Reader's Review: "Beauty and Beastly" by Melanie Karsak

Synopsis from Amazon:

When Isabelle Hawking and her father set out from London on a sea voyage, Isabelle is thrilled. Visiting foreign courts, learning from master tinkerers, and studying clockwork mechanisms is her dream. And it doesn't hurt that the trip also offers Isabelle an escape from her overbearing and unwanted suitor, Gerard LeBoeuf.
But Isabelle never arrives. Swept up in a tempest, her ship is lost.
Isabelle survives the storm only to be shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island. The magical place, dotted with standing stones, faerie mounds, and a crumbling castle, hints of an ancient past. Isabelle may be an unwilling guest, but her arrival marks a new beginning for the beastly residents of this forgotten land.
>>>>>>>

My Review:

Melanie Karsak is an author I've been following for a while, ever since I read her steampunk take on "Red Riding Hood", Wolves and Daggers. It's an early one, but I enjoyed it very much.

As far as retellings go, this story was glorious! I've read plenty of "Beauty and The Beast" retellings, even recently participating in an anthology themed around "roses", leading to several stories (including my own submission) taking on the classic tale with our own spins. But when Karsak puts her signature steampunk/gaslamp twist on it, she really takes the story from "great" to "magnificent"!

Rather than inventing a horrendous beast-creature or dragon or what-have-you in an abandoned castle for her cursed character, Karsak has isolated him on an island where the animals and even the rose gardens around the castle are all enchanted clockwork! Rather than "Belle" being a dreamy girl who is constantly reading and very ostracized by her community, Karsak gives us a young woman of substance in Isabelle, an intelligent tinkerer, an inventor in her own right, and someone who makes plans and doesn't give up on accomplishing them.

The clockwork servants around the castle are fantastic, and the twists Karsak puts into the story are so fun and inventive. Plus, fans of the story will enjoy a highly-entertaining "Easter-egg hunt" with all the clever references Karsak adds to her own unique tale. (Including some bonus nods to Shakespeare's The Tempest! Don't think I didn't suss those out immediately!) I giggled, I gasped, I snorted, I sighed.... and most importantly, I couldn't stop reading!

Beauty and Beastly hits ALL the hallmarks of a great fairytale retelling: inventive characters, a compelling plot, quippy dialogue that doesn't feel forced or contrived or overly expositional, and a satisfying ending that will have every fairytale-loving reader squealing with happiness! To the surprise of absolutely no one, I give it the full *****5 STAR***** rating, and add in an Upstream Writer Certified WHOLLY RECOMMENDED endorsement! The romance is clean and sweet, the character development is on-point, and I'm definitely putting this one among my favorite retellings, and definitely the best version of "Beauty and The Beast" out there!

Further Reading: (Fairy Tales/Clean Reading/Retellings/Steampunk)

-The Girl and The Clockwork Cat--Nikki McCormack

The Alexander Legacy--Sophronia Belle Lyon
       -A Dodge, A Twist, and A Tobacconist 
       -The Pinocchio Factor

Punk Anthologies--Writerpunk Press Group
      -Sound & Fury: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 1 
      -Once More Unto The Breach: Shakespeare Goes Punk, Vol. 2 
      -What We've Unlearned: Classic Literature Goes Punk

-Dreamtime Dragons--Dreamtime Fantasy Authors

-The Wendy--Erin Michelle Sky 

-Severance--M. A. Smith 

The Fair Folk Chronicles--Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins
        -Foul is Fair 
        -Street Fair 
        -A Fair Fight 
        -All's Fair 

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

Wonderland Guardian Academy Series--Pauline Creeden
       -Red The Wolf Tracker

       -Belle The Beast Tamer

-Mythical Doorways--Fellowship of Fantasy