Name: Beau and Bett
ISBN: 9781948705448

Kathryn Berla

"While working off his mother's debt at Bettina Diaz's father's ranch, Beau LeFrancois is continually surprised and charmed by Bett's frankness, despite being warned that she's a 'beast'"--

Beau and Bett

Beau LeFrancois' mother never saw the accident coming, and she certainly never imagined the problems associated with running into Bett Diaz's luxury SUV. Fortunately, no one was hurt but Mrs. LeFrancois' car needs extensive repairs, and she also must pay for the damage to the other car. The problem is, the LeFrancois family is going bare-unable to afford car insurance ever since Beau's dad met with a work-related accident in his employment as an orange-picker in California's scenic Central Coast.Beau volunteers to work off the debt through manual labor on the Diaz Ranch. What he isn't prepared for is Bett Diaz. Warned by Khalil (the son of his mother's employer) that Bett is known as 'The Beast' at their school because of her bad temper, Beau approaches the job with trepidation and vows to stay away from the boss's daughter. However, Bett has other plans-bored and friendless, she finds excuses to shadow Beau whenever he's at the ranch. After hours spent in her company, Beau learns the secrets behind Bett's tough exterior and finds himself falling for her. That is, until he catches Bett in a lie.

Jana Jenkinns 

Powered through it but wouldn't read again. Bett was annoying. Thought it would be a cute retelling, truth is I feel like I wasted my time.

Ruth Parker 

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast - there was no way I could pass this up. My favourite Disney cartoon film in an exciting retelling.

My main enjoyment from this was the reversal of the genders in the main roles - the guy, Beau is the 'Beauty' and Bett is the "beast'. I really liked that. I got to about 50% of the book and started to struggle. I was convinced by the love story between Beau and Bett. I loved Beau and his characterisation - he is one of the best male protagonists I've read in YA books, especially in a retelling. But Bett... her character arc was just not as enjoyable or believable. 

Beau's voice was brilliant and his character development was fantastic. This gave it some major plus points for me.

Also, the cover of this book is just stunning. It roped me right in!

I received an ARC of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this review are my own and in no way influenced.

Michelle Boyea

I received a free copy of this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I thought it was a super cute retelling of Beauty and the Beast! I loved that the "Beast" was actually a girl in this book. While I, of course, did not like the reason that Bettina was a "beast", I'm glad that the author did not focus much on it. 

I loved that Beau gave Bett a real chance and that he grew to know and like her without anyone else's input. He even ignored the input of others and went with what he knew to be true. I would love to see more on their life together.

Megan Leprich

Thank you so much to Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for my review. 

I’m all for fairytale retellings especially Beauty and the Beast ones as that’s my favorite Disney movie of all time. This was not my favorite retelling I’ve read but it was still pretty dang good. 

Set in modern-day America, Beau meets the very spoiled Bett while working on her father’s ranch after his mom wrecks Bett’s super expensive SUV. Beau starts paying off his mom’s debt working weekends at the farm and also starts to learn more about why Bett is the way she is and why she’s called the “beast”. 

First off I love that the roles in this story were reversed and the beast was a female character. This was the first retelling I’ve read that had the gender roles reversed and it was so different but in a great way. Another great thing about this contemporary was that the first person male protagonist, I don’t read many books told almost entirely from a male character and I really enjoyed it. 

I really enjoyed the slow romance in this book too. It wasn’t the over the top cheesy crud that honestly I slog through, Beau actually found a friend in Bett and starts to look forward to seeing her every weekend and talking to her. 

This was a pretty quick fun read and I’m adding it to one of the better retellings of Beauty and the Beast that I’ve read.

Alicia Haws

⭐️⭐️⭐️
3 STARS
Release Date: June 25, 2019

First off, I am usually fond of fairytale retellings and I was excited to see a retelling of my favorite—Beauty and the Beast. While you can see from my rating that this wasn’t my favorite, I did overall think it was a cute read, but there were certain things about the story that fell flat for me.

What I liked:
-The idea-obviously. I liked the role-reversal and the modern take on a classic.
-I felt like the pace was nice and quick, which made for a short and simple read.
-I loved the character of Bett (she was actually the only character I really liked 🙈). She was honest, even brutally-honest at times and I admired her for that.
-The overall message of this book was my favorite part of the book. The author really conveys the importance of not judging others, whether by reputation, class or otherwise. This is also a cute story of friendship and first love.

What I didn’t like:
-I felt most of the characters lacked substance. They came off shallow and were hard to take seriously.
-There was definitely a lack of character development. I felt that Beau (we read from his POV) did not read as a teenage boy. He came off unrealistic to me, and that was what ultimately led to the 3/5⭐️ review. He was TOO respectful (not that that is a bad thing), he didn’t even think about WANTING to kiss the girl he was crushing on? In my opinion, his character was just blah—he fell flat for me.

Overall I felt this read was definitely more for teens and by that I mean 12-17 range. It was a cutesy, clean & easy read for teens with a great message about friendship, first love, and not judging others. 

Thank you to @netgalley and @amberjackpublishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!

*I voluntarily received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Anyaconda

This is a cute contemporary Beauty and the Beast retelling.
I thought it was an okay read. I found Beth extremely obnoxious and Beau a bit too shallow and a bit slow. Yes it's a romance and yes I know exactly where the story goes, no surprises here, but he didn't have to be that dumb to get that Beth is interested.
The family scenes I enjoyed, but I'm not sold on the Cajun accent of Beau's father in the book. It felt stiff and I'd have to preferred the book without it.

I can recommend this book if you enjoy short contemporary romances, Beauty and the Beast retellings without many surprises, major plot twists and a slower pace.

Jessica 

Blog | Twitter | Instagram | Direct link to this review can be found here. 


  As always, a copy of this book was provided by the publisher or author in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way. 


There's just something about Beauty and the Beast retellings. While I enjoy the fairy-tale and the Disney film to an extent, it isn't my favourite. The funny thing about this fact is that retellings based on or inspired by Beauty and the Beast are actually a favourite of mine. The entire premise of Beau and Bett was intriguingly sweet and as the author was new to me, I was pretty keen on getting my hands on this book. 

Summertime is the perfect time for a good contemporary read and Beau and Bett certainly fit the bill. As I began reading the novel, I realized that all of the impressions I got from the novel's synopsis were incorrect. Which was actually quite satisfying and never took away from the novel's central charm. If you are to take anything away from the experience of reading Beau and Bett I would hope it was that it charmed you as it did me. Because, at the end of the day, this was the thing that Kathryn Berla most accomplished with it. 

I loved the flair of modernity that came with this book and, of course, the gender reverse spin on the classic fairy-tale. The resemblance between the two stories is quite small, but it is still there. Which revitalizes this tale as old as time. Overall, I found that the message behind Beau and Bett was simple and effective. It left me feelings lighter and a little energized for the week ahead and was certainly a great change of pace in comparison to other novels I've read this year. 

Beau and Bett is beautifully written, sweet and soulful, with the right amount of romance. It takes a classic story and brings it right into our times that is simple and fun. It goes without saying: I really enjoyed reading Beau and Bett and think that it will find quite the fanbase. If you are a fan of Beauty and the Beast or not, this is definitely worth a second glance.

Beau and Bett

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