I had thought this book would have Beauty and the Beast elements when I noticed the quote at the beginning was from the story. What I was not expecting was to read Beauty and the Beast itself, down to the magic at the end.

This book took me by surprise. I was not expecting Bard to be the way he was. I was expecting a hard-ass but not to this degree. I knew he would do everything in his power to try and get her home and was not surprised to see how even Mother Nature stopped those plans from happening.

I had figured witches would be introduced at some point and while the reveal in this book wasn't groundbreaking, it was okay. I was expecting more but by the time it became obvious that this was practically a Beauty and the Beast retelling, everything was in the open. The whole "true love fixes all" ending was a bit cliché but I have no complaints. In all honest, I was kind of hoping Bard kept his scars and everything rather than the magic erasing them and granting him his youthful look with two working eyes and all his scars gone. Though he retained his missing leg. But I guess it wouldn't be a Beauty and the Beast story without the "Beast" becoming a beautiful man again.

The story was amusing and I could understand the motivations Bard had for getting Haley out of town. And in all fairness, how he acted only proved that Haley could handle him at his worst and still come back. Nothing was keeping her away.

And something I noticed about these books: A lot of the time, it was the male wolves recognizing the female as theirs. However it was never the other way around. Of the ladies I met in this series, only one had been born and raised as a wolf. But even she didn't really have a wolf laying claim to a male. It was always the male laying the claim, their inner wolf instantly calling the females theirs.

Why can't the females perk up and say "Mine" like the males do? But I suppose that's not the point. Regardless, it would be fun to see.

Either way, this series was fun to read and if this is the end of it, I'll be both satisfied and upset. Satisfied because ending on Haley with her Beast is a great close for the world but upset because I don't get more of Max and Lizette, Sophie and Remy, or Dom and Lily. But this author does have more series with shifters. A lot more. And I plan to dive in head first.