect that Howl would be young-acting–which is true to the original tale and something I appreciated. His character must have been a challenge to write, and Jacque did a great job with him! I found myself growing fond of him right alongside Isabelle. 🙂 Needless to say, I’ve already downloaded the next book in the series and can’t wait to dive in. Thanks for a wonderful read, Jacque!
Beauty and the Beast is one of the fairy tales that I do not get tired of reading or watching. There is something about finding the man inside the beast that speaks to me. There have been a lot of renditions of Beauty and the Beast, with the Beast portrayed in many ways, usually as a not-handsome man with really bad manners and a well-hidden heart of gold. This one manages to incorporate the Disney movie version of Beauty and the Beast with the Jungle Book and all the blood thirstiness of the French Revolution. This version of the fairy tale is disturbing yet strong yet sweet. Adults and young adults will find a lot of depth in this story.
I received an ARC from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a wonderful take on a classic fairytale. I have always loved Beauty and the Beast. This dark version kept me entertained and enlightened. The author did an amazing job.
Beauty and the Beast has never been my favorite story, but after reading one dialogue from this book I was intrigued and wanted to read more. So, when I saw the chance to get an ARC I couldn’t let it slip through my fingers. I wanted to read this story and if I could read an ARC, even better! I was therefore incredibly happy when I received the ARC. And even happier now after reading it.
Stevens really wrote a wonderful version of this very well know fairytale. Not only did she manage to attach the story of Beauty and the Beast to some historical events and happenings, she also add something new and unique to this story. And if you ask me, that’s quite an achievement. There must be at least a billion versions of this story around yet.
The beast in this story was adorable. He’s not brooding or dark or mean. He’s not a bad guys who turns good for a beautiful girl. He’s an adorable boy raised by wolves who just has no idea how the human world works. I wanted to wrap him in a blanket and cuddle him. Luckily Belle thought the same thing. Watching her slowly fall for him, understanding him and realizing that he was the one she needed was beautiful and made her easy to like and identify with.
But apart from the characters, I also really loved the mythology, the story behind the beast, how it connected him to historical events and how all the elements of the original story were kept and yet changed and flipped to feel fresh and original again. Everything was well thought out and it’s clear that a lot of research went into this story, even though the result is an easy to read and enchanting fairytale.
I can’t wait for the sequel, because that ending really made me want more!
I really enjoyed this take on a classic. It had just enough of the initial detail to feel connected to the original story but seemed so much more!
Isabelle lives with her father on a small farm with sheep she guards by day. She names them and knows their individual perks. But when a wolf kills her father her world is forever turned upside down. Needing to escape the towns folk and particularly Jean whose keen to make Isabelle his trophie wife, she finds more then she could ever bargin for!
I LOVED the characters and world building, and especially loved tje bits of truth mixed in with the story! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!!
I’ve been a fan of Jacque Stevens ever since I first came across hers superb Fairy Ring stories (separately reviewed). She’s a master at writing complex and sophisticated fantasies that are powerful, totally grab onto the reader, and yet are wonderfully fun to read. That in a nutshell is also the description of Cry Wolf: A Tale of Beauty and the Beast, the first book in her new HighTower Beauty and the Beast series. I love the concept behind the HighTower Fairytales books, of fantasy tales that look to their original (non-Disneyfied) sources (not that I have any objection at all to the Disney versions, it’s just great to have variety). This first book in these tales does a great job of preserving a quasi-accurate historical setting that certainly feels accurate, though the addition of magic and scary monsters is (presumably) not accurate. I also love how the characters in this book are moral characters and trying hard to improve themselves. So now we get Isabelle Berger in a highly imaginative variation of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, “inspired by the Beast of Gévaudan and the French Revolution”. Heady stuff, in a tale that is thrilling and full of adventure, but also with the perfect touch of romance and a satisfying HEA. If the other tales in this series turn out to be half as good as this one it will end up being a true favorite of mine. In the meantime, this first book is easy to highly recommend.
A new take on Beauty and the Beast which adds a horror twist without losing the captivating love story. You can read my full review here https://laurasbooksandblogs.com/book-review-cry-wolf/
the mix of history and fairytale made this one very awesome read. I liked the twists and turns, the emotions this brought about. the characters were interesting and I cannot wait to read more about them. I also thought the beast’s point of view off and on was interesting. I have already downloaded book 2 to be read as soon as I have time for another one sitter because I have a feeling the second book will be much like this one, read in one sitting.
It was an interesting premise however I wasn’t sure it needed multiple books
It was well written and engaging regardless
You’ll need to read to the end of the last book for your happy ever after ending though
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
“ A daring beauty. A legendary beast. A hunt for revenge brings to them together, but a deadly secret could tear them apart.”
Now anyone who knows me knows that I love a good fairytale retelling and that Beauty and the beast is my ultimate favourite so I couldn’t wait to dive into this boxset and boy is it good!! It’s well written with a darker twist the the original version as well as shifters, magic and scary monsters. I love the characters and Our heroine is strong and totally kick ass and this boxset holds all four books so no waiting for each one to come out plus a bonus short story.
