On one level, I get it. This was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. And who doesn’t love that?

But… I kinda hated it? Nothing about this retelling felt natural, to me.

The characters:
▪️ This hero wasn’t a person. He had no character traits beyond "beast”—and if you took a drink every time someone called him a beast, you’d be dead. By the 40% mark.
▪️ Why were we told this heroine was a Bluestocking (beyond Belle being bookish in the movie)? Emphasis on “told”—because her character on-page (loyal, a good horsewoman, unreflective, and even impulsive) was nothing like her character off-page (studious feminist and critical thinker who knew something about everything).
▪️ And then I don’t know which side character was the most cartoonish tbh—no, I do know. The aunt who embroidered dicks.

The plot:
▪️ It was more about creating cool scenes than making sense. If it made a cool scene (like the heroine in pants for an event), the plot point was dire. But that same plot could be paused for weeks to make stuff happen at the masquerade ball instead 🙄
▪️ The romance plot’s pacing was all about the MCs living together (à la Belle and Beast) at the romance’s expense. It was so rushed, it was over by the halfway point. And then dragged out with nonsense and halfhearted miscommunication for the last 150+ pages.

And then just a bunch of stuff bugged me:
▪️ I hated how a character said “the Beast of Beswick” (the book’s title) in almost every chapter—no matter how mangled the dialogue had to be to make it happen.
▪️ I’m probably too picky about early feminism, 19th century philosophy, and British romanticism… but the (few) Bluestocking-y references were hurting my heart. From the heroine using 20th century post-structuralist feminist language to nonsense about Shelley, Byron, and Wollstonecraft, it was all getting to me.
▪️ As apologies go: “I bought you a building” < an angsty grovel. 
▪️ Also, don’t have the hero fantasize about spanking a heroine who wouldn’t want to be spanked. What am I supposed to do with that?