Name: Jade's review of The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Item: The Beast and the Bethany
Rating: 5
Author: Jade

Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl in this riotously funny, deliciously macabre, and highly illustrated tale of a hungry beast, a vain immortal man, and a not-so-charming little girl who doesn’t know she’s about to be eaten. Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents. But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast. The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?

The Beast and the Bethany

Jade

Nadine 

Hilarious fun that will appeal to those who like their fantasy tinged with humour and horror. A great story for the lower part of middle grade 

Arc thanks to Libro.fm

Ebenezer Tweezer is a youthful 511-year-old. He keeps a beast in the attic of his mansion. But the beast grows ever greedier, and soon only a nice, juicy child will do. So when Ebenezer encounters orphan Bethany, it seems like (everlasting) life will go on as normal. But Bethany is not your average orphan

Rose Stanley

Dorian Grey - for kids! Ebenezer and Bethany are a lot of fun - will definitely be reading the sequel.

Candyce Kirk

When I started The Beast and the Bethany I knew that I was going to enjoy this book, but I loved it even more than I expected. I finished this book in one sitting and it left a smile on my face. This story is a bit darker than I've read in middle grade before, but it's also filled with fun jokes and amazing illustrations. On top of that, what I love about middle grade books, this book is filled with many lessons but they're taught in a fun way!

One of our main characters is Ebeneezer and he's almost 512 years old (I know, how is that possible?!?). For as long as he can remember he's been helping the Beast. He's not the nicest creature and Ebeneezer has to steal and do a lot of bad things to fill his appetite and keep him happy, so that he can continue to get the serum that keeps him alive. Except this year Beast wants a child to eat. That's definitely not what Ebeneezer was expecting.

That's when our adventure begins and we meet Bethany. Bethany lives in the orphanage and isn't the best behaved child. We learn she lost her parents and that's just awful and definitely makes it understandable that she's having some problems. While Bethany lives with Ebeneezer before being fed to Beast, there is quite an adventure.

I love the setting of this book. The house Ebeneezer lives in is amazing and I would love to live in it. So many floors and all different types of artifacts. Learning more about Ebeneezer and Bethany was really interesting and it's clear both of them have had some hard times. There are so many lessons hidden in this book loss of a parent, grief, cruelty, bad behavior and found family. Ebeneezer and Bethany end up making a great team and I was sad when this was over!

I couldn't recommend this book more and loved it so much it's even hard to put into words. All I can say is you really need to read this book. Even though the Beast eats some odd things, I definitely got hungry while reading. I don't know if I'd eat everything that's mentioned, but Bethany definitely has some yummy treats. The Beast and the Bethany gets all of the stars. I loved the characters, setting, lessons learned and the humor. I couldn't put this down and I definitely see myself reading this again in the future.

Nickie Mohler

This book is adorable with a sprinkle of spooky.

Karolina

Ebenezer Tweezer never cared about anything more than himself. Thanks to his magical “friend” and its potion he was able to stay young and handsome for 511 years. The only things he had to give to the beast in return is preparing the meals he asked for. At the beginning they were small, easy to find things. However, with time it got so much harder. He started to ask for things like rare birds and animals. It was not an issue for Ebenezer, he was able to do everything to get the potion. This is how his life was going on until the beast for the first time requested from him to bring him a living child to eat. It was a shock for the man, but it did not stop him from fulfil the wish. After many tries, he finally found the nastiest and rudest kid that no one would miss and brought it to the beast. However, the beast was not happy with Ebenezer’s choice. The girl he brought Bethany was too thin for him to enjoy the meal. He gave Ebenezer few days to make it right. 

Ebenezer is a very shallow person, but it is not a surprise. The biggest surprise for me was his knowledge about the world. From the beginning it looks like he’s living in his own world and don’t look around what is happening in the world. He lives already for 511 years but he did not know that he cannot buy a child in the store. It’s pretty clear that instead of enjoying his life as he was planning to, he devoted it into getting more and more years by fulfilling beast’s wishes. However, he’s purpose changed with time when he met Bethany. I think that the best part in this book is when these two are getting closer to each other. 

Bethany, on the other side, is a child who never got any attention she needed from the people around her. That’s where the nasty behaviour comes from. Moreover, she is a very smart girl. She listens to what people are telling to her and she is using it as an advantage. She knows how to trick and manipulate people give her what she wants. 

