Review: Of Beast and Beauty by Chanda Hahn

Title: Of Beast and Beauty

Author:  Chanda Hahn
Publisher: Neverwood Press
Publishing Date:  June 18th, 2019

Pages: 310 
Genre: YA Fairy Tale Retelling

Series:  Daughters of Eville 
Source:  Audio

 

Something evil this way comes.
7 Vengeful Sisters
7 Fairytale Kingdoms
7 Daughters of Eville

Everyone dreams of marrying a prince—except for me. I am nothing more than a pawn in my adoptive mother's diabolical plot against the seven kingdoms.I was the chosen tool, her sharpened blade that would cut the deepest into the heart of the Kingdom of Baist. But like all deadly weapons, my wedding is two-edged sword that could cost me my soul.

For I am Rosalie, one of the adopted daughters of Lady Eville, and it is my duty to enter into a loveless and hate-filled marriage with the narcissistic Crown Prince of Baist. My choices and heart are not my own to give. Yet even in the thick of dire situations, beastly vengeance can give way to beautiful attraction.

This book I discovered while on Audible. I was pursuing and this just sounded good. I love a good Beauty and the Beast retelling. So on my TBR it went and I was finally able to read it. Ash had picked this one out for my February Bingo Challenge. I am so glad she did. This book was so much more than I had ever anticipated. I have read some good and some great and some so so and some not good at all retellings. I am picky since its one of my favorite genres. I really loved this read. It was good, it was different, it was a page turner. Yup I loved it.


Beauty and the Beast retelling with quite a twist on things. It starts with a witch with a daughter who curses a king and forces his son to marry his daughter. They get married they hate each other. The prince thinks the daughter is wicked, the daughter thinks the prince is cruel. Oh and there is a beast roaming the woods killing villagers. The prince and the daughter must find a way to work together to save the kingdom from the beast. There is magic, romance, war, horror, there is a little bit of everything in this story.


My favorite fairy tale is by far Beauty and the Beast, so when I see a Beauty and the Beast retelling I am all over it. It's always a hit or miss. I went into this one not expecting much but hoping for a win. And I got a win. This book was a little slow to take off... What I mean by low is where it was going. It was still good to read, I just didn't see where it was going. So it was a bit before I was totally in, but I feel that if the author didn't take the time in the beginning to really build the characters, I wouldn't have been in as deep once it all went down. Beauty and the Beast is at the heart of thing.... I love story and it's a love story that completely transform characters. So l needed badly to understand and fall in love with the characters, flaws and all. That is what this author did. I completely fell in love with these characters. It was great. I can say that there wasn't one character I didn't strong hate, love, respect, connect too, and many times all of the above at different times in the story. They all had pasts, secrets, regrets, issues to overcome.

The main characters, Rosalie and The Prince, are just great. There was so much to love about both their stories. Neither one of them was really in charge of their own choices and destiny. They were both forced into a marriage that they did not want and a marriage fuled by fear. Neither one able to trust or to truly be who they were. It wasn't until they decided to work together for a common goal when they began to let the walls down and also learn to communicate in a way the other could appreciate and understand. It was then when a friendship could come into play and eventually love. I just loved the love story.

The love story wasn't the only relationship the book focuses on. There are past relationships of love and of family that has shaped the present. There are friendships old and new and there are family loyalties and dynamics that really come into play. They are all intertwined in some way and the way the author weaves them all together slowly to tell such a compelling story is just magnificent. I have always loved stories that are told in pieces, past and present. I feel in these, I really get to know all the characters so very well.

This story was really it's own, even though it was a retelling, it was loosely a retelling. This story had so much more than just the love story, in fact at times the love story was almost in the background. There was love of family, friendships, curses and magic, kingdoms at war, mystery, darkness. It was just wonderful. The writing is beautiful, the story was adventurous and dark. The world the story was set in was vivid and full of color. There were many stories inside a bigger story and it all blended perfectly.

I am really looking forward to reading more from this author, especially this world. Which I am in luck since there are more stories about the witches daughters.



I loved it, nothing but love in the heart and stars in the eyes for this one.

Chanda Hahn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Reign An Unfortunate Fairy Tale. She was born in Seattle, WA, grew up in Nebraska and currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their twin children. She attended North Central University in Minneapolis Minnesota for Childrens Ministry. She was also a children's pastor, bookseller and children's librarian.

Books published by Chanda include the UnEnchanted series a.k.a. (Unfortunate Fairy Tale Series) and The Iron Butterfly series.

