Bell’s father has run out of employees to send to France to deal with the demanding man who has hired their company to help improve his castle library.
Too bad for him she’s determined to win him over.
This short and sweet retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story takes readers to a chateau in Paris where a grumpy widower and an optimistic woman realize they can do anything they put their minds to… when they work together.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars)
Hello, my lovely friends!
I always say that I do not like Beauty and the Beast retellings. But after recently finishing Legacy of Roses by Melanie Cellier, and now this one??? I might be starting to change my mind. Because this was delightful. I loved how it played out, and it was the perfect length where I didn’t become bored with the plot, but still feel like I got to know the characters.
Oh, the characters!!! Bell and Jean-Luc were so much fun together. It was one of my favorite grumpy/sunshine relationships I’ve read, because he pretty instantly started getting happier around her. I liked how we had things play out with that, and how he started to heal from past wounds, and she encouraged him to step outside his comfort zone and embrace life.
The romance in this book was so sweet! I loved how they were pretty much instantly in love, and I loved how cute they were whenever the other one was mentioned or came into the room. It was a really fun romance, and I’m kind of sad there isn’t a short story sequel of them together after the book. However, I was happy with how this one concluded, at the same time.
I will say, it was a relatively short book, so I don’t have much more to say. I could have used some more parts with the books, and I did not like the villain of this story… but we weren’t supposed to, so it was okay. Overall, I was happy with the retelling elements. It was enough to make me grin like I was in on a joke (that beginning? Priceless), but not so much that I felt like I’d already read this book.
As far as content goes, I would say it was very clean for adult readers. There is some grief over his wife’s passing in a car accident, and then, we see one of his in-laws accusing him of being the one to blame for his wife’s death. We also have a character who is believed to be near death, but they’re alright in the end. Overall, very clean, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves romcoms or fairytale retellings.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The fairytale retelling elements were really fun, the romance was really sweet, and it made for a great summer read. I would definitely recommend it, and I will probably re-read it at some point. I’m glad to say that I really enjoy Toni Shiloh’s books, and I am eager to read more.
(Oh, and I know that the whole Beauty and the Beast story is about not judging books by their covers, but this cover? So cute. So precious.)
EMOJI REVIEW!
- 🥀 beauty and the beast retelling
- 🏖️ all the summer feels
- ❤️ cute contemporary romcom
- 🔎 great little nods to the original story
- 🥐 takes place in france
- 🏰 renovating an old chateau
- 🎆 visiting disneyland paris
- ☀️ cute grumpy sunshine
- ⛪️ great faith content and witnessing
Alright, well, that’s all I’ve got for this review. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I hope that you’ll check out this book if it sounded interesting to you. What’s your favorite Beauty and the Beast retelling? I’d love to chat about it in the comments below!
Until next time, sweet friends.
keira anne with an e 
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