Beauty: an Everland Ever After Tale

I believe this is my first book review. I like to read other's reviews but have shied away from writing my own because reading a book is such a unique experience for each reader. I would hate to gush over a book and have someone else buy it only to be dissappointed. After finishing Beauty... this morning I am willing to throw caution to the wind and tell everyone to run out and buy it. I usually read historical fiction, and lately am looking for easy reading to do while I am on the elliptical. This book kept my interest so well I couldn't wait for my next work out session to read it again, I just finished it. The main characters are well developed, secondary characters exist and we are told all we need to know about them, the plot moves along at a good pace, we know what main characters are feeling and thinking but the author does not go on and on about it. I love the fairy tale setting interwoven with plot and descriptions of people and places and things are short and sweet and don't bog down the reader. This book is written the way I would like to write. I just purchased the others in this series and am actually looking forward to tomorrow's workout, this is a great author!

3.6 rounded up to 4Pluses: likeable characters of decent depth, including some of the supporting characters. Few errors. I genuinely enjoyed this emotional (but not over-the-top dramaz) tale of two people finding one another. I was not expecting the major development that occurred and I always enjoy it when that happens. I found that the choices made by the characters, even bad ones, actually made sense and were not pathetic plot contrivances.Neutral: Well into the book there's a sudden mention of scads of townspeople, many of whom are fairy tale names. It's a bit awkward but thankfully didn't happen in the early pages. A positive is that plenty of these characters seem to be of diverse ethnic backgrounds, which always excites me, particularly since it's so rare.Minuses: it's set in Wyoming in the 1870s although in a somewhat mystical/magical town. I definitely didn't get any sense of the place/time other than knowing the sidewalks were wooden and there was a lake nearby. There's no good explanation given for why the heroine and family moved out there, it certainly doesn't make sense in terms of the husband's profession. At one point the heroine agrees to be blindfolded and then starts to panic pretty hard at the total darkness. People in a small town in the 1870s encountered profound darkness often enough.HUGE minus: our heroines "swear" word of choice is "poot." My real-world experience of this word has been people using it to mean either passing gas, or poop, so its use here was always distracting and one time HILARIOUS when the sentence it was used in was actually pretty sexy. An online dictionary says it's an expression of disgust--but really that's just describing my face when the word is used. Too bad the author didn't know of the other uses of the word!Despite the poot silliness I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is a beautiful twist on an old fairy tale. A mother and her son are on their own after years of being controlled by Arabella’s second husband. Her son Eddie is now growing into adulthood, finding his own way, and driving his mother crazy. Still hovering under the shadow of her late husband’s social and moral rules, they are learning who they are and wondering about the future. Arabella was always to look beautiful, mind her manners, and avoid social gossip and enigmas.But the young widowed mother now faces financial difficulty.The bookstore is not successful enough to pay the bills, so she decides to rent out the upstairs apartment and move into the storeroom inside the business. Life never stops throwing another challenge her way.Enter beastly Vincenzo. He is horribly disfigured from the war, yet a talented violinist. He also has self doubts and prefers to face them alone, remaining secluded and away from prying eyes. But as he comes to love this struggling mother and son duo, he worries that he is not a fit companion for either.This is a book about how life shapes us, our views of the world, and those around us. A story of redemption and second chances—a story of love.This is my first book by Caroline Lee and won’t be my last. She creates loving, real characters that steal your heart and stay in the back of your mind long after The End.

I would rather read than watch television. I wish these "fairy tale" books were not so high in price, $9.99. I would have preferred to buy the book itself than the Kindle book. This was a wonderful book. I truly enjoyed it. It had a message about accepting yourself the way you are. It was a wonderful story of lost love and finding love again when you never thought you would. The ending was the kind that found me so surprised at how the author had thought to weave it all together. I hope the other reviewers don't give the ending away, because it is the best part of the book. If you like an easy reading love story, this is the book for you. Wonderfully written, I couldn't put it down when I got close to the end it was so good. I would highly recommend it.

A lovely story where they live happily ever after! Finishing the novel makes me want to read the next ones !Thank you for the wonderful couple hours you've given me today.

a sweet wholesome story

I've never been a fan of fairytales but the author may have converted. Whimsical, far-fetched, but carefully sculpted and almost believable in a warm and welcoming read. Sensuality and angst feature with a skill that has me looking for more....

This was the first Time I had read a book by this author and I so glad that I did as her writing was very easy to read but also caught your attention immediately which is why I read the book in twenty four hours. It was a loose Beauty and the Beast Retelling set in the old West involving a twice widowed single mother and a blind disfigured famous viloinist. I enjoyed this book so much that I intend to buy two more of the books in this companion series.All the characters were extremely well written and multi faceted which meant that they were easy to connect with for different reasons. This was also what made me want to read the other books in this companion series so I can get to Know all the supporting characters from this book a little better. I particularly liked how naturally the relationship between Arabella and Vincenzo developed and how she was happy to give it a chance even after discovering who he really was. It was also interesting to read about what had made them the people they were.The world of Everland was well conceived and captivating so the combination of this and the development of the relationship between the two main characters was what made this book into such an amazingly captivating and engrossing read. I also loved the easy loving relationship that there was between Arabella and her young son. Even though it was such a short book the characters, plot and world building made it one that was hard to put down.I gave this book a five star rating because I was so invested in the characters in the book that it made it an easy read. As well as the fact that I would not only recommend it to anyone that enjoys reading romance and retelling/imagining stories as well as buy it for anyone I know who I think will enjoy it for the same reason as those who I would recommend it to.

This is a story of love hearts torn a part by disabilities and brain washed perfection. The characters were strong enough to over come this because they adaptable. A brilliant story.