If you want a short read and like fairytale retellings this one is worth it. The writing is easy and enjoyable. I did want a little more from the story which is why I didn't rate it higher but I will continue to read from this author.

3.5⭐️


Lo disfruté, pero no me encantó.

Pensé que sería en retelling de la bella y la bestia y si bien si trata sobre esto, siento que al tener tantos personajes se pierde la esencia de esta historia y se vuelva una mezcla de varias cosas.



Gracias NetGalley por el ARC a cambio de una opinión honesta.

Well, this certainly was not what I was expecting.

From its premise, I expected a romantic gender flipped retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Being my favourite fairytale, I was excited to dive into the book and read it from an angle I had not considered before.

However, I quickly understood that this was the second in the series. In order to give this book full justice, I did read the first book. However, this endeavour did not change the overall confusion and dissatisfaction in Beast.

The plot includes different aspects and characters of multiple fairytales, and I personally felt this took away from the beauty and the beast aspect and was jarring at times. It made the romance seem lackluster and underdeveloped.

However, there are some positive aspects like how the author consistently inject humour into dialogue and character interactions. And it must be considered that it is no easy feat to marry multiple characters and storylines into one book.

If I can sum it up - this feels a little bit like a written play or musical except in a novel. While it personally wasn't for me, I can see how this may be appealing to other readers.

Spice: 0/5
Plot and writing: 2/5
Overall: 2.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publishers for generously providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review

Being a giant fairytale fan, I love getting my hands on any and all and retellings!! And this was a joy to read! Loved it through and through.

I love nothing more than a good fairytale retelling and I thought that this one sounded even more interesting than they usually are! It’s basically a gender swap version of Beauty and the Beast, and yet it’s actually book 2 in a series? I don’t think you need to have read the first book, but things are a little confusing at the beginning getting to know all the characters and how they know each other.

There’s a bunch of different princesses (Snow White, Rapunzel etc) and they all know Prince Charming from their previous encounters with him where, from what I understood, he helped them when they were in danger/need, and yet somehow also conned them out of money/land/a happy ending?
I don’t really know because it was a bit confusing with the story jumping around everywhere and the multiple POVs, but it was still really fun and super fast paced to read!

If you’ve watched the film beauty and the beast you kinda already know what to expect, the plot follows the same direction with a few deviations and plot twists to keep things interesting. Like I said, it is a gender swap but with the beast being more like Belle and Charming being a little more like Gaston for some reason.
I think it was a really interesting take on such a classic book and worth a read!

Sinopsis en español:


El ex estafador Jean-Marc Charming Arundel, Príncipe Azul, para sus amigos, tiene una cita que mantener con un demonio. Viajando a través de un antiguo bosque embrujado por lobos y osos, huye de una tormenta repentina hacia una hermosa mansión. Allí, se encuentra como un invitado involuntario de una bestia temible: una noble transformada por una maldición de hadas, tan prisionera en la casa como él.

Charming y sus dos compañeros "invitados", Johannes y Wilhelm, deben asistir a la Bestia en entornos extrañamente románticos: leer libros junto al fuego, hacer un picnic en una colección de animales, una cena formal, por lo que son recompensados con misteriosos regalos de rosas rojas. ¿Pero con qué fin? ¿Y cuándo serán liberados? El reloj está corriendo, y más que solo su propia vida depende de ello...



Reseña:

Un libro entretenido, chistoso continua continúa con las aventuras del príncipe Encantador, ahora se enfrenta a un tipo concurso, en combinación al cuento de la bella y la bestia.



Gracias NetGalley por el ARC.

*The Beast* offers a gender-swap take on Beauty and the Beast and a nod to other fairytales. However, don’t go in expecting an exact gender-swap. The charming bits of Beauty are not as noticeable in Prince Charming who is described as "a cad, a traitor, a conman”. Beast reminds me more of Belle since she’s a reader, and is sensitive and caring.

This is a very short book with a light, casual writing style. *Beast* had a great premise and great characters, but the wealth of side plots made it hard to truly connect to the characters.
A cute, fun read for fairytale lovers, though it may leave you wanting more.

Thank you to Rebellion and to NetGalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review!

Beast is a solid continuation of the Charming series, with a central plot that gives this sequel a distinct feeling compared to its predecessor. I don’t think it was as well polished as book 1, and felt a bit clunky and rushed in comparison; it's still well worth reading if you enjoyed the first book, as a lot of the hallmarks of what made Charming great are still there.

