Hey there!
I received a jackpot of books this past Christmas and I slowly working my way through them. With a chatterbox toddler and a newborn it’s difficult to find time to read. No one loves a good fairy-tale re-imagining more than me so I was immediately draw to this book. Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge is a retelling of one of my favorite fairy-tales, Beauty and the Beast.
Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge
By Lisa Jensen
Fairy-tale Retelling
Synopsis
They say Château Beaumont is cursed. But servant-girl Lucie can’t believe such foolishness about handsome Jean-Loup Christian Henri LeNoir, Chevalier de Beaumont, master of the estate. But when the chevalier’s cruelty is revealed, Lucie vows to see him suffer. A wisewoman grants her wish, with a spell that transforms Jean-Loup into monstrous-looking Beast, reflecting the monster he is inside.
But Beast is nothing like the chevalier. Jean-Loup would never patiently tend his roses; he would never attempt poetry; and he would never express remorse for the wrong done to Lucie. Gradually, Lucie realizes that Beast is an entirely different creature from the handsome chevalier, with a heart more human than Jean-Loup’s ever was. Lucie dares to hope that noble Beast has permanently replaced the cruel Jean-Loup — until an innocent beauty arrives at Beast’s château with the power to break the spell.
My Thoughts
Unlike many fairy-tale retellings, this book stays very close to the original story of Beauty and the Beast. There are a few key differences however, the main one being the servant girl, Lucie. She is the main character opposite Jean-Loup/Beast. The reader is seeing the story through her eyes.
After a graphic and unpleasant situation occurs between Lucie and Jean-Loup, a wisewoman transforms him into the Beast. Lucie, who is also caught up in the enchantment, is the only one left in the Château to witness how this Beast lives day by day. Until a third party enters the scene in the form of a beautiful woman, Rose.
The three of them form a sort of routine living together, although each of them want different things. And as the story comes to its well known ending, it actually doesn’t end there.
There is not a lot of dialog in this book. Instead, the author paints vivid descriptions of daily life in the Château between Beast, Lucie and Rose. As an added bonus, roses play a big part in the development of all three main characters.
Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge was a very quick and easy read for me. I love the story and it has a very tied up and feel-good conclusion. It takes the familiar tale and expands on it just enough to make the reader wonder if that’s how it really happened.
For another fairy-tale retelling, Check out this Little Mermaid based story.
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