I can't believe you haven't read this! Beauty. It feels like it must be the original novelization, although people have been retelling "Beauty and the Beast" since Madame de Villeneuve first wrote it down in 1740. She was retelling who knows how many oral traditions. But McKinley's Beauty is the real deal. I think Robin interviewed Beauty herself.
Beauty is sweet and lovely and hopeful. A villain never shows up, not even a wicked step-sister. Beauty's sisters turn out to be girls I could be best friends with, and all you want is for them to understand. But who could understand that the Beast is not a savage beast but a noble one? You wouldn't know that without spending months locked up in a castle with him.
By the way, I love books that feast my senses, not just tell a good story. So when I think of Beauty, I think of rich treacly cake, candlelight reflecting off of goblets, and diamonds winking across voluminous skirts. Those images and flavors are just as much a part of the story as the love is.
Stop every couple chapters and tell me what you think, okay?
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