This sequel sees Prince Charming get ensnared in a hidden mansion in the woods, where the mistress of the house has been cursed and turned into a beast. What follows is an entertaining spoof of The Bachelor, where Charming is competing against other captive suitors for the Lady of the House’s favour (whilst they all look for escape opportunities in the background). Jade Linwood shows off her skills at differentiating characters once more, creating three distinct ‘competitors’ whose personalities keep the plot fresh and interesting throughout. I can’t help but feel that, despite the fun premise, Charming as a character doesn’t get the opportunity to shine at all in this narrative. He has far less opportunity to be the cunning, sneaky piece of work we see in the first book, which is a shame as that was a real highlight of the first book for me.

For the book’s short runtime, I felt that too many characters were shoehorned into the plot. The inclusion of new fairy-tale characters into the plot was well done, and I really enjoyed seeing how different fairy tales could be drawn into the world of Charming. The problem for me was how many characters were also carried over from the first book, when perhaps leaving some of them on the side-lines for book 2 might have helped the story feel more focused. The book is over in a flash with a very quick resolution, and with the number of characters present in the final chapters I felt completely overwhelmed keeping everyone in check. What I really wish for would be a longer book 3 that gives room for all these good characters to have their storylines developed, without them treading on each other’s toes!

Thanks Netgalley and Jade Linwood for allowing me to read this arc.

So to begin with I didn't realize this was book 2. I ran to kindle and bought Charming immediately.

The gender flipped Beauty and the Beast is right up my alley! The romance was soo charming I really enjoyed the dynamic and chemistry between the characters! It's cozy and fun and full of great laughs!

Definitely recommend for fairy tail loving fans!

This is a strange book really. It's the sequel to a book where a bunch of princesses get their revenge on Prince Charming after he's robbed them all and more. So, as a sequel, we get to watch him actually fall in love?

Ish, the Princesses, let him keep some of the gold because he needs to hand it over to a demon, or else he and a bunch of others will die. So this book follows Charming getting trapped in an enchanted manor with two other suitors, and everyone has to work out how to find him before the date arrives when he needs to give over the gold. No problems, right?

Charming and Beast are sweet, the princesses and the rivals are cool and honestly, the book is a lot of fun. Maybe a few too many storylines, but it's a fun book.

Thank you netgally for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was not it for me, it was also not at all what I expected of it. That being said, I did not know this was the second book in the series. At the start I felt like I was missing a little bit of backstory but that didn’t really matter in the story telling. I expected more main story and less side characters and side story lines. Most of the time I was confused about what was going on. All the characters felt kinda flat to me.

If you liked the first part you’ll probably like this one too.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC for an honest review!

Beast is a follow up to Charming - in which 3 fairytale women pull a John Tucker Must Die on Prince Charming. As a sequel it followed the same vibes very well, so reading back to back feels seamless.

Beast is a multi POV story where Charming stumbles upon a manor which hosts a beast, so it’s a gender swaped retelling. The retellings do not stop there, and I love that there are so many references to other fairytales (Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, etc).

The main issue I have with it was that I just wanted to focus on Charming and Beast during their time together, it slowly built and with every new chapter we went back to Marie Blanche (Snow White), Doctor Emilia (Rapunzel), and Bella (Sleeping Beauty) I got annoyed. While I didn’t hate their plot, I just really wanted to focus on the gender swapped Beauty and the Beast part of the story more. I'd love to rate it higher, I feel like it's a solid 3. It's a fun story that is a good book to read when you want to get lost, quick and quirky!

I had no idea this was a second book in a series before I requested it. You kind of get the gist reading the beginning, but I do feel like I missed a bit.

I'm a sucker for fairytale retellings, especially Beauty and the Beast. This one is a reverse gender role retelling which had me intrigued. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by it. Maybe because I didn't read the first book, but I felt like the writing was a bit chaotic. It's an adult series, but reads very young to me. I liked all the fairytales coming together in this, but that's really the only thing. There was so many side characters that the beast and prince charming felt more like a side story.

Overall, I ended up DNFing this one. I'm not interested in going back and reading the first book or continuing this series.

Thank you netgalley and Rebellion publishing for this eArc in exchange for my honest review.

