Kingdom of Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (The Kingdom Tales)

Kingdom of Beauty is about a girl named Felicity who lives with her eccentric father and brother, Ambrose. Ambrose is friends with a bully who forces his affections on Felicity no matter how much she rejects him. Though his name is Kurt, he is such a cookie-cutter archetype that it might as well have been Gaston. Every other chapter in the book switches to the perspective of Justin, a prince who was cursed to have the body of a beast in a castle that became virtually invisible to outsiders. Only someone who looks at him and likes what they see can break the spell. The third-person narrative eliminates any confusion about whose perspective each chapter is told from, which I appreciated after reading books that swap around a lot in the first-person narrative.We all know what happens next. Felicity's father goes on a business trip with Ambrose and disappears in the mysterious castle while trying to steal a rose for his daughter. When Felicity learns what happened, she seeks to find the castle and volunteers to take his place. There was one portion near the beginning of the book that I thought the story was going to take a very difficult turn from the fairy tale in which a dragon swoops down from out of nowhere and starts having a casual conversation with Felicity. However, things quickly fall back into the old routine and don't get interesting again until near the end of the book.One thing I liked about this book was the way it fleshed out the magic and the kingdom as a whole. It clarified Justin's place in the monarchy as well as the corruption that went on behind the crown. It also explained that the enchantress's curse that turned him into a beast was separate from the one that hid the castle away, which makes sense since that would make it a lot harder for him to find someone to break the spell. I liked the dragon lore that will likely become a connecting thread throughout the series, although I would have liked to see more dragons since they were the only thing that made this book stand apart from other "Beauty and the Beast" retellings.Overall, this is a standard and safe adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast." It's easy to predict most things that happen leading up to the climax, but it is still written well with a strong setting. I would recommend this book to fans of "Beauty and the Beast" that want to read every retelling they can get their hands on as well as people who have not read a lot of fairy tale retellings already. There were some elements that made it stand apart from other adaptations, but you have to be willing to read through a lot of familiar territories to get to them.

One of the better Beauty and the Beast retellings I've read in awhile. There's more going on in the kingdom than just beast-meets-girl; the disappearance of the crown prince is causing all sorts of trouble. Since he and his castle vanished just before he could be crowned king, no one is sure who is supposed to be in charge. And the prince, Justin, is forced to watch helplessly through his magic mirror as things slowly fall apart in his absence, as he is unable to leave the castle until the curse that turned him into a monster is lifted. For that, he needs to love someone else more than himself, and for a "person of worth" to look at him in his beastly state and like what he or she sees. It seems impossible.Felicity is a young woman growing up far from the larger problems plaguing the kingdom. Her father and brother leave on a trip to the local fair, but only her brother returns, claiming their father vanished into the missing prince's invisible castle. Nevertheless, Felicity sets out to rescue him, and winds up exchanging herself for her father's freedom. Her determined cheerfulness clashes with the desperate prince's bitterness. Justin is closed off and cold thanks to his cruel father's upbringing and wary of why this random peasant family got into the castle after no one else had been able to find it for two years. It seems as if it can't be a coincidence, yet Felicity has no other explanation. Slowly, Justin finds himself lowering his guard, as time after time Felicity defies his suspicions and proves she is exactly who and what she claims to be--an ordinary young woman, albeit an unusually kind and generous one since in his suspicions Justin keeps being truly awful to her and she never completely writes him off. Can Felicity ever like what she sees and break the curse?

I enjoyed the retelling and tweaking of this classic tale overall. I almost had to put it down at the one sidedness of the trust at one point because that sounds like an impossible relationship, but it eventually evened out and had an interesting ever after that encourages us to keep going with the next book in the series! And so I shall. :)

Good book. Not my favorite, but I still enjoyed it. There were some new twists on the story. I liked the ending. It was clean! No language, sex or gore. I look forward to more by Deborah Grace White! Geared more towards high school age, but I enjoyed it as an adult.

Felicity is a simple peasant girl who meets a dragon after buying a magical artifact. Soon after, her father and brother go to market. Only her brother returns and she is determined to find her father. When she does, she finds he has been captured by a beast.Prince Justin has been cursed for 2 years and is losing hope, when Felicity and her father show up at his Summer palace. He has to reconcile his upbringing with his feelings.Wonderfully done story. With many hints to the next books in the series. Looking forward to reading more in the land of Solstice.

This retelling allowed the reader to bond with some of the characters within the castle. I loved that they remained in their human form and how the curse impacted them. PoV from both the prince and "belle" was a lovely touch.

I picked up this book hoping for a sweet, adorable fairy tale retelling. What I got was a sweet, adorable fairy tale retelling with intrigue, twists and turns, DRAGONS!, and characters that absolutely stole the show!This is a good Beauty and the Beast retelling. It has all the right elements, and Felicity and Justin make an adorable couple!After reading this book, I ended up binging all the released books in this series in a matter of a week, and each book just got even better!

I loved this book. Justin and Felicity were brilliant. It made me laugh so much. I was wondering whether Felicity would be able to help with the curse. I loved all the characters, they were all so entertaining, even Kurt, who i wanted to kick into some horse manure face first. It was a fantastic retelling of Beauty and The Beast, in some ways a better versions, written for adults.

I loved this book and I am so happy it the first in a series. I love a retelling of a good fairy tale.

I loved this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I know it's a book I'll read again and again. Felicity was fantastic; the way she couldn't help laughing at amusing situations was hilarious! Justin had my sympathy for being stuck as a beast when he had a kingdom to run, but he still most certainly needed to learn the lessons Felicity taught him. But he had me charmed by the end of the book. I was so pleased to meet Eldrekki's son, Rekavidur! I had seen the Dragon on the book's cover, but wasn't sure if it meant anything until I started reading. The first book of this series has a great set-up for the following books, as it gives hints to people and places we might hear more about. I thought it was nicely paced, even if there aren't too many twists from the original fairy tale, the author made it get own. I look forward to discovering new characters and lands in this series, and learn more about the ancient magic of the continent of Solstice! Sleeping Beauty, here I come!

This book was a delight to read from start to finish. I really liked the characters and I thought that the author did a great job of slightly "tweaking" the original Beauty and the Beast story to make the story her own. This was a sweet, fun, and uplifting story that makes me want to check out the other books in the series.

Such a cute rendition of the Beauty and the Beast. I shall immediately move on to the next book. I recommend to all fairytale lovers. Or lovers of fairytales.