Ah, one of my favorites, and Braswell did a lovely job with her twist of “What if Belle’s mother cursed the beast?” Yes, everyone Belle’s mother is alive and she’s the infamous Enchantress that kicks the whole story off.

The story begins with alternating chapters of Belle in the present as she escapes Gaston’s ambush wedding and in the past where we read of Maurice and Rosalind’s lovely courtship up until the Beast’s curse. It provides a solid beginning of world building that this is a magical age in France where le charmants (fae, goblins, warlocks, faun creatures, etc.) live with the normals. But tensions and prejudices grow as the normals fear le charmants for their power and deviltry and they beginning “disappearing.” Not that the king nor queen are any help as they feel the same. Even though they hypocritically want Rosalind’s help with the plague.

Anyway, the small family escapes most of the violence by moving to the poor provincial town until the king and queen die and the boy is coronated. Then, Rosalind decides to pay a visit and see if the boy will be just as bad as his parents and you know how it goes.

From there, Rosalind disappears. Kidnapped really. With a protective amnesia spell to keep her family safe and so we’re pushed back to the movie storyline. Maurice gets lost, Belle trades places with him, she’s a guest, she’s a guest and she goes to the forbidden West Wing where she touches the erode and it crumbles to dust.

Oh yes, here Belle doesn’t break the curse. She effectively ruins the Beast and the servants’ chances to become human again. This where things kick into high gear as Belle resolves to help them. Plus by touching the rose, her memory comes roaring back and realizes her mom was the Enchantress and so she is even more determined to set things right.

Belle was wonderful character here, curious, sometimes rash, dreaming for adventure but also very smart with all her book learning. Her reaction to the library would have been my reaction to the library. Jaw dropping for days honestly. She was writtenn very in character.
Beast was also in character, written in turns as beastly yet awkwardly self conscious. Sometimes he was a bit childish but considering he was cursed when he was eleven and has been in beast form ever since, it makes sense, he hadn’t a chance to grow more mature. Until he met Belle…

Braswell does a wonderful job in creating an evolving bond between Belle and the Beast even as he slowly starts becoming more beastly against his will, Belle’s care touches him. And Belle, not only lives an adventure she’d only read about in stories, but comes to see past the Beast’s angry exterior and learns about his parents and how his princely affected him till today and even sees his awkwardness. And she slowly weans him from the upper class thinking of servants as tools and even teaches him to cook in a real sweet scene I think.

Plus I adore Beast learning and even agreeing about his parents less savory actions but he says in a heartbreaking line, “I know they weren’t good. But they’re dead now, can’t people leave them alone.” I felt so bad for him because it’s true, they weren’t good people, they were prejudiced but they were still his parents and he loved them and they loved him.

Speaking of parents, Belle has many conflicting feelings about her mother. This person she rarely thought about if albeit resented for mysteriously leaving. She wonders about this powerful being who seems cruel and rash cursing an eleven year old boy. Yet also protective and loving to her community of les charmants as they dig deeper into the history behind the curse. Belle begins to see her as an adult where the world and people are not entirely good or bad.

It connects to the larger message that you can’t judge by first impressions. Everyone is nuanced with flaws like Belle’s mother not being the angelic mother of her imagination nor a cruel sorceress to be feared. The Beast is not an animal nor is he compassionate royal (at first). People are full of complications and cannot be judged by the actions of one.

The latter is an especially important thread as the prejudice against les charmanta with the pogams, exiles, tortures and killings are very reminiscent of many things. Anti semitism was the first to come to my mind if I’m being honest especially with the antagonist, Dr. D’Arque surgically experimenting on them to see if he can cure them of their magic and make them “pure.” This metaphor may be difficult and dark, but it is an important and I think Braswell handled it well using these le charmants as an substitute to it.

But don’t worry, it’s not only experimentation and killings. Mrs. Potts has a backstory. Lefou is a fool. Gaston makes an appearances where Braswell thankfully doesn’t try to make him anything but the boastful, ruthless, proudly ignorant jerk he is. And she even uses the official names Disney gave the bimbettes, Claudette, Laurette, and Paulette which was a very minor thing but made me ridiculously happy to see that she put little details like that.

Also I wanted to emphasize the sweet romantic growth between the Beast and Belle. Braswell has a way of fixing flaws people have with these old tales with Belle directly references Stockholm syndrome the first time she starts feeling compassion toward the Beast. So you know Braswell knows what she is doing when she embarks on the romance. That this is not a case of Stockholm syndrome, they genuinely fall in love with each other. And the best example of that is when they’re in danger (and separated) and Beast channels his inner Belle to make a plan and Belle channels her inner Beast and lets loose her rage at her captors. Which I thought such a romantic indication of how they influenced each other.

Finally I enjoyed how she imbued little historical details like Belle referencing Molière and Blackbeard fairytales, the Age of Enlightment and referencing America as the New Word. It just added a little je ne se quoi in combining realism and magic.

I will point out that there were a few grammer issues like when the magic was calling out to Belle, it kept using her name in lowercase. Which was the same thing for whenever the Beast mumbled something. Even if it’s mumbling, I‘m pretty sure it’s still supposed to start at an uppercase. Also the Beast said he used to have a name, but he never reveals it because “he’s not that person anymore”. I still wished they said it or he even chose a new one to reflect his new self. But again, minor thing.

I don’t have many nitpicks besides that as I felt this was a solid book with a well done message and interesting twists and turns that kept it fast and exciting even for those who already know the story. And the ending was definitely a surprise.

5 stars or 5 enchanted roses.