Book Review - Beauty and the Beast - Sarah Winter

It started off rocky. There was no great opening line for me to report because a graphic covered most of the opening paragraphs.  It's a formatting issue in the ebook that can be fixed.

Once I went in, tinkered with my margins (as wide as it could go), line spacing (same as margins), and the font size (as big as it could get)... that was a different story.

"A cold night in early spring, many years ago..."

Then after a page or two size 5 font...

Despite the hassle the map graphic caused, the imagery of the opening is vivid.  I found myself shivering with the cold, forming my hands into claws, and walking along an abandoned path in my imagination. 

Then I was able to return my settings to what I liked best. 

A mild hassle... easily tackled... still an annoyance.

The descriptions are amazing, but there were times I just wanted to put the book down. 

I can't quite explain why.  Maybe it was the use of Beauty and the Beast tropes.

We all know these tropes.

In the stories:

The father is  a merchant - check
The youngest daughter doesn't see her beauty - check
2 older, greedy sisters - semi-check.  There is one greedy, spiteful sister who constantly puts down her sister.
The missing ship, the lost father, the rose, the witch, etc. - check. Check. Check. Check.
The Beast - Check

There's even Disney tropes - The Gaston character. 

I think Quentin/Gaston plot annoyed me.

There were references to dreams that appeared out of nowhere.  Manipulations that weren't quite manipulations.  Some sections seemed disjointed without clear transitions. 

As I write these things down I keep thinking two things. 

Would I want to read this about one of my own stories? No, but the ability to fix things is also one of the good things about self-publishing.  It might be tough to read, but it's better than blindly not knowing what someone liked or disliked about the story.

Is it worth writing? Yes.  My dear readers deserve to know this bookworm's thoughts.

Despite my reservations doesn’t mean I didn’t finish in a day.  I have read better retellings, but I have read worse. Much worse. 

This one I have to leave to your decision.

The things that bothered me might not bother you.

A