Loved this book despite the rocky start. As far as fairytale retellings go this was handled magnificently. The amalgam of different tales woven into oLoved this book despite the rocky start. As far as fairytale retellings go this was handled magnificently. The amalgam of different tales woven into one coherent story was unexpected and I'm eager to see what else Naomi Novik can pull off....more
I picked this up because it was marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I love those. Also it was discounted or free on Amazon at the time anI picked this up because it was marketed as a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I love those. Also it was discounted or free on Amazon at the time and between the title (which on Amazon includes A Dark Beauty and the Beast Retelling) and that cover it was way too tempting not to click on the buy button.
I went in blind not having a clue about the setting, I didn't even know if it's contemporary or some sort of fantasy. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that it features one of my favourite tropes -the girl paying her father/brother/boyfriend dept with her body. It's a guilty pleasure of mine but damn I love it and it took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out why this particular scenario always appealed to me. But than again in my teen years I was not so prone to analyzing my psyche and finding the hidden connections. It was after I was in my mid twenties when I finally connected the love of this particular scenario with my favourite fairy tale.
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If you're familiar with this trope you won't find any surprises. I won't go into trying to figure out if Ellie truly loves Ash by the end or it's just a form of Stockholm Syndrome. I choose to believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I want to talk about Ash and why this wasn't as creepy cringey as most of these books usually are.
Most of the dark romance novels make me want to kill one of both main characters because while I might have some submissive tendencies myself I go into a rage over rape and most of the standard BS of the genre. After all I have my pride and most often than not when reading one of those books I end up thinking that I would kill myself rather than let that overconfident jerk order me around. Dammit I would do it just to deny him his fucking prize. But I digress. Ash coerced Ellie, there's no going around that fact. But she had a choice. In each moment she could walk away and let her worthless father reap what he sowed. In fact I was a bit annoyed when she kept forgetting that little fact and acted childish in the beginning. Ash didn't force her and if this was real world she would have ended up gang raped at best and gang raped and sold into slavery (possibly killed) at worst. He provided everything she needed except contact with her father. Which ended up to be for her own sake as he proved to be an even bigger piece of shit than I thought.
It was Ash's change in thinking that was most fascinating. I loved how much he struggled with accepting his own feelings. It was this slow realization that loving doesn't make you weak that really made this stand out for me. Yes, he was a jerk and his behavior frustrated me to no end at times but he has his own set of morals and he sticks to them. He provides a safe environment, frees her from the biggest stress factor - her father, his gambling and lies. What I liked from the start about Ash is that it was in his interest to simply take Ellie as a form of payment from her father as she would have been able to make him the money her old man owed him, one way or another. However, he had no intention of doing that and if she hadn't offered herself he would have simply ridden the world of one human waste of space.
I know it all sounds as if I'm rationalizing things and looking for a reason to like an asshole. However, I'm aware that he's not the good guy and that what he did was wrong. I'm just saying that he didn't abuse her when he could have and instead let her spread her wings in ways she never expected to be able. Some of the things he did are still a form of rape but she could have walked away. There would have been consequences but knowing what I know about her father I can't help but feel that either way she would have won.
There are elements of BDSM in this book. And those scenes were pretty hot and really graphic. I liked that there was a good balance between the sex and the plot, which isn't usually the case with a first in a series book....more
I love fairytale retellings. I especially favour the Beauty and the Beast trope so when I saw the first book in this series was discounted a few weeksI love fairytale retellings. I especially favour the Beauty and the Beast trope so when I saw the first book in this series was discounted a few weeks ago I couldn’t resist the temptation. This mentality's also why I will never even make a dent in my TBR mountain let alone clear it up. The first book was nothing original but I enjoyed it enough to decide I want to know how the story will end. Well not how it’ll end precisely because as a Beauty and the Beast retelling it must follow a certain pattern. So the correct thing to say is I wanted to know the particulars of how Sorcha and Eamonn will get to their HEA. Unlike the Heart of the Fae this one managed to sneak in some surprises. I particularly enjoyed the way Sorcha’s devotion to a peaceful resolution was tested. She wavered in the face of heartbreak and grief but her healer’s heart ultimately won over the desire for revenge. Hamm’s interpretation of the Fomorian myths was also quite engaging and I would love to see her write the story implied by the mother of druids. There’s so much potential there even if we know how it will end. But then again that can be said for all retellings and I (and apparently a lot of other readers) love them....more
I got this for free from Amazon a few weeks/months ago and when i was looking for something to distract me from an emotionally laden scene in another I got this for free from Amazon a few weeks/months ago and when i was looking for something to distract me from an emotionally laden scene in another book I was reading at the time I saw it on my Kindle.
Hated served its purpose perfectly. It not only distracted me and made me feel light enough to go back to the other book but it also made me curious enough to pick the first book of this series. So it was a win-win situation! ...more
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