Chanda is represented by Mark Gottlieb at Trident Media Group. You can direct any inquiries regarding foreign, film, audio and translation rights to him. www.tridentmediagroup.com

Review: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal

Title: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek

Author: Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal

Publisher: Crown

Publishing Date: October 29th, 2019

Pages: 324
Audio Length: 10 Hours and 44 Minutes

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
TW: N/A

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

It's 1992 in Bleak Creek, North Carolina, a sleepy little place with all the trappings of an ordinary Southern town: two Baptist churches, friendly smiles coupled with silent judgments, and a seemingly unquenchable appetite for pork products. Beneath the town’s cheerful façade, however, Bleak Creek teens live in constant fear of being sent to The Whitewood School, a local reformatory with a record of putting unruly teens back on the straight and narrow—a record so impeccable that almost everyone is willing to ignore the mysterious deaths that have occurred there over the past decade.
At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they’ve been told—that the students’ strange demises were all tragic accidents. But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece, PolterDog, goes horribly awry—and their best friend, Candice Boykins, is sent to Whitewood as punishment—Rex and Leif are forced to question everything they know about their unassuming hometown and its cherished school for delinquents.
Eager to rescue their friend, Rex and Leif pair up with recent NYU film school grad Janine Blitstein to begin piecing together the unsettling truth of the school and its mysterious founder, Wayne Whitewood. What they find, with Candice’s life hanging in the balance, will leave them battling an evil beyond their wildest teenage imaginations—one that will shake Bleak Creek to its core.

What made me pick this book up: 

I am OBSESSED with Rhett and Link. I love their youtube videos and I love them. I might actually be IN love with them. 

Anyway, I saw that they were writing a book and I freaked out more than a little bit. Once I read the synopsis and realized that it's not only a YA book but also a horror/thriller/mystery type thing I knew I had to read it. 

I got this book the day it came out! I don't do that often.

What did I like about the cover: 

The cover matches the book well. It's set in the 1990's and I feel like the it looks like an old torn up novel from the 90's. Not only that but the hand in the water match so well. 

What made me read this book: 

As I said, Rhett and Link + YA + mystery thriller = I HAD to read it. 

What did I like the most: 

Okay so I read this back in October and I'm just now writing a review. So bear with me while I try to get my thoughts together. This might be a very scattered review.

I absolutely loved this book first of all. I went into this hoping for the best but expecting the worst because a lot of books written by celebrities like this... well they kind of suck. Usually. So I went in with an open mind and I just really wanted to have fun reading this.

I think the best thing about this book is the humor. It is a very dark and twisted book, but the humor in it is straight up Rhett and Link. I felt myself laughing- and feeling really bad for laughing- more than I thought I would. It was dark humor, but still definitely classic Rhett and Link. I feel like with these types of books there has to be a little bit of humor in it or it's just way too much. 

The characters were written really well. They were all easy to love and had such big personalities. I felt connected with them and didn't want anything to happen to them. I did have a hard time knowing the difference between Rex and Leif at some points- but I'll talk about that down in the what I didn't like section. 

I loved them both though and I felt myself wishing I had friends like this.

They were also filming an at home horror movie about a poltergeist dog and that made me really happy. I don't know why, but it really did. 

Anyway.

The mystery of it was written really well. I found myself not wanting to put the book down. I just had to know what the f was going on. I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to. It was one of those staring off in space, mouth slightly agape, leg jiggling type of books. You know the ones. The ones that your husbands look at you like you're crazy but you just don't care because the book is so good you can't stop.

It was definitely a very unique and interesting read. I had all kinds of emotions while reading this, which is the best kind of read. The story is completely different than anything I've read before. 

What didn't I like: 

As I said above I had a hard time remembering which was Rex and which was Leif. The POV kinda changed randomly and even when it stayed I was like was it Rex or Leif who did *insert thing here*? It was a little bit confusing. But that's the worst of it so it's really no big deal.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
YES! Please let them write more books!

So much better than I ever thought it would be

"I'm not used to people thinking I'm a bad kid. It's kind of exhilarating."
- The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal

Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, raised in North Carolina and best friends since the first grade, are a comedy duo known for creating the Internet’s most-watched daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning; their award-winning weekly podcast Ear Biscuits; and the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality. They share an office at Mythical Entertainment, the company they cofounded, but live separately with their respective wives, children, and dogs in Los Angeles.