Even though Honour is not nearly as beautiful as her two older sisters Grace and Hope, she has always been nicknamed Beauty, a contradiction she frequently shrugs off. Beauty loves learning and reading and takes great pride in the books she owns; she can own quite a few due to the wealth of her father. While her sisters meet potential husbands, Beauty reads. All this changes when their father’s fleet is lost at sea. Not only has his wealth vanished but so has Grace’s fiance. The family moves inland, away from the city, to a small town on the outskirts of an enchanted forest. When Beauty’s father inadvertantly meets a beast, he must promise to remain forever unless one of his daughters is willing to take his place. Beauty knows her duty and heads into the forest for the confrontation of her life and the making of her future.
I’m very excited about fairy tale retellings these days and I have informally decided that Robin McKinley is the queen of that special feel which only fairy tales have. She hasn’t let me down yet, and she certainly didn’t in this one. When I was a little girl, Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite movies. I love it now because it’s a love story which does not, for once, revolve around beautiful people, but rather personalities. Beauty must be strong enough to face the Beast and tame him, but he must have an extraordinary personality for her to see past his hideous appearance and love him. I love this dynamic, sucker as I am for romance, and McKinley does it SO. WELL.
I’m assuming everyone knows how the story goes, so I’m not going to try and avoid spoilers, especially because my absolute favorite part was the ending. As we all know, when Beauty admits that she loves the Beast and wants to marry him, he becomes human again. Her shock at his newly attractive appearance – and insistence that she couldn’t marry him, he wasn’t her Beast – was a splendid and moving scene. I could completely believe in this love story and I adored the ethereal feel which Robin McKinley is so, so good at. Yes, I’m in love with this book, and I’m not really ashamed to admit it!
A couple of little things also swept me away in the telling of this story. I loved that the Beast’s library was full of books from the future. It fit in with the magical setting and allowed Beauty plenty of distraction. I think this is meant to be a medieval or early modern world, so books in print would be quite rare at that time. Secondly, I love that Beauty became beautiful as she fell in love and the story went on. She seems young in the beginning, but as time goes on she grows up and grows into her body, which I think is a wonderful physical representation for the growth of her feelings and love towards the Beast.
Anyway, I will now stop my endless rambling and just tell you that you really ought to read Robin McKinley if you haven’t before. I missed her as a child and I regret this so much! I’m loving my discovery of her books and I hope that you would, too. Highly, highly recommended for anyone who loves fantasy or fairy tales.
Available via IndieBound, Powell’s, Amazon, and Amazon UK.
I love these types of books too. I read a really good one a long time ago that I think was abut Rose Red but I can’t remember the author or title, which bums me out because I would really love to read it again. In the meantime I will have to check this one out.
Nicole’s last blog post..Horrid Henry, by Francesca Simon
Snow White and Rose Red (The Fairy Tale Series)?
another author same title: Snow White and Rose Red : A Modern Fairy Tale
Rose Red (Faerie Tale Romance)?
The Rose Red Bride?
Any of those the right Rose Red, Nicole?
Keira’s last blog post..Review: To Tame a Highland Warrior by Karen Marie Moning
This does sound wonderful – I think my sister would especially love it. I have to say I’m not crazy about the cover, though.
Kathy’s last blog post..Review: Cemetery Dance
Oh, now I want to read this again! Such a lovely book. And yes, the library was perfect
Nymeth’s last blog post..Don’t Call Me a Crook! by Bob Moore
Oooh. A great one. Sigh. I must stop reading your blog.
Beth F’s last blog post..Thursday Tea (July 2): A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
I’ve got this on my TBR, and the other day I picked it up more or less at random and read the opening paragraph. Robin McKinley can be kind of hit-or-miss with me, but I got a really good feeling from those first few lines. Your review just bumped it a little further up the list, too!
Memory’s last blog post..A Birthday, With An Accompanying Giveaway
This is another of McKinley’s books that I have heard so many good things about. I have to admit that I am partial to fairy tale retellings, so I don’t know why I have not as of yet read this book. Her writing and stories are supposed to be some of the best out there in this genre. That’s it! I will finally be putting a few of these on my wish list. Thanks for the stellar review.
Zibilee’s last blog post..Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz – 352 pgs
I picked the book up for the same reasons as you – B&B fairytale – sigh… however I wasn’t a big fan of this book. At best I’d rate it a 3. It did read like a fairytale but it also was kind of monotonous until the ending, which I can’t remember as it’s been so long since I read the book. I ended up swapping it for something else at PBS.
Keira’s last blog post..Review: To Tame a Highland Warrior by Karen Marie Moning
I’ve never even heard of this book before. It sounds great! I have heard of McKinley’s other book, SUNSHINE which I plan to read some time soon, but this sounds even better. This is definitely going on my TBR list. At this rate, I just might end up reading all of her stuff.
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