Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Dean
All my life, I dreamed about making the long trip from Australia to Canada to study forestry amid the old-growth stands of the Pacific Northwest. Now here I am, living the dream. Of course, nothing's perfect. The only housing I can find is renting a room from a grumpy, reclusive guy who doesn’t seem to want me around. I should keep out of his way and focus on my studies, but there’s something about him that keeps drawing me in. I feel less homesick when I’m with him, and maybe I can make a difference for more than just the trees.

Adam
Life as I knew it ended with my horrific accident ten years ago. There's no point to my existence now, but I can't seem to stop living, so I hide my battered carcass in my mountain home. There, I can wander from room to room and no one stares, no one laughs, no one even remembers I exist. Until I make the mistake of offering a stranded Aussie a room to rent. It should've been a simple favor—two men with our own spaces, ignoring each other. Instead, he's always close by, and he won't let me wallow, and what's worse, I think I'm starting to like that. But there's no way someone like me can have a future with someone like him. Right?

The Beauty of the Beast is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in the wilds of British Columbia, where an Aussie forester a long way from home falls for the untouchable man he shouldn’t want. The novel has moderate angst, a feisty foreigner, and what happens when someone trusts again. 

 

Book Review

First, a disclaimer: I totally love the fairy tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and have never encountered a version I didn’t like, so going into this story I was already prepared to like it. As it turned out, I more than liked it, I found it highly enjoyable and a delightful take on the original, so kudos to Gabbi Grey for this creative spin on an old tale.

 

Dean immediately jumped to my list of favorite Aussie characters—a truly likeable guy who has so much enthusiasm for not only his job in forestry but for all of life. Adam was a sad character in that he’s suffered for years from not only grief over a fiery car crash that maimed him and killed his brother, but also for losing his parents shortly after that in a yacht fire at sea. A bit too much of a coincidence in my opinion, but it’s a minor story point so easy to let go of. Adam is a former high-paid fashion model, so when he was disfigured by burns on his face and body, he lost his career as well. No wonder he stays holed up in his home, a castle-like structure with enough privacy to feed Adam’s need to isolate.

 

Dean needs a place to stay for a few months while on a work study trip since his housing contract fell through. When he mentions his need to two guys he meets at a local cafe, Maddox and Ravi (‘Ginger Snapping All the Way’), they realize Adam has plenty of space. One phone call and they convince Adam to rent a room to Dean for a short time. 

 

Of course, from the moment Dean enters his life, Adam’s isolation evolves to participation in activities with him, and then socialization with the neighbors, and finally to relationship-building and, you guessed it, ultimately a happily ever after. It wouldn’t be a fairy tale without that happy ending.  

 

“The joy is in the journey” is one of my favorite slogans, and it truly applies here. The journey taken by Dean and Adam is heartwarming, but not without life’s ups and downs, and though it takes a little while, it’s a pleasure to watch “the beast” realize he’s worthy of love and friendship. The author manages to include enough of the original story (not only a castle, but roses!) that I can definitely and happily recommend this to those looking for a lovely heartwarming romance.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author via GRRT for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 312 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	14-May-2024
Price	$4.99 ebook, $14.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Contemporary-Fairytale-Romance-ebook/dp/B0CN4VXZ2T