Leila's Reviews > The Beast of Beswick

5 tale as old as time stars!

If you’ve followed my reviews for long enough, you know that Beauty & the Beast is one of my ultimate favourite fairytale retellings! I will always take recommendations for this trope… I’m set on finding them all. :)

I loved this rendition and devoured it. I could have highlighted the whole story, and almost did.

Astrid’s quick wit, intelligence, devotion to her sister, views on women’s rights and her fearlessness made me fall in love with her. Determined to keep her sister safe and out of the hands of a monster, she makes a deal with the devil. I loved how she stood toe-to-toe with Thane and went after what she wanted.

Hard-nosed and stubborn, she was the opposite of her sister in every way, not just in looks. She was no meek English rose, no sweet-tempered maiden, no delicate miss. She was a fiery hothouse bloom that made his blood burn and drove him to intolerable distraction.

I have a slight infatuation with broody, broken heroes. Thane is a brutish, hot-tempered war hero who has the scars to show it, both inside and out. The years of being shunned, shamed and stared have forced him to scare everyone away, everyone but Astrid.

One could not call him handsome by any stretch of the imagination, but parts of him were beautiful in isolation, like his eyes when they were lit with amusement or his mouth when his mood was indulgent, which wasn’t often.

From the very first moment these two met I could not get enough of their sharp barbs, quick wit and snarky banter. Every verbal repartee they had had me laughing out loud. Their sexual chemistry was palpable and highly combustible!

“Again,” she commanded.
He arched an eyebrow at her high-handedness but complied. “Bossy.”
“I know what I want, and you’re not a mind reader,” she said and gasped with pleasure as his body sank home a third and fourth time. “I call it leadership.”
“I love the way your brain works.” He thrust again. “And I love a woman in control.”

(view spoiler)[The scene with the 'rooster in Thane's pants' had me rolling with laughter!

“I want to see it all. Now, your duchess commands you to strip.”
Obligingly, Thane shed his trousers, and he had the distinct pleasure of seeing her shocked speechless, her eyes goggling. “It’s rude to stare, Lady Beswick.”
“Th-That’s been inside me?” she sputtered. “You have got to be joking. There’s no way that thing—”
“Cock,” he supplied helpfully.
Her throat worked, and she licked her lips. “Whatever it is, a bloody rooster for all I care. There’s no way that’s fitting anywhere.”
“I’ve already been inside you, darling. Several times.”
“You must have been smaller those other times.”

(hide spoiler)]

The secondary characters were delicious. I adore snarky valets who test the patients of their employer with plenty of talk-back and still manage to not get fired. There was the eavesdropping butler who thought he knew best for everyone. And we can’t forget the outrageous, widowed, and promiscuous, aunt. She kept me on my toes and in stitches.

I am so glad that I finally picked up this book, and a bit saddened that I didn’t read it sooner. I will definitely be reading more from AH.

Thank you Lana for reading along, especially the rants against the patriarchy!