I love fairytales. This one was darker and more sensual than I prefer. It is a clean romance despite several indelicate observations.
Cry Wolf is quite similar to Disney’s animated version of Beauty and the Beast with much of the main characters and some of the plot. Isabelle lives with her old father and loves books. Jean is a scarier version of Gaston. He’s not only narcissistic, he feels ‘off’ like there is something not honest about the front he puts up. He changed a lot after returning from serving as a soldier though this trait may have just been hidden well before. I like that Isabelle had the sense to fear him.
Since her father is the best wolf hunter, he goes on a hunt with Jean and the men of the village for a wolf-like beast that is now ravaging the countryside. Isabelle is told after the hunt that her father was killed by a wolf.
The book follows an interesting format with Isabelle’s story interspersed with short internal dialogue from ‘The Beast’. Is the Beast the fanged man who rescues Isabelle from another wolf attack after her father’s death or is it an unassociated individual?
Isabelle’s leg was injured when she was attacked. Howl, her rescuer, takes her to his home in a former mansion to help her heal. Surprisingly, he lives with a pack of wolves.
Howl is the biggest difference from the Disney film. He is very energetic and cheerful like a fun puppy instead of a ferocious beast. His eagerness to please and lack of sophistication reminded me of a charming five year old.
It felt like Isabelle and Howl were best friends which is important for a lasting marriage. I didn’t see the usual signs of falling in love though. Howl was obviously attracted to Isabelle’s womanly charms but I’m not sure what he liked about her as a person since the story of their relationship was told from Isabelle’s perspective. Their romance might have felt more relatable to me if the characters showed more emotions. I loved that Howl respected Isabelle and honored her wishes.
I admired the way the author did not overuse narration to fill in information.
This could be a great read for someone who enjoys fairytales with a darker edge. Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen is a darker steampunk retelling of the same fairytale; the mood of that book reminded me of the feeling I got while reading Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Brahm Stoker’s Dracula, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Readers who loved that tale may enjoy Cry Wolf too!
I received a free copy of this book. All opinions are completely my own. Review first appeared on BookofRuthAnn.com
I’ve been so afraid to write this review but I’m finally doing it! I hope I can do this book at least some justice with my ramblings because Cry Wolf was SO good!!
Okay, I will be honest with you and say that I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this one going into it at first. I think I’ve read too many books where I get myself hyped up but then they fall short so I think my mind subconsciously became cautious about having high expectations so that I wouldn’t be disappointed if I read a book and it turned out bad (if that makes sense?). Maybe I could even be pleasantly surprised if I went into a book with low expectations and it slightly exceeded them? But woahhhhh, this book just blew me away!!! It was everything I could’ve hoped for and more, too!
Btw, please note I received an audiobook version of this story for review purposes. All opinions expressed are completely my own and I was not required to leave a positive review.
On to the real review! First of all… okay, so I’m not supposed to say this yet, but Howl was just SOO adorable!!! I loved him so much!!! So much I could jump up and down and hug him if I saw him in real life!!! I’m not kidding, he’s amazing!!! I’m so, so sorry I ever doubted you, Howl!
Ahem. Um, where was I?… (*mentally tells myself to get a grip*) Okay, so starting this book, the first few chapters were a bit slow for me and I was a bit worried about blanking off since I had the audiobook version, but good thing I eventually got totally drawn into the story (I think that happened when you-know-you-if-you’ve-read-the-book died).
I still don’t know what to think Isabelle / Belle, but she is certainly funny! I think my favorite part of the book was her and Howl just quipping back and forth at each other (Howl is so funny too!) And I love the way the audiobook-lady (audiobook reader? reader of the audiobook?) does Howl’s voice!!
The *twist* to the story was bone-chilling! I don’t wanna say anything more than that but I didn’t anticipate it at all! And I like it that way too! Definitely gave me some chills!!
Also, if you’re still on the fence about this book, lemme just say that I stayed up until 4-ish AM listening to it! Yes, I was exhausted and yes, I had lots of things to do the next day, butI just couldn’t help it! So! Highly recommended!
Note: Sorry if this review was a bit… unprofessional… I tend to post two types of reviews. The first kind is nice and sophisticated and the second one is one in which I sound like a fangirl jumping up and down. Clearly this one turned out to lean towards the jumping-up-and-down one………
So! What are you waiting for???? Read it, read it! Or listen to it! Listen to it! Personally, I can’t wait to start book 2! (If the author is okay with giving me a code for the second book, ofc! ). Really, I have no clue if Ms. Stevens approves of fangirling but I don’t think I could’ve written a not-fangirling review of this one……
Anywayyy, I definitely recommend this one! It had fantasy vibes while also being set in a real setting and loosely based off some things that happened in France in the 1700s (ahhhhh just thinking about the Beast of Gévaudan gives me shiversssssss now!! ). In terms of content warnings, there’s suspense and some creepy stuff like murder and intrigue. I think Isabelle was thinking about her chest area near the beginning of the book, Howl is a bit coarse with wanting to “marry” Isabelle (but that’s because he doesn’t really know better), and the “Gaston” of the book is kind of a jerk (you’ll see…) but that’s about all.