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abinthebooks 's review for:
Bookish and the Beast
by Ashley Poston
The first book I’ve read this month is a 4 star, which is off to a great start! Anyways, this book was really cute.
I’ve read plenty of Beauty and the Beast retellings in my time as a reader, to many to count in fact, and I’ve never really loved any of them. [b: A Curse So Dark and Lonely|43204703|A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers, #1)|Brigid Kemmerer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574179523l/43204703._SY75_.jpg|50519947] was really the only Beauty and the Beast retelling that has stuck with me, but I think I can call this my favorite Beauty and the Beast contemporary retelling.
Like I said, I thought this book was really cute. I liked the romance, and the characters, and the portrayal of guilt and remorse and heartbreak was pretty good, at least in my eyes. Rosie goes through the motions, and pain of losing her mother, and the way she describes how she feels without her mom made me genuinely sad. The way Vance talked about his guilt, towards the people he’s wronged and the things he’s done, and his anger at his parents was very understandable and I really did feel something during those scenes.
This book also has much LGBTQIA+ representation. I think almost every character in here is bisexual, or doesn’t define their sexual preference. We have I believe two non-binary characters in here as well. You don’t really see a lot of books with that much rep, unless it’s focused solely on sexual identity and sexuality.
Ok time for some spoilers! These spoilers are minor, but if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read this paragraph!
A few things bothered me though, like the weird thing with Rosie’s dad, and Vance’s guardian. Rosie’s mom had died only a year before, and her dad was already flirting with other people? It just felt a little unrealistic. Also it was really weird when all of Rosie’s friends called her dad, space dad? The meaning behind it basically meant that her dad was good looking enough to be in a space movie/tv show? I mean who’s friends really say that to your other friends dad? Right, no one. I also found it really weird that one of the main couples from the first book in this series broke up halfway through this book? It just felt really out of place.
END OF MINOR SPOILERS
I also think that I probably wouldn’t have liked this as much if I had read, [b: Geekerella|30724132|Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1)|Ashley Poston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476734515l/30724132._SY75_.jpg|50652411], and [b: The Princess and the Fangirl|39725622|The Princess and the Fangirl (Once Upon a Con, #2)|Ashley Poston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542265229l/39725622._SY75_.jpg|61408547], mainly because I actually think those books would have probably been better...but I probably should have read them because I was really confused on the terminology for the tv/movie series in here.
Overall though, this book was really sweet and pretty funny. The characters were good, the plot was interesting, and I really enjoyed the bookish aspect to this book. Really excited to read more by [a: Ashley Poston|4279769|Ashley Poston|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1603175651p2/4279769.jpg].
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THIS COVER WILL BE MY DEMISE
I’ve read plenty of Beauty and the Beast retellings in my time as a reader, to many to count in fact, and I’ve never really loved any of them. [b: A Curse So Dark and Lonely|43204703|A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers, #1)|Brigid Kemmerer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574179523l/43204703._SY75_.jpg|50519947] was really the only Beauty and the Beast retelling that has stuck with me, but I think I can call this my favorite Beauty and the Beast contemporary retelling.
Like I said, I thought this book was really cute. I liked the romance, and the characters, and the portrayal of guilt and remorse and heartbreak was pretty good, at least in my eyes. Rosie goes through the motions, and pain of losing her mother, and the way she describes how she feels without her mom made me genuinely sad. The way Vance talked about his guilt, towards the people he’s wronged and the things he’s done, and his anger at his parents was very understandable and I really did feel something during those scenes.
This book also has much LGBTQIA+ representation. I think almost every character in here is bisexual, or doesn’t define their sexual preference. We have I believe two non-binary characters in here as well. You don’t really see a lot of books with that much rep, unless it’s focused solely on sexual identity and sexuality.
Ok time for some spoilers! These spoilers are minor, but if you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read this paragraph!
A few things bothered me though, like the weird thing with Rosie’s dad, and Vance’s guardian. Rosie’s mom had died only a year before, and her dad was already flirting with other people? It just felt a little unrealistic. Also it was really weird when all of Rosie’s friends called her dad, space dad? The meaning behind it basically meant that her dad was good looking enough to be in a space movie/tv show? I mean who’s friends really say that to your other friends dad? Right, no one. I also found it really weird that one of the main couples from the first book in this series broke up halfway through this book? It just felt really out of place.
END OF MINOR SPOILERS
I also think that I probably wouldn’t have liked this as much if I had read, [b: Geekerella|30724132|Geekerella (Once Upon a Con, #1)|Ashley Poston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476734515l/30724132._SY75_.jpg|50652411], and [b: The Princess and the Fangirl|39725622|The Princess and the Fangirl (Once Upon a Con, #2)|Ashley Poston|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542265229l/39725622._SY75_.jpg|61408547], mainly because I actually think those books would have probably been better...but I probably should have read them because I was really confused on the terminology for the tv/movie series in here.
Overall though, this book was really sweet and pretty funny. The characters were good, the plot was interesting, and I really enjoyed the bookish aspect to this book. Really excited to read more by [a: Ashley Poston|4279769|Ashley Poston|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1603175651p2/4279769.jpg].
* * *
THIS COVER WILL BE MY DEMISE