Review: Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 12, 2019

Pages: 416

Source: ARC 

THE STORY:

A sumptuously magical, brand new take on a tale as old as time—read the Beast's side of the story at long last.

I am neither monster nor man—yet I am both.

I am the Beast.

The day I was cursed to this wretched existence was the day I was saved—although it did not feel so at the time.

My redemption sprung from contemptible roots; I am not proud of what I did the day her father happened upon my crumbling, isolated chateau. But if loneliness breeds desperation then I was desperate indeed, and I did what I felt I must. My shameful behaviour was unjustly rewarded.

My Isabeau. She opened my eyes, my mind and my heart; she taught me how to be human again.

And now I might lose her forever.

Lose yourself in this gorgeously rich and magical retelling of The Beauty and the Beast that finally lays bare the beast's heart.

BUY LINKS: Goodreads

RATING: 

ONE-WORD REVIEW: DISAPPOINTING

TAG LINE:

I am neither monster nor man—yet I am both. I am the Beast.

OPENING LINE:

Enchantments and dreams: I suspect they are made of the same stuff.

REVIEW:

Guys, I couldn’t do it. The start of the book is the beast thinking to himself—a bunch of exposition. So boring. So irritating, especially since Beauty and the Beast retellings are my bread and butter. 

Had to DNF.

Perhaps I’m just not in a patient mood and return to it at a later date. We’ll see.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Leife Shallcross’s first novel, The Beast’s Heart, a "luxuriously magical retelling of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale", will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in May 2018. She is also the author of several short stories, including Pretty Jennie Greenteeth, which won the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Short Story. Leife has a bit of a thing for fairy tales, and is particularly inspired by those characters that tend to fall into the cracks of the usual stories. She can be found online at leifeshallcross.com and on Twitter @leioss. 

Happy Reading!