The story overall is very interesting. It’s not long so you can easily read it in one day. The book has a mystery but also a moral in it. However, the most part of this book consisted of a good humor of the characters. A lot of events in this book were hilarious, I could give you some example because I don’t want to spoil too much about this book. 

This book is definitely written in a good style with an amazing plot and interesting character. I actually was very interested in it after seeing the seeing the similarity of the style in Coraline, which is one of my favorite middle grade books and I was right. I didn’t read books in this genre for a long while so I was nicely surprised after finishing this story. I am curious how the story will continue in the book 2.

I would like to thank TheWriteReads and Egmont for inviting me to this tour and providing me with a copy of this book. It was exactly what I needed right now while moving abroad. I hope you all enjoyed my review and will experience this book on your own.

Kerri McDonald

“Bethany looked up at the fifteen-story house which was as wide as a dozen elephants. She shrugged her shoulders and returned to reading the comics.

“Aren’t you going to say ‘Whoa!’ or ‘Gosh!’?” asked Ebenezer.

“Nah,” said Bethany. “There’s nothing impressive about a waste of space.”

I want to thank Dave @ The Write Reads, Egmont Books, and the author for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’m going to be honest with you, reader. I’m having a difficult time starting this review. Why, you ask? Was it so ghastly that I can’t find the words to describe it? Was it so horrific that my mind boggles just thinking about it?

Well… yes and no.

It was ghastly and horrific but in all the right ways! In this book, we follow our main character, Ebenezer Tweezer, who is about to celebrate his 512th birthday. Yes, you read that right. How has he managed to reach such an unfathomable age? With the aid of the beast that lives in his attic. And all he has to do to receive the secret to eternal youth is feed it. Seems like an easy trade, right? Sure… until the beast starts asking for more and more exotic things to eat. Like performing monkeys, parrots capable of carrying on compelling conversations, and, now… a nice, plump child. Ebenezer, though, has it all figured out! He’ll just find a nasty, unlovable child that no one will miss and feed it to the beast. Enter Bog Off Bethany. She’s obnoxious, she’s cruel, and she seems the perfect meal. But, as Ebenezer gets Bethany ready for dinner (not hers, of course), pesky things like emotions and friendship start messing up his plan.

This book, with its tongue-in-cheek humor and its unlovable-yet-strangely-endearing characters, was just a treat! I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun reading a book. I loved the humor, I loved the sneaky references to other children’s tales, and I loved the overall tone. This is a book that even a reluctant reader would find hard to put down. It’s creepy, it’s scary, but it has a lot of heart, as well. I think it was the perfect blend of funny and touching, with a wonderful message squirreled away inside (though don’t let Ebenezer or Bethany know, okay?).

Speaking of Ebenezer and Bethany, it was wonderful watching them grow throughout this book. I loved both of their characters so much! I mean… as characters in a book. As actual people, I would probably stay far away from them. At least as they were at the beginning of the book! But I can’t wait to see more of them and watch their continued growth as the series continues.

Oh, and can we talk about the illustrations?! I had no idea I would be graced with such vibrant and lovely pictures throughout the book! They really helped to bring the characters to life. Any adult who says they don’t like pictures in their books is lying and does not remember what joy is. (Just kidding, you can hate pictures in books all you like, it’s your life!)

I will say that I have one teensy, tiny gripe and that’s the fact that this book felt too short! I know that there will be more books, but I was left feeling like I had left half the meal on my plate for no good reason. I was hungry for more, but I suppose I’ll just have to wait!

Final thoughts: This is a funny, dark, and gruesome book with two main characters you kind of want to strangle at first. It’s filled with wit, heart, and some stunning illustrations to make the reading experience that much more captivating! If you have a kid that maybe isn’t the biggest fan of reading, give them this book. I’ll bet they’ll be laughing out loud within the first few pages and begging for more! And, if you’re an adult that’s looking for a quick bit of fun, you can’t go wrong with The Beast and the Bethany.

Ben Bastow

Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl in this “wickedly funny” (James Ponti, New York Times bestselling author), deliciously macabre, and highly illustrated tale of a hungry beast, a vain immortal man, and a not-so-charming little girl who doesn’t know she’s about to be eaten. Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents. But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast. The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?

Jade &
The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips

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The Beast and the Bethany by Jack Meggitt-Phillips