The Beast Within

 

Since Belle is one of my favorite Disney Princesses I was excited to read The Beast Within and learn more about Adam* and how he became a beast. 

Later teenager years are the time period of main focus in the story. The prince is not an overly nice person, he is spoiled, rude, and demanding of people. Gaston is his only friend and does seem to try to help the prince consider how things will look to "commoners" if he does not act princely. 

While this is fanfiction it is well done and Disney did agree to put their name on it. I am not sure if that is Disney making it cannon or not but the story fits with the Disney story. Nothing is odd or comes off as wow where did that come from. 

It took around five years for the Beast Within to come out after Fairest of All and Ms Valento's writing has improved. Things did not just go in circles and the story constantly repeating. The characters had more depth and even the side characters felt better written. 

Overall I did like Beast's story far more then the Evil Queen's story. However I prefer Beauty and the Beast to Snow White so that could be part of it. 

Ursula is the next story and it has a long wait list from the library so guess I am taking a break from the Disney Villain's series for now. 

*The beast is never referred to as Adam but I happen to know his real name.

Fairest of All

 

I will be 100% honest if not for the dust jacket and and actual book cover having different pictures (I saw it on facebook reels) I would never have tried another Disney book. I was so disappointed in Aurora's twisted tale it just left a bad taste in my mouth overall with Disney stories. 

One thing I was interested in what the Evil Queen having a name. She was a child and then married a man. It is odd his name was never given. Neither was the king's now that I think on it.

I get that authors want to write long stories. Longer stories sell better but I personally am fine with shorter stories. The plot had too much fluff at the start. It repeated itself several times with the king leaving and then coming back. I am not sure if the story was building up to the king passing or what but it just felt repetitive. 

The answers with the magic mirror was the best part. It made sense how the Evil Queen got the mirror, the face in the mirror, and even her obsession with asking the mirror who was the fairest in the land.

The story overall did flow and made sense. It did overlap with Disney's version of Snow White so the ending is fairly predicable if you saw the movie or read the story. 

I am not sure if Ms. Serena Valentino did other work before starting the Disney Villain's series but I do see potential in her writing, story telling, and subject matter. I do intend to read The Beast Within and perhaps see if the writing grows as Ms. Valentino writes more stories. 

Missing At Christmas

 

Missing at Christmas was another find from the local free library. 

Fast paced and non stop action the whole time. This is a light and heavy read at the same time. The pacing is well done and the characters are likeable. A little corny in parts but all over feel good story. I wanted a bit more Christmas reference since it seemed to be Christmas centered but the very end managed to fit in some Christmas. 

Texas Christmas Cover-Up

 

I am so happy to see someone else putting books in the local free library. The original custodian told me they were not going to be taking care of any and that was six months ago. From that point of time I was the only one putting books in it. Upon see Texas Christmas Cover-Up with a Christmas cover I was eager to read it. 

If you want action, likeable characters, a real life possibly, and fast moving plot Texas Christmas Cover-Up has all that tied up with a neat tidy bow. However if you want Christmas it is seriously lacking. The only reference to Christmas was it was coming up soon and a winter themed festival that did not really have Christmas stuff with it. Santa was also mentioned but all the "Christmas" themed stuff was far between so do not go into the story thinking you will have a holiday mystery. 

The Unhoneymooners

 

Christina Lauren has been in the back of my mind as an author to try out. I was happily surprised to see The Unhoneymooners in the local free library. 

Olive is a fun and feisty characters, I liked how she was not perfect and how her flaws grew into something else as she learned things about herself. Ethan is also a fun character even though you only see him from Olive's point of view. The humor is my type of humor but will not be for everyone. 

Despite loving the first half of the book I sort of grew bored of it after the trip ended. The humor died out and it became more of a pity story which is not my style. Normally I would not consider continuing the series but since it is a shorter novel for 1.5 I would consider giving it a try.