Roses & Thorns : Beauty and the Beast Retold (Classic Tales Retold)

YES. A retelling done in such a way that despite knowing exactly what would happen, I was 100% INVESTED in HOW it would happen in this version. Didn't want to put the book down, and my heart genuinely sped at parts.

The world felt full and interesting and wonderfully magical. The characters learned things and had arcs, both individually and together. The plot and romance were PERFECTLY paced. The message of queer love not being demonic and the damage done when growing up thinking so was just...so well done, powerful, emotional.

The text needed proofreading, and there were a lot of inanimate objects doing things (e.g. "the gloved hand waved"), but honestly everything else about the book was so good that I simply didn't care.

While certainly a sweet enough book with its intentions, especially for a fairy tale, Roses and Thorns offers no real connection or chemistry between the two central characters. It is also unnerving (for me, at least) that the "Beast" (who could not be considered a beast in any universe) is so deceptive about who s/he really is. For much of the time I read this I felt a bit creeped out...mostly because it doesn't seem like a relationship between equals.

I had some really high hopes for this book, but I was very disappointed after reading it. The story was dull, flat, and predictable. Angelique is the typical "Mary Sue" character: absolutely perfect in every regard. Every straight man in the book was portrayed as being evil and devious, while every woman in the book was good and kind. I seriously wanted to laugh half of the time at how two-dimensional this book is.