Beauty and the Baron

Forever After Retellings, Book 1

By: Joanna Barker

Narrated by: Janna Fox

Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

A penniless maid determined to save her father, a broken baron bent on isolation, and the undeniable draw between them that could lead to happiness—or disaster.

Rose Sinclair has run out of options. With her father in prison and their bookshop sold to pay his debts, she has no choice but to turn to Henry Covington, the Baron Norcliffe. But the baron has more than earned his harsh reputation, and Rose must face his wrath in order to save her father—and herself.

Since the deaths of his parents, Henry Covington has isolated himself from society, ensuring the solitude of his estate with his deliberate callousness. However, when the beautiful Miss Sinclair appears on his doorstep, begging for a chance to repay her father's debt to him, a moment of weakness finds him offering her a position—as a maid in his own house.

They both soon learn that first impressions are not to be believed. Henry is surprised—and intrigued—by Rose's optimistic charm, while Rose slowly uncovers Henry's true self, his compassion concealed behind the pain of loss and betrayal. But when a shadow from Henry's past returns, their newfound hope is tested. They must decide for themselves who to trust and what they will risk for their happily ever after.

Beauty and the Baron is a regency retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It is a sweet and clean romance novella, and is the first audiobook in a series of regency retellings. The stories can be listened to in any order.

Book 1: Beauty and the Baron by Joanna Barker

Book 2: The Captain and Miss Winter by Sally Britton

Book 3: The Steadfast Heart by Arlem Hawks

©2019 Joanna Barker (P)2023 Joanna Barker

Beautiful Love Story!

This was such a fun book, I love Rose and her character. Henry was a hardened man by his own loss and Rose was able to soften and make him smile again and realize he can still have a happy and fulfilled life. Such a cute and clean romance and the narrator was amazing, loved her voice and the way she told the story! Joanna Barker is very talented and I love reading all of her books, they never disappoint!

Absolutely ADORABLE

I am such a sucker for a Beauty and the Beast retelling. It’s my favorite fairy tale! 🥰
I loved this one! It’s short and sweet and just bite sized goodness!

I absolutely love Joanna Barker and her writing! So when offered the chance to listen to the audiobook, I jumped at it! It’s short, less than 3 hours, so easily bingeable!

I was quickly swept up in the story and fell in love with gruff but secretly kind, Henry and selfless, sweet and sunshiny Rose!
They were such a perfect match and I loved seeing them interact and fall for each other.
I really liked all the callbacks to Beauty and the Beast! It was fun reading and seeing parallels! ♥️

The audio was absolutely fantastic!!! Janna Fox did such a great job! There was such a distinction between the Male and Female voices and POVs which can be rare. She did it flawlessly! I will 100% listen to her again!!

If you need a little pick me up, a quick escape, a lovely excursion… etc. 😂 Definitely pick up this story, especially on audio! 🥰

Fun retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Rose Sinclair is looking for work and reaches out to the one man who is least likely to help her, Henry Covington. To her surprise, Henry hires her on as a maid and soon a friendship starts to blossom. When someone from Henry’s past returns home, their friendship is put to the rest and they are left to see who and what really matters to them in the end.

I love Joanna Barker’s books and jumped at the chance to review the audiobook for her novella, Beauty and the Baron. It did not disappoint. In true Joanna fashion, I was drawn into the story and was cheering for our leading characters from the start.

I’ve already listened to this one twice. It is a quick listen and a great retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Definitely listen to this one if you love happily ever after and fun retellings!

Delightful

This is the perfect blend of Beauty and the Beast meets Downton Abbey! If you love a surly male lead with a soft heart this book is for you. I hope you love it too.

Easy, clean Regency romance listen

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook that was gifted to me by the author. The narrator does an excellent job. It is a fairly quick listen, coming in around 3 hours.

This is a book in a series of fairytale retellings. Each novella length story, is a standalone book. This one is based on Beauty and the Beast. Spoiler alert : There are no singing dinnerware scenes. 😉

It is hard to have a complicated plot develop in the length of novella, but I felt that Joanna Barker did a good job of giving a well rounded story without making it feel rushed.

Short and sweet!

Rose Sinclair worked with her father in their bookshop until her life was completely upended by her father’s mistakes. Now she has to find a way to pay his debts and save him from prison. Penniless and alone, she has no choice but to ask for help from Henry Covington, the dreaded Baron Norcliffe. Henry wants nothing to do with Rose and her problems but very reluctantly offers her employment.

I loved how kind Rose was, and I could definitely take a lesson from her on having a good attitude regardless of my circumstances. She was working so hard to help her father and didn’t hold his mistakes against him. Henry’s cold, lonely heart didn’t stand a chance against all that goodness. And, unfriendly as he was, Henry never treated Rose unkindly due to her station. Underneath his gruff exterior was a heart of gold.

I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this novella. The narrator did a great job with the different voices and POVs. Thank you to the author for the listening copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Great beauty and the beast retelling!

Absolutely loved this story! I loved the beauty and the beast vibes and how it all played out. Loved Henry and how he came around! Such a great story!

I really enjoyed this one!

What a nice break from the long, drawn-out tales that are so full of angst and the back and forth of he loves me; he lives me not.

This one was short, sweet, straightforward and clean. I loved it!!!

Regency beauty and the beast

Beauty and the Baron is a novella regency retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I listened to the audio on Audible, and the narration was excellent. What I loved most about this book was how Rose, the book’s “Belle” was portrayed. Rather than be trapped in a castle with a beast against her will, the circumstances in this retelling caused her to spend time with the Baron (“Beast”) of her own free will. I enjoyed listening to how the Baron progressed from grumpy to kind hearted, and how that ended up surprising Rose when her antagonist makes life difficult for her. The narration was fantastic, which just enough inflection between the two points of view to make a clear distinction between them. An easy 5 stars!

Thank you to the author for the ALC. all opinions are my own.

Review by Christianbooksandcoffee

A Beauty and The Beast retelling? Yes! Did Joanna Barker write it? Then I definitely want to read it! I listened to the audiobook of this novella and I really enjoyed it. It is more a retelling of Disneys Beauty and the Beast and I’m not complaining one bit. I really liked Rose and Henry. Loved how much Rose wanted to take care of her father and how nice she was to Henry and how she didn’t care that she was a servant and just talked to Henry like a normal person. I liked how even though Henry could be harsh or seem uncaring at times he always made up for his actions and was actually very caring. Overall a great story and clean! Definitely recommend!
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I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary audiobook copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.