I am a sucker for retellings so the premise of a gender swapped Beauty and the Beast was incredibly intriguing. While there were entertaining parts, the story is a bit too chaotic and does not give enough time with Charming and Beast for you to fall in love with the characters.

Beast starts where book 1 ends, with Charming stumbling through the woods on his way to a demon. While on that journey he finds himself stuck in an enchanted manor, playing a bachelorette style game with two other trapped contestants, as they try to solve the "riddle" to break the curse.

Beast is a multi-PoV story and brings back several of your favorite characters from book 1. While I typically like multi-pov, it felt disjointed and left you wanting more of the main plot line. While there were enjoyable parts, I likely won't be picking up book 3.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity to read this book.

I did not read the previous stories in this series, but I don’t think I’ll go back to them based on this. It clearly wasn’t for me. It felt convoluted and muddled with how many characters and plots the author was juggling and I wasn’t really satisfied with the resolution of all of them. Nor did I really care if they got resolved because I felt invested in none of them.

That said I enjoyed the writing style and I think further in their career I’d give this author another chance in a different series.

I did not read the first book, so I’m not sure how the three storylines are connected to the previous arc if they are at all. I felt that it was fairly easy to understand what was happening as the first chapter explained the plan Marie Blanche, Bella, and Doctor Rapunzel have formed in regards to Charming and Beast, but I did miss out on how they first met Charming and how some of these pieces fit together. I’ll probably reread this one after finally reading the first and will do so before the third if this becomes a trilogy.
Beast by Jade Linwood is a third person multi-POV humorous romantic fantasy reverse gender retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When two princesses and a witch want their revenge on Prince Charming, they force him into a Bachelor-esque situation where he must compete for the love of a young woman cursed with the form of a beast. But is Charming’s self-centeredness going to get in the way of maybe finding true love?

I was initially very excited for this book, but it just fell very flat overall. Parts of the book were interesting and funny, but calling it a gender swapped beauty and the beast retelling was about the only thing accurate from the description. The bachelor aspect of the book was extremely lacking. There were also too many side plots and characters to the point it was almost like what is even going on. There are actually a few things that feel completely pointless and just thrown in for plot points for almost no reason.

The beast and Charming were barely even characters in the book due to everything happening. The ending felt extremely rushed and yet nothing was actually wrapped up or concluded. It just sort of has a climax and ends. Overall very disappointing read.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Beast by Jade Linwood is a third person multi-POV humorous romantic fantasy reverse gender retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When two princesses and a witch want their revenge on Prince Charming, they force him into a Bachelor-esque situation where he must compete for the love of a young woman cursed with the form of a beast. But is Charming’s self-centeredness going to get in the way of maybe finding true love?

I did not read the first book, so I’m not sure how the three storylines are connected to the previous arc if they are at all. I felt that it was fairly easy to understand what was happening as the first chapter explained the plan Marie Blanche, Bella, and Doctor Rapunzel have formed in regards to Charming and Beast, but I did miss out on how they first met Charming and how some of these pieces fit together. I’ll probably reread this one after finally reading the first and will do so before the third if this becomes a trilogy.

There’s a lot of different fairy tales being mashed up: Snow White, Rapunzel, Goldilocks, Beauty and the Beast along with werewolves and a character called Red Cap. Because there's a lot of playing with the stories (such as Goldilocks being a bear witch and her brother, Hans, being one of Beast’s suitors), a good working knowledge of fairy tales is useful to have. Of all of the classic characters, I was the most interested in Charming because he felt so much like the princes in Into the Woods who aren’t really thinking of others even if they could slowly learn and grow.

The romance between Beast and Charming has a forced proximity dynamic and both are very cautious around each other. Charming’s chapters sometimes show him being more concerned about clothes or more invested in the lives of his competitors, Hans and Will, and their backgrounds. Beast is not particularly enthusiastic about any of them or the situation. When she falls for Charming, she’s convinced he won’t go for her and keeps her feelings to herself.

I would recommend this to fans of humorous fairy tale mash-ups for adults and readers looking for a Bachelor x fairy tale set-up

A cute romance, but the plotting is a little disjointed. There were a lot of different threads and could've done with a little refining. Nice prose though,

That one was unexpected. I wasn't expecting anything specific but wow. It's super funny, original, outside the normes. Loved it, great characters, great writing and great plot.