How Beauty Met the Beast

Book One of Tales of the Underlight

By: Jax Garren

Narrated by: Therese Plummer

Length: 4 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The Beast

Scarred. Damaged. Living with a terrible secret. Agent of the Underlight Wesley "Hauk" Haukon has nothing left but the fight for liberty against the oppressive Order of Ananke. He's starting to lose hope... and then he sees her.

The Beauty

Despite her night job as a burlesque dancer, grad student Jolie Benoit has always played the mostly good girl. That all changes following a scorching sexual encounter with a stranger whose face she doesn't see. After she's kidnapped by thugs and rescued by a man with a very familiar voice, Jolie becomes a pawn in a struggle she never knew existed.

Hauk knows he cannot have her, and resolves to protect his heart and his secrets. But as they work together and grow closer, he finds new reason to keep fighting. Dare he risk hope in a new life, one where Jolie can see past his ravaged face and where their friendship can grow into something more?

The trilogy continues in How Beauty Saved the Beast.

©2012 Jax Garren (P)2012 Audible, Inc

Sexy and Surprising

I am in awe of what Jax Garren has created in this new series. Especially her great idea for a sexy male hero. Both main characters are fascinating and I have already purchased the next book.

I especially enjoyed the combination of this story and the reader. Therese Plummer has the ability to do great male voices, and makes them sound sexy and sweet. I fell in love with Hauk.

Bravo!

amazing

I really enjoyed this story. Strong MC , story line and perfect amount of humor. I love the way the author has the ability to drag you in to the story. Great Narration.

hold on for the ride!

What did you love best about How Beauty Met the Beast?

Fresh ideas and take on a classic. I love that stereotypes are not stereotypical or not predictably so.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters are likeable and engaging. I could find myself hoping for friends like these. I want to live in the underlight!

What does Therese Plummer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ms Plummer gives life to the book. Listening to the book allows me to sink into the story and live it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened in one sitting and was online looking for the second book immediately.

Any additional comments?

The book starts with a very "adult" bang. Don't abandon hope it quickly moves into a true storyline.

love it but so short!

I need more than what I was given. the ending just cuts everything off. just dose not feel right. I know there is more in the series but I would rather have more than less in this case. they meet, things happen but no peak to the plot feeling. I don't care about other characters besides the mains and the 2 friends. the rest are hardly developed. I'm not surprised by people in the different societies from her life cuz you don't know anything about them until they pop up. almost like movie extras with names- you know the main character said their name but you forgot as soon as they are gone. lol

Cool Fantasy Romance

This was an interesting book. It started off with a very sexy scene, though I'm unsure the feasibility of it. I kinda just had to go along with it.

But after that there was basically no physical romantic scenes, and it's clearly laying groundwork for the two of them to be closer later in the books. But it takes longer that I wanted, I wanted them to hit it off right away! But this does seem a little more realistic.

Everything great in a book, and in a narration!

Would you consider the audio edition of How Beauty Met the Beast to be better than the print version?

Only a little bit. The book was magical, but Therese is a hella good reader. She really got the characters and their situations and feelings... and all of that came through in the reading

What did you like best about this story?

How well every feeling and emotion came through. You don't just read one of Jax's stories, you FEEL them.

What about Therese Plummer’s performance did you like?

Her voice was fantastic, her voices for different characters was consistant, and she really knew how to put the emotions of the customers into her reading. Her reading it was, mixed with the vivid imagry of the story, made this like a movie!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It's a heart stopping, panty dropping, ass kicking good time!

It should have been only one book, not three...

The book was broken into three parts and sold as three different books. Tough, I enjoyed the story, it most definitely NOT worth 3 credits. One credit yes, but not three…. I feel a little cheated.

Theresa Plummer is a fantastic narrator. I am adding her to my favorite narrators list to watch out for.

A good start.

What did you like best about How Beauty Met the Beast? What did you like least?

The story was nice...but it is clearly the beginning to a series and I didn't know that going in so I was disappointed that the story didn't have closure at the end...just a very open plea for another book to continue the story.

Familiar Fairy Tale with a Unique Twist

How Beauty Met the Beast is the first in a series that takes the familiar fairy tale and gives it a little urban fantasy twist.

The story itself is a mix of a contemporary thriller and a mysterious paranormal novel. It’s light on the fantasy and light on the steampunk, though they do play big roles in the novel but it doesn’t weight the story down any. It deals with some tougher topics like having a visible injury and the social impacts of that but stays light and fun. We even get some odd little hints that there is a lot more going on in this world than Jolie ever knew, maybe more than Hauk knew and he is more privy to the weird than normal. I really dig the background power struggle between the Underlight and those in the Order of Ananke. I do wish that we got a little more info on the Underlight as it seems really amazing, but I really look forward to seeing it explored more in the next book as Jolie becomes more acquainted with this hidden society.

While the setting and world might be a little gritty, the romance is super sweet. I love Jolie and Hauk together, and their banter, once they let go of their nerves and insecurities, is perfect. It starts out steamy but after that’s it’s a bit of a slow burn as they work up actually getting to know each other and figure out exactly how they feel, even by the books end they are still testing the waters. I read so many romance novels that all have their relationships’ beginning and end all in less than 400 pages, so it’s incredibly nice to find one that’s highly entertaining and paced in such a way that it draws out the romance just so.

Therese Plummer is a ‘new to me’ narrator and I think she did a wonderful job with Beauty. She has wonderful pacing and brings an energy to the reading that really hones in on those feel good moments.

When Beauty left the Beast wanting more.

Story was not what I expected. More a political battle between two communes/ cult that supposedly have big clout over the world. The chemistry between the two started off hot but there was no other action. The sparks were there, but I like more action between the sheets. The writing was good the story original but too short, I believe the story could have been extended for a better book. I didn't realize it was the beginning of a series until after I had listened to it, so I will be getting the rest. Narration was good. Defiantly worth the price.