Liz Braswell

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

A Twisted Tale

As Old as Time

I love how the past and present mixed together and had genuine impact. There were moments where I was shocked and a few where I yelled at a character. I also appreciated that we still got a happy ending, but more realistic.

Alex Landau

I genuinely loved this book! 

I love how the past and present mixed together and had genuine impact. There were moments where I was shocked and a few where I yelled at a character. I also appreciated that we still got a happy ending, but more realistic.

Hard to get into, and the ending pissed me off. So much could've been done better, but I do appreciate how many gaps in the animated Beauty & the Beast that the world building filled. There just wasn't enough good in this book to balance out the bad things that happened to Belle and Beast.

Ashlee

Rebecca Hurd

Such a good retelling!! Magical people, a plague, and in the end, LOVE!! Honestly the best way to show you that it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside but it’s what you truly are on the inside that counts!! Also the importance of self love!!

Melissa Palmer

Book #15 Read in 2018
As Old As Time by Liz Braswell

This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with its own unique trust. Readers will enjoy revisiting the popular tale and the twist will keep them engaged. I would recommend this for middle school readers, high school readers and adult readers.

Courtney

A charming retelling with some twists and verbatim classic movie dialogue!

Katherine

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her beautiful mother is none ot

As Old As Time

this is honestly one of the best books I’ve read it has such a good story and has many plot twists that are unexpected

Sam Haynie

Anna

I didn't really liked the endig and felt thr last few chapters a little rushed. Otherwise loved the book and the way the characters were written. The journey of Belle and the Beast. (Absolutely fell in love with them again.) The past of Maurice and Rosalinde. All of the characters were thought out with interesting stories. Found the concept of the kingdom pretty wicked. A forgotten kingdom where all magical beings live while we go about our life. 
There were some easily predictable parts but otherwise I never knew what to expect next. 
Simply couldn't put it down.
(Give 4 stars beacuse of the ending otherwise it was a 5)

Bianca

Finished this last night before bed. A twisted take on Beauty and the Beast. The ending was NOT good for me. I was with it until the last 30 pages. Then everything just kind of fell apart and the author was like "ok I'm done writing now. The end."

Michal Stone

I was surprised at how much I liked this book!! The writing style wasn’t my absolute favorite. The characters were all VERY dramatic (people were screaming over things and collapsing and it was never a normal reaction), but the plot was super interesting. Loved the twists!

Absolutely loved this take on the backstory to Beauty and The Beast and how it tied together into the past.

Madelyn

Brianna

** spoiler alert **
           
So the enchantress can turn *all* the servants back or *just* the beast? Makes no sense.

Sanne Daerden

Trage starter in vergelijk met a new world, maar eens goed gestart een heel fijn verhaal. De originele elementen uit Belle en het beest komen uiteraard terug. Maar ik vind het een verassend einde. En ben erg blij dat ik de eerste hoofdstukken heb doorgezet.

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in the hit YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind-memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her beautiful mother is none other than the enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

Nolw3nn

This book is an amazing retelling of the original story, it add plenty detail. 
All the detail finally make sense during the reading. 
It recreate perfectly the universe of our childhood tale 

Heather Heaton

The twist on beauty and the beast in this book really gave so much more depth to the characters and the plot talked about why the curse was made and how it effected everyone around them. There was talk of discrimination from being different adding even more to the depth of this story. I feel like I got to know the characters even more and truly enjoyed diving into this complicated and messy world!

I really enjoyed this version of Beauty and the Beast. It was familiar and followed most of the plot but it was so different at the same time. So much backstory for each of the characters that was woven together into an amazing ending, which was predictable and not. This book is full of paradoxes. Anyways, I definitely plan to read more by this author :)

What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast? As Old as Time is the third book in a new YA line that reimagines classic Disney stories in surprising new ways. When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind—memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

laura

I found this book to be such a fun read featuring belle and the beast. I really enjoyed the questions that i tackled. I really loved how this book expanded the world and delved in more about belle parents past. I loved the part of the book the focused on the parents. I wish that part had been expanded a tad. I found his book to such a fun read and loved how it answers even more questions. This book could even lead until a sqeual easily

Brandy Allen

was this an objectively good book? .... not really. 
did i still love it? .... absolutely

Emma Tickner

3.5

I did enjoy this and I liked that it was an expansion of the fairytale, but I did still definitely like the Cinderella one better, but this was enjoyable.

