Belle

Author: Cameron Dokey

Length: ~ 204 pages

Genre: Fantasy (Fairy-tale retelling) 

Heat level: Clean

Stars:  3 Enjoyable Purple Stars 

Book Summary:

Belle is convinced she has the wrong name, as she lacks her sisters’ awe-inspiring beauty. So she withdraws from society, devoting her time to wood carving. Secretly, Belle longs to find the fabled Heartwood Tree. If carved by the right hands, the Heartwood will reveal the face of one’s true love.

Review:

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast. We couldn’t put this book down, after page 122. The first page the Beast is actually mentioned. Everything before this page was back story. Belle’s childhood and her sisters. Don’t get us wrong, all of this was interesting and we liked it, but it either needed to be cut back a lot or the book needed to be 100 pages longer. All the wonderful parts about her childhood, and how Belle feels she never really lived up to her name, made for a great story and made us care about Belle all the more, but there was no time or room to get to know or care about the Beast. This book needed so much more romance and so much more time with them in the castle. The actual romance felt rushed and there was no in-between. She went from being at the castle and just kind of there and (seemingly) to be building a relationship, to declaring that she loved the Beast in a matter of paragraphs. The few scenes with Belle and the Beast we did enjoy, but that’s just the point. There were too few romantic moments. If we’d ever like to read a romance in 70 pages we’ll pick this up again. So pretty much very rarely, possibly never. Maybe once before it goes back to the library.