Author: Rick R. Reed
Publisher: JMS Books
Length: 46 Pages
Category: Fairy Tale, Romance
At a Glance: This short just gives a brief taste of the characters involved, but the flavor is sweet.
Reviewed By: Cassie
Blurb: Beau is a down-on-his-luck street artist living on the streets of Seattle. One rainy night, he is accosted by a group of fag-bashing thugs, intent on robbing him of his art supplies and humiliating Beau for who he is. Beau is beaten into unconsciousness …
… And awakens in a bedroom, head bandaged, with no memory of how he got there. Outside his window pine trees and mountain vistas beckon.
Beau’s tale grows more mysterious when a large, muscular man begins bringing Beau his food. The man says nothing — and wears a wolf mask. When he finally does speak, it’s only to tell Beau to call him “Beast.”
What secrets does the mask hide? What do these two outsiders have in common? And will their odd circumstances bring them to the brink of love — or rip them apart? Inspired by the timeless fairy tale, this is a haunting love story that reveals that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
Review: Beau and the Beast is sweet and a bit mysterious. This is a short story, so there’s not a lot of length to really get involved with the characters; for instance, we don’t know what events led Beau to be so down on his luck. The characters are intriguing and likeable enough that I would love to have had more insight into the befores and afters.
The syntax and grammar of the writing are fairly formal, which gave it a sort of modern fairytale feel and added to the almost dream-like quality of the storytelling. Kind of like you might find it in one of those leather-bound fairytale anthologies. I liked it, though it felt a bit odd at times, as if the voice and POV didn’t quite match in places, as the POV is pretty solidly in Beau’s head space, and he’s supposed to just be a regular, modern guy. Despite that, the effect is mostly successful, and Beau and the Beast ends up as a cute little romance.
You can buy Beau and the Beast here:
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