The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross

Title: The Beast's Heart 

Author: Leife Shallcross

Pages: 416

Finished: April 2022

Summary: For countless years, the Beast has spent his days destroying everything in his forest until he dreams of the fairy who cursed him, leading him back to his castle. There, he learns to become civilized again, but realizes he will only be able to break the curse by finding someone who can truly love him for who he is. And thus, the tale of Beauty and the Beast begins.

Thoughts: What I Liked - The magic. One of the fun things about retellings of this story is seeing how the magic in the Castle manifests. This one seems to come about in three different ways. Unseen servant type magic, something from the fairy, and then magic from the character’s thoughts. 

I appreciated the use of the magic mirror to tell the story of the rest of Imogen’s family while she was staying with the Beast. Speaking of her family, I appreciated that the sisters were really goodhearted.

And I LOVED how, even though she was brought to the Beast’s castle under false pretenses, he immediately lets her go and she decides to stay. She’s not stuck there under duress. 

What I Would have changed - The Beast. He comes across as super whiny. As the book goes on, he seems to become less sure of himself and goes about everything in what feels like the worst way possible. His excuse is the curse and his explanation is past trauma, but it feels like he doesn’t even try to figure out a smarter way. Just falls into, “This is how I am.”

I don’t know that this is my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but it was definitely a fun, lighthearted read.