Hunted

by Meagan Spooner

New York Times bestselling author Meagan Spooner spins a thoroughly thrilling Beauty and the Beast story for the modern age, expertly woven with spellbinding romance, intrigue, and suspense that readers won’t soon be able to forget.

Beauty knows the Beast's forest in her bones—and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering its secrets.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and 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. The Beast.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical 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?

• ISBN10: 0062422294
• ISBN13: 9780062422293
• Publish Date: 21 March 2019 (first published 14 March 2017)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperTeen
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[tweetybugshouse]

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales so when i see a retelling i get excited to see what kind of twist the author is going to share with me. I don't know about anyone else but i was eager to see what kind of library we might get to see in this story as that is a intricate part of the Disney classic i love. The author did a great job of giving us this moldy destroyed library and then showing us the humanity inside the beast when he shows beauty the treasure he was able to save. Their where characters from the Disney classic i would of like to see make a an appearance in this story but like all retelling you can't make it the same story you have to change it.

I also liked how with all good classic fairy tales their a lesson to learn in this story, the in between tidbits from the beast was a great addition to the story and i really was drawn in to the story and will love to see what other books this author has to offer is this is my first Meagan Spooner novel.

[Ashley]

Goddamnit. I didn't like it.

This was solidly a case of "not for me". It wasn't objectively bad. I'm not going to tell anyone to avoid this book. The style just wasn't my cup of tea.

I felt like 90% of the book was just sooo slow. There were so many instances of, "and so the weeks dragged on" -- just letting us know that weeks were passing by, but we weren't really involved in them. IDK, it just felt like I was being told a bunch of stuff, but was only actually there for some of it. I think maybe the book just didn't draw me in or captivate me during these parts. I was a bit indifferent.

During these periods, I was reading with my phone next to me and after every other page I was just bored and picked up my phone instead to scroll through Facebook or whatever. I rarely had a desire to keep reading.. I just just trudging along trying to get the book done.

Then, towards the end, I feel like the book almost took on more of a poetic feel. It wasn't actually written in poetry, but it had that kind of super metaphorical vibe that just didn't click with me. It felt... weird? It was like everything was a dream, except it wasn't. I don't know, I just couldn't get into it. It was funky.

Also, I NEVER cared about the Beast. I really wanted to care, but... I just didn't. He even had some chapters in the book from his POV, which had the potential to be interesting, but ultimately I don't think they added anything. There wasn't quite enough there for me to really get invested or feel like he was really contributing.

For me, the ending felt unsatisfying because it ended up being more of an internal struggle/hurdle than anything else. It never really felt like there was a climax, I guess. I never really felt excited, nervous, or like there was something big at stake.. even if there kind of was. Maybe this is just because of my overall feeling of detachment.

Major sadface.

A very beautiful retelling of Beauty & the Beast!