Book Review – Hunted by Meagan Spooner

huntedBeauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?

***

gold_star-svggold_star-svggold_star-svggold_star-svggold_star-svg   5/5 Stars.

Beware mildly spoilery review (just in case, I don’t think it’s too bad, but I hate spoilers so don’t want to annoy anyone!)

I feel I’m always going to hard wired to love Beauty and the Beast re-tellings and this is no different. 💙 I love that Yeva has a good relationship with her family but is still driven by this unknown need to search for something other, something more. I feel that trait is recognisable to everyone in some small measure, and I think it was well written. I also liked how she realised Eovan’s tale’s truths (or closer than the original tale she told him, at least), and realised the parallels with her own feelings.

I also like that it showed her feelings for Eovan, and allowed her to realise how she cared for Solmir, without being overly romantic or overly callous. It’s careful, cautious and thoughtfully done.

It has the familiar structure of the story while holding its own in new details. It’s been a while since I read a retelling, but this is definitely up there as a strong version. And making me want to go back and read a couple of the others I have. Plus possibly other fairy tale retellings 😁

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *