I really enjoyed this retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

I'd previously been a bit of a hit and miss with Feehan's writing. Mostly miss. See, I have this thing about men who are too controlling in books (in my opinion anyway, which sometimes differs greatly from that of others of the female persuasion). I know, for some, it makes their toes curl to be dominated and told what to do yada yada yada. But for me, it just makes me want to hurl something.

But in this book, although the male lead character (Nikolai) was very male and alpha and all that jazz, it didn't bother me nearly as much. He was the Don of the castle so she (the female lead- Isabella) was technically supposed to do as he said anyway- but she never did, which I just thought was awesome. Who doesn't like a little rebellion, hmm? And also the fact that he tried to protect her, tried to send her away to save her even knowing she was the only one who could help break the curse, gave him big brownie points with me too.

As you'd expect, a lot of the plot was familiar and predictable since it is a fairy tale retelling, but it still managed to remain mysterious in many ways. I really like what Feehan did with the curse, what it meant for the castle's inhabitants etc. It was (and always has been) a very good story and I enjoyed this version of it immensely.

And there were a lot of hot smexy times which were quite tastefully done as well, I thought. That never hurts either, does it?

So, even though I may never get invited to a Carpathian reunion party, I'm glad to know that there are other works in Ms Feehan's extensive back- catalogue that I can rummage through and enjoy, like this one.

4 magical stars.