I really enjoyed this retelling. It's not your traditional retelling (like The Dark Wife), but instead is a retelling of the Disney movie. This book does require you to go in having seen the movie (at least the animated one).

I enjoyed how they weaved all of the characters together. The end was kind of obvious in a big character plot twist. I enjoyed how Belle and the Beast seemed more human than their movie counterparts did.

This book also falls into a weird age category. There are some dark things in this book (murder, kidnapping, genocide, plague), but the core story is still the same. If I were to target an age group, I'd go to 13-15. Don't get me wrong, even adults can enjoy this story, but you can tell it's written for a more young to mid teen audience.