Stars (Out of 5): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beauty Reborn by Elizabeth Loham is a wonderful fantasy novel full of whimsy and charm from beginning to end. It has everything from an adorable romance to deep themes of overcoming trauma and learning to trust again.
The story is a rewrite of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast. Loham introduces us to the whimsical Beauty who is running from a romance that ended with her being assaulted. Filled with traumatic memories, Beauty runs to the cursed castle in hopes of being killed. Instead, she finds herself the guest of a kind-hearted beast who slowly helps her learn to trust again and steals a bit of her heart in the process.
I loved this book. I loved the sweetness in their love story and I loved watching as Beauty came into her own and overcame her past. It is a difficult book to put down once you have started.
(There may be spoilers from this point on).
This book is full of well-written characters that grow and change. Beauty in particular is a very dynamic character. In the beginning of the story she has lost faith in men, and because of how she was hurt by her former lover, she has lost faith in herself. She feels worthless and it shows. However, her character progression is heartwarming to watch. She goes from a woman in hiding to someone who is able to find happiness again. As she takes the time to heal and allows someone into her life who sees her as she truly is, she learns that she is not alone and that she is braver than she ever thought.
Lowham did a marvelous job of showcasing how Beauty overcame her trauma. She shows that good things happening in life do not always mean a magical fix. It takes Beauty time before she is able to trust again. I find this particularly evident at the end of the book when Beauty is too scared to consummate the marriage on their wedding night and it takes some time into their marriage before Beauty finally tells the Beast that she is ready for intimacy. That was one of the most beautiful examples of healing I’ve ever seen written. I wanted to cheer from how proud I was of her.
I also want to note how well I think Lowham handled such a sensitive topic. Beauty is taken advantage of sexually, and Loham manages to approach this topic with care. Never once did it feel graphic or overly disturbing to read. She is vague enough while still getting the idea across. Her care makes it so readers can feel for Beauty without having to read a detailed description of the occurrence.
The romance in this book is very sweet and wholesome. Having been hurt as she has been, it is so wonderful to see the tender way in which Beast treats her. He knows her trauma and gives her the space she needs. Even when his curse forces him to activate her PTSD by asking her to marry him, she cares enough for him to strive to overcome this, eventually finding the strength to tell him that it is okay if he has to propose. Their care for each other is evident and the fears they face for the sake of the other endears me to each of them. Their romance is also filled with such a sweet friendship you can’t help but gush over them. They find in each other someone who can enjoy them as they are and who loves them for their quirks and differences.
The last thing I want to note is my love for the family dynamics. Beauty’s family is one filled with strain. They have had many hard times and some of their relationships are very tense. But at their core you can see how much they care for each other. To me it felt like a realistic dynamic, and I loved to see the way the relationships grew and changed throughout the story.
As far as things that I didn’t like about this book, there are very few. My main thing I struggled with was some of the religious aspects. It’s not necessarily the religion I am against, but the way in which it was portrayed. Loham takes us to a world full of fairy magic and curses that seems very different from our own, but then she mentions the philosophical debate of the existence of a god. While I liked this element in regards to Beauty’s growth as a character, I struggled with the way it seemed to break me out of the worldbuilding as the religious stories she mentioned were clearly from the Bible. I would have liked to see this aspect of the story shown with a religion made specifically for the world in the place of what was clearly religion from our world. I feel that would have made a difference for the continuity of her worldbuilding.
All in all, however, I loved this book and I felt that it was incredibly rich. It was a story that made me feel something. It is one I would recommend to anyone, especially those who like a good fairytale retelling or a good romance book.