Amazon ~ Goodreads
September 20, 2022
426 pages

Dianna didn’t know what to expect when a beautiful horse with a red rose and a fancy letter saying her father had been arrested. But she certainly wasn’t expecting to be swept away into an hidden enchanted kingdom ruled by a furry beast, animal staff and an entire town turned into flowers. A life for a life that was Diannas payment for her fathers crime.

Although Dianna promised to remain within the kingdom she hasn’t given up her goal to go home. Dianna’s presence disturbs more than Beast’s solitude. The last pretty face he trusted had cursed him. His powers suppressed by the curse have made him a prisoner to his past mistakes, a never ending punishment. He can’t fully protect his people and kingdom from the witch that cursed him.

The witch is possessive, entitled and will fight to keep what she believes to be hers.

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MY THOUGHTS

This is probably the longest Beauty & the Beast retelling I’ve read so far, but also one of the more unique ones. There are the obligatory, familiar aspects of the B&B story plus extra, more interesting worldbuilding, magic, and other fantasy races.

The story goes dark in the stark reality of war, life and death (I only wish Dianna had more of a reaction to a certain death near the end).

I liked the relationship between Dianna and the Beast. They had time to grow into their relationship and fall in love with each other. There was a lot of ‘meat’ on this story’s bones (sometimes B&B retellings don’t often add something more to the overall plot, y’know, to make the book stand on its on legs).

C.C. Sunny is an author to watch (can’t wait to see that possible sequel coming out).