T. Kingfisher

Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city. But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard? Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she, or the Beast, are swallowed by them.

Bryony and Roses

Sandrin

say no to bestiality, boys, girls, and nbs

would have been a 3 star read but i hated the ending

A lovely Beauty and the Beast retelling. No unnecessary drama or miscommunication that results in tragedy (thank goodness)! As is the case with other Kingfisher works I've read, I found that the protagonist was relatable and a joy to follow around. 

Kiersten

Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city. But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard? Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she-or the Beast-are swallowed by them.

Janice Hopper

** spoiler alert **
           FINALLY, a telling of Beauty and the Beast that deals with the part of the tale that always annoyed me! And it's well done, too. 

Bryony is the heroine. I liked her very much. She got into her situation on her own, and got out of it with a bit of aid from her sister, Holly. (As I type this, it occurs to me that all the women here have plant names: Bryony, Holly, & Iris.)

The Beast is the Beast we've all seen a thousand times. He's a perfectly cromulent Beast, but his story arc is pretty much the same as it is in all the tellings, with one major, significant difference. That was the one that delighted me. 

Between this and Toad Words, I've become a fan of this author, and eagerly look forward to reading more of her work. 

(BTW, I found this work in someone's recommendations in one of the Sad Puppy recap threads on File770. It's an ill wind that blows NO ONE any good, LOL!)

Isabelle Reads

“Bryony had never before had occasion to contemplate what it would be like to find oneself inside a uterus, but she suspected that sleeping in the [extremely pink] bed would be rather like that.”

um. wow. yes. i too compare a pink bed to a uterus. 

sooooo I’ve read a lot of Beauty and the Beast retellings.
this book had high expectations.
and it kinda fell flat on its face.

le plot as told by the publisher cause I a lazy one.

“Bryony and her sisters have come down in the world. Their merchant father died trying to reclaim his fortune and left them to eke out a living in a village far from their home in the city. 

But when Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor, she stumbles into a house full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast that lives there her captor, or a fellow prisoner? Is the house her enemy or her ally? And why are roses blooming out of season in the courtyard?

Armed only with gardening shears and her wits, Bryony must untangle the secrets of the house before she—or the Beast—are swallowed by them.”


I know a lot of people did love this book, and maybe this was just a me problem, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about nearly anything.

The plot is pretty much your basic B&B retelling. The only non-basic thing that happened during the entire bloody book was a little horror-esque action near the end, which some people might find kinda creepy and definitely jars with the story’s vibe up to that point, but it was new. So I tolerated it.

but if anyone's read this book please tell me what the heck was that ending 😅


The characters. All rank high on the my most vanilla and forgettable character list.

Our intrepid heroine, Bryony, was meh. I did appreciate that she wasn’t a silly damsel in distress who very clearly had Stockholm Syndrome (*cough Unsightly cough*). She thought for herself, made her own decisions, and stuck to them. So she was a fine heroine, but she was missing the spark that made me actually care what happened to her. I literally just didn't care. 
She also had a few stupidly weird moments (like the uterus comparison, no I’m not over that yet) that made me just drop my tablet, stare at my invisible cameraman, and ask “why?”

Our daring hero, Beast, was also meh. I just didn’t care. He could’ve been the long-lost second cousin of Cardan Greenbriar (❤️‍🔥😍) and I still wouldn’t care. The guy was just a dead bore. Maybe I was just too jaded after reading like three B&B retellings in a row, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.

And then with all that “meh” between them, the romance was just plain snoozeworthy. 

However, for how lackluster our MCs were, I will give a congratulatory handshake to exactly two supporting characters that singlehandedly prevented this from being a one-star read. 

The House and Holly.

That House is sweet and adorable and I want a house like that. I loved how the furniture moved around and lights dimmed and brightened to show the House’s emotions. 
half the creativity of the entire book was poured into the House lol

Second most favorite character was most definitely Holly, sister to Bryony. She was real, sarcastic, loud, and blunt. Holly was actually a really good sis to Bryony, as opposed to being an entitled jerk (the other half of the book's creativity was poured into holly i swear)

aight I'm done. go enjoy life. avoid people who talk about uteruses and pink beds in the same sentence 🥰


Ratings: 
Star Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13

Recommendations If You Liked This Book:
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Martina Méndez Fernández

Lo disfruté mucho y el final no me lo esperaba para nada. Pero siento que fue un poco apresurado al final. Y me he quedado como con ganas de más. 

Una lectura sencilla y para pasar el rato.

Ben Nathan

A delightful update of a kidnapping classic. This was great and smoothed out the myriad of problems that exist in Beauty and the Beast. I love how Kingfisher is thoughtful about the era we are in and the era something is from and together makes something that doesn't bastardize, but wonderfully updates.

Bryony and Roses

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