Sofia Pereira

This book was a meh for me.
The story was really close to the Disney classic though I did enjoy the back story and what they did with the Beast character. I was expecting a lot more since book two in the series was so freaking awesome

Kymberly L McNabb

I loved this twisted tale! It provided solid answers to the questions the movies raised. It fleshed out familiar characters and provided a solid foundation for the changes to the familiar story. Plus it was still a fairytale and love story with plenty of suspense and adventure. A must read for fans of the movies.

Sydniee

I loved Beauty and the Beast growing up and still do. I could not put this book down! I would read into the wee hours of the morning as I wanted to know what happened next. It was suspenseful, romantic and engaging in every chapter. The first few chapters confused me. But once I figured out the it was going back and forth between the past of Maurice's life and then switching over to the present with what was happening with Belle and the Beast, I just loved it even more. I love that Liz had combined the past and the present and we saw a side of Maurice that the movie does not show.

Ashley Moncayo

** spoiler alert **
           Although I was not a big fan of half the story being exactly like the movie, just with additional dialogue added, in the end, this went in a completely different direction, which is what I am looking for with this series. I loved the addition of Belle's mom and her sort of "origin story". I thought it meshed very well and gave a nice twist and more context to an already beloved story.

My favorite quote: "Go out into the world for adventure, come home for love" ♥

Leelynn Brady

Find this review and more on my blog: Sometimes Leelynn Reads

“Magic comes back to you, just as the actions of people do.”

Well, this book definitely didn't end the way I was expecting, and I'm not sure if I liked it better than the original Disney version or not.

Besides the ending though, I liked the twist question of having Bell's mother being the Enchantress. It makes the story have much more meaning to it, and such a twist than just having a random Enchantress curse the Prince because he's a jerk that has an ugly personality. Sure, it makes for a good moral, but like, what made the Enchantress come there of all places, and why that test? With this addition to the story, it makes more sense, a lot more sense.

I also really appreciated the background of Maurice and Belle's mom - who finally has a name! It's Rosalind - and how they met, fell in love, and came to such a provincial town. They definitely didn't start off there, and it was so nice to know that Maurice actually did have friends before we first met him in Beauty and the Beast. He wasn't such an oddball that everyone ridiculed and didn't take seriously, but he was someone that people actually respected and loved and care for... at least back where they were originally from.

The connection between the kingdom where the Beast is from and Maurice and Rosalind also comes into play, and the background on that is almost heartbreaking and reminds me of World War II. Maybe not as devastating with the concentration camps and an all-out war, but you'll see what I mean when you read it.

We've always wondered what happened with Belle's mother, and this book really explains what happened. It's also true to its word on being a "twisted tale" as nothing is as it seems, and certain scenes that you may imagine to play out as it did in the original - or remade - Disney versions don't always happen that way. Are you expecting everything to fall into place, even with the realization that Rosalind was the one that placed the curse on the kingdom? Will Rosalind even be found alive in this book, or will Belle have to face the fact that her mother left, and died? Will Maurice ever remember the loving wife that he adored and couldn't imagine life without before he seemed to have forgotten about her?

So many questions came into my mind as I was reading it, and trust me when I say that it does not end neatly wrapped with everything explained. It leaves just enough for the imagination to grow, but still has the elements that made the Disney version loveable. I think I liked this book almost a little more than the Disney animated version. The live-action remake? Well, not so much.

See for yourself. And remember, it's not always what it seems.

As Old as Time A Twisted Tale

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