The Upstream Writer: Reader's Review: "Belle the Beast Tamer" by Pauline Creeden

Synopsis from Amazon:

Belle Parisi didn't know she was a shifter until she was twelve years old—the same day that her mother died. Since then, her father sent her to Wonderland Guardian Academy in Virginia to protect her from the same people who hunted her mother. Shifters become the animal that most reflects their inner being, and for her and her mother, a tiger was found at their core.

Now at seventeen, she's more than ready to graduate and get on with her life, and maybe return home to the small town in Italy. But when she's caught shifting off school grounds, she's given a task instead of a punishment. Another shifter has been discovered hiding out not too far away in the Appalachian Mountains—a dragon shifter.

Belle's not sure exactly what kind of personality brought out the dragon in the man she's hunting, but it couldn't be good...

>>>>>>>>>>>>

My Review:

All the way back in 2019, I got on a massive fairy tale retelling kick that sent me in the direction of Pauline Creeden. I loved her excellent take on The Little Mermaid with Verona: A Mermaid's Tale, so I went into the first book, Red: the Wolf Tracker, with all kinds of hope.

You can read the review >here< to learn whether or not it paid off.

Anyway, about a year later I bought the box set of the Wonderland Guardian Academy series on a book-buying spree, and now at last, five years later, I've finished the next book in the series. Belle's story was longer than Red's, and for that I can be grateful--and yet there were some highs and lows about my reading experience with this one.

First of all, I want to list all the great things about this book: Belle is a tiger shifter, like her mother. I loved that, even though it felt kind of cliche that she would get in trouble with the school administrators for shifting--but at the same time, looking back it might feel more like the whole "getting in trouble" factor was more of a set-up to get her in the room so that she can be commissioned to track a dragon shifter (the "beast" of the fairy tale) who has apparently gone rogue.

So not only do we have tiger shifters, but dragons as well. Score two!

Belle is tasked with tracking the dragon, but in the process of searching the rumored territory, she ends up at an abandoned cottage where she uncovers a conspiracy cover-up that makes it seem like the Guardians she's trusted all her life aren't so trustworthy after all. The owner of the cottage discovers her and takes her prisoner (shades of the "damsel being held prisoner" from the original fairy tale!), but as the tension cools between them, the two end up teaming up to try and investigate what the Guardians are trying to hide, and what it has to do with Belle, and most of all why they had her tracking down the dragon in the first place!

It's a neat story that I enjoyed from start to finish. It felt much less rushed than the first book--albeit there were still some pacing issues, some places moving too slowly, while jumping too quickly from one beat to the next at other points. But it's a solid retelling, with interesting characters, great closure, and further contributing to a larger series arc that promises to pay off very well over the course of these urban fantasy tales!

I'm giving Belle the Beast Tamer a solid *****4.5 STAR***** rating. It's not the most perfect retelling I've ever read, but it's very well-done, it's a spiffing urban fantasy story with plenty of plot that doesn't necessarily involve romance between the characters! If you like shifter stories, fairy tales, and you're looking for good clean urban fantasy, definitely give the Wonderland Guardian Academy a look!

Further Reading: (Also By The Author/Urban Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling)

Verona: The Complete Mermaid Tales--Pauline Creeden
-Scales
-Submerged
-Salt
-Surfacing

-Abiding Flame--Pauline Creeden

-Sanctuary--Pauline Creeden

The Firebird Fairy Tales--Amy Kuivalainen
   -The Cry of the Firebird
   -Ashes of the Firebird
   -Rise of the Firebird

-The Wendy--Erin Michelle Sky

-Cracks in The Tapestry--The Tapestry Group

-Severance--M. A. Smith

-The Purple Door District--Erin Casey

Lord of the Wyrde Woods--Nils Visser
-Escape From Neverland
-Dance Into The Wyrd

The Bhinian Empire--Miriam Forster
-City of A Thousand Dolls
-Empire of Shadows

The Valiant Series--Joanna White