To Love a Beast

Beauty & the Beast in 1800 Texas

Once known among New York’s elite as the American Adonis, Everett Griffin now lives as a recluse in the wilds of Texas. The treachery of a former admirer left his face and his spirit riddled with scars, so he hides himself away, his only companions a trio of trusted servants and an oversized dog. Locals whisper of the beastly man who lives in the gloomy manor outside of town and his tendency to attack anyone who dares approach. Everett relishes his fearsome reputation and uses it as a shield to guard his privacy. Until a young woman as stubborn as she is beautiful infiltrates his sanctum and lays siege to his defenses.
 
When an injury to her father jeopardizes the family’s book binding business, Callista Rosenfeld determines to fulfill the contract herself, and no insufferable client or woman-eating dog will deter her. Finding unlikely allies among Mr. Griffin’s staff, Callista secures her position and sets to work transforming the manor’s remarkable library. Her employer transforms as well, his ill-tempered growls subsiding to reveal a considerate, intellectual nature. Affection blooms as Callista and Everett discover hidden depths in each other, but the evil schemes of a vengeful hunter threaten to leave their love and their lives in tatters.

My Review:

I am beyond thrilled that Karen Witemeyer has elected to continue her Texan fairy tale retellings independently. I love the way she mixes classic tales with ‘Wild West’ culture. Praying this series goes on for as long as there are fairy tales to retell!

What a remarkable reimagining of Beauty and the Beast! I enjoyed the subtle twists to the classic tale and the way the author added those elements to create a truly unique love story.

And Witemeyer is brilliant at developing characters into real-life relatable folks a reader can’t wait to spend time with. Even Everett who is so beastly during their meet-cute! We see his heart right away through his affection for his big lumbering ox of a dog, so we know he can’t be all bad. And Callista’s determination to save the family bookbinding business (a perfect occupation for a Beauty and the Beast heroine!) is the perfect excuse to bring them together. A true enemies to more trope that morphs into friends to more and I loved every second of their romance!

Of course, it isn’t all smooth sailing. There’s evil lurking near by, waiting to strike at the unlikeliest of moments. Eeeeppp!

I listened to the audible edition of ‘To Love a Beast’ and thoroughly enjoyed Cara Firestone’s storytelling style.

27 thoughts on “To Love a Beast”

  1. This book sounds AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! And I didn’t realize it was available as an audiobook… I might have to check that out…… (I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks in the car!)

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  2. LOVE Karen Witemeyer’s books! TO LOVE A BEAST sounds absolutely AMAZING!

    Thank you so much for your review, which revved up my desire to read this book even more. Can’t wait to devour it and definitely hope there’s more on the horizon in this series.

    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  11. I am a huge fan of Karen Witemeyer’s books but I haven’t been able to read To Love A Beast yet. Alas, I don’t have the budget to buy every book I want. I’ll put it on my list of books I want for my birthday and Christmas.

    pmkellogg56[at]gmail[dot]com

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  12. I love Karen Witemeyer books and this fairy take retelling us quite ingenious.  Thanks for the review!  This is a perfect “lighter” read. The library won’t usually acquire indie books, so I’ll have to just wait for a sale.  I’m overbooked anyway! 

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    1. You’d think they would carry all her books because she’s a localist author. Maybe they will eventually, once they see how many amazing fairy tale retellings she published…..I hope!!! 🙂 Happy Reading, Perrianne!

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  14. i hope I’m not to late for this one. I love a good Beauty and the beast retelling. This one sounds amazing. Great review as always.

    tighefan42atgmaildotcom

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