Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorite tales. This book puts a mature twist on it!! I recommend this book for anyone 16+ (or who feels they are mature enough). There is no profanity or sexual activity (except for a few stolen kisses).

I think it can be very difficult to twist an old tale to make it new and fresh. As this tale starts, it appeared this might be the case. But as you read on (and on), it doesn't quite hit the mark. If a somewhat updated fairy tale is what you're in the mood for, this may fill your void. Otherwise, move along.

This is a wonderful book. The romance story is a traditional format with intriguing details. It is one of those books I will read over and over again.

I seem to be in a blizzard of different versions of the Beauty and Beast story. While most of the Beautys have been strong willed women, with curious minds, and set apart a bit from her peers, Rhianne has a couple of advantages over her counterparts in other versions: true visions or dreams and a gift for drawing and painting, which may help her solve the mystery if the Dragon and the earlier Brides. A certain amount of the setting--isolated castle on a mountain with high towers, mysterious deaths of multiple wives, a male figure who never shows himself/always comes fully covered/is seen only at night, women chosen by lot to forsake everything they've known to go marry the legendary inhabitant of the castle (but no governesses, no monstrous huge dogs, no attic off-Limits, no single, high, lit window, no one clad lightly running from the castle...)--is so mid-20th c. Gothic Novel/Romantic Suspense, quite unlike any other B&B version I can recall. This telling can hold its own against other authors' interpretation. Practical matter: So why no hearths in the sleeping rooms in a stone castle? I've lived in enough places where "heating" meant a vent the hallway, or a wall unit in the living area. This means that unless you keep the door to your bedroom open, none of that heat goes where you're likely to be unclothed. What were they thinking? This was enjoyable enough to get me to buy the others in this series, at least.

This is an engrossing and vivid and re-imagining of the Beauty and the Beast tale written by a masterful author. The reader is quickly transported into the fantasy and enthralled completely right up to the end. I will certainly read more of Pope’s novels. Her voice is perfect.

I'm a paranormal junkie and I have read several of Christine's other series. I was so bummed that this was a standalone book, I would love a follow up story on Black's Keep. I was hooked from the first page to the last.

I could not put it down. A great retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.

We all love "Once Upon A Time" books with a happy ending even if the story has curses and evil magic intertwined into its characters and plots. With a smile on my face and my hot popcorn gone I willingly look forward to completing all of Christine Pope's books. KSW

A clean, romantic story. I enjoyed it.

I’m a sucker for any re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast. Even the bad ones. But every page of this book was a struggle. Rhiane’s formal, stilted narration and dialogue made liking her impossible. And when she’d go from zero to hysterical in a sentence or less, it was even more abrupt and unbelievable because she was so robotic. This book had a lot of potential, and the plot itself wasn’t terrible (probably because it was mostly leveraged from the original). But the execution was awful, and I regret the hours wasted reading the book.