Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The Beast Within by Serena Valentino

I picked up The Beast Within the moment it arrived in the bookstore I work at and it has sat atop my ever growing pile waiting for the perfect moment to be read. That moment finally arrived on a Monday night and nothing was able to force me to put this book down. Upon completion of this novel I found myself even more viciously in love with Beast than I have been my entire life.  If you loved Beauty and The Beast and have always felt a longing for more about the beautiful, broken boy this is the book you need to pick up immediately.

The book starts with a slight difference to the Prince's downfall into the Beast visage he later dons by having it be the work of a family of witches that curse him fr breaking the heart of their gorgeous, beloved youngest sister. The Prince scoffs at their threats as idle words of worry and continues on in his search for a bride beautiful enough to be at his arm. When he finds a girl he deems worthy of his presence, he begins drifting into madness - noticing slight changes in his perfect appearance, a more haggard and drawn face, a clear cruelty and violence about his eyes his mean demeanor become more and more prominent. At last he recalls the words of the witched, true love's kiss having the ability to break this vile curse. So he treats his new lady with the utmost kindness and care until the perfect moment he may finally kiss her, only the curse speeds up so he lashes out, banishing the girl from his kingdom and driving her to extremes and destroying her family. Irate, he locks down the castle, refusing guests and keeping to his room until he becomes the Beast we all know so well. Enters Belle to take her father's place as his captive, and more of the story we have all grown to love, but this time with more insight to Beast's feelings and inner thoughts shining a light on the sweet scared boy he is. Ending of course with our fairytale kiss you ride a roller coaster of emotions leading up to that point with more story than one could have ever hoped for.


Putting my extreme adoration for this tale (as old as time HA) aside, it is a beautifully haunting novel delving farther into the psyche of this man than ever before. Even if you weren't previously a large fan of Beauty and The Beast this book weaves a story of romance that will melt any frozen heart and quell any skeptic beast. A quick read that is sure to take even the slowest reader just a short stint of time, it's a light novel that will uplift you and let you walk away feeling even better than before.

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