Beauty and the Beast

Faerie Tale Collection

By: Jenni James

Narrated by: Amber West

A prince by day and a wolf by night - Prince Alexander has been turned into a werewolf and has one year to find someone to love the beast and break the spell, or he will be a wolf forever. He has nearly given up achieving the impossible, knowing no girl would ever fall in love with such a monster. Just when he is about to abdicate the throne to his cousin, he meets Cecelia Hammerstein-Smythe, while a wolf, and begins to hope for the first time in months. Prince Alexander has been turned into a werewolf and has one year to find someone to love the beast and break the spell, or he will be a wolf forever. He has nearly given up achieving the impossible, knowing no girl would ever fall in love with such a monster. Just when he is about to abdicate the throne to his cousin, he meets Cecelia Hammerstein-Smythe, while a wolf, and begins to hope for the first time in months.

Cecelia detests the prince. She only knows Alexander as the arrogant monarch - the tyrant who has made her life miserable - though perhaps he's changed right before her eyes. He's not as full of himself as he once was. The prince is gentle now... but then again, so is the beast.

©2012 Jenni James (P)2013 StoneHouse Audio

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

JENNI JAMES IS THE QUEEN OF FAIRYTALES!
VERY WELL WRITTEN AND THE NARRATOR DID A GOOD JOB! I HAVE LISTENED TO IT AT LEAST 30 TIMES AND NEVER TIRE OF THIS AUTHOR OR AUDIO BOOK, CECILIA IS THE BEAUTY WHOM MEETS A WOLF WITH A CONFRONTATION AT THE BROOK ON HER FAMILY'S ESTATE, AND THE FRIENDSHIP BLOSSOMS FROM THERE, INTO A WONDERFUL ADVENTURE AND A UNEXPECTED TWIST ON THE CLASSIC TALE AS OLD AS TIME.
I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THE FROG PRINCE BY JENNI JAMES ON AUDIBLE IT IS MY FAVOURITE VERSION, AND I WOULD LISTEN TO IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

beauty and the beast

enjoyed the development of the story and characters. look forward to ready the next book

Inexperienced across the board

I was very drawn to the story idea, Beauty and the Beast plus werewolves. But the writing feels like it comes from someone with not a lot of experience yet. It has a very high school feel to it, a young writer still learning, trying to use bigger words to make up for a lack of nuance. Same with the narrator, it felt like a less experienced performer still learning, leaning into over-dramatic emotion to cover any clumsiness. All of it lacked realistic character development, as everything happened too fast for contradictions to be dealt with in a reasonable way.

Poorly written with terrible narration

What would have made Beauty and the Beast better?

A better plot, better writing and a narrator that can read well.

What didn’t you like about Amber West’s performance?

Amber West's narration was not smooth.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Overall, I was disappointed in this variation of Beauty and the Beast. The plot nor the characters were interesting. The use of the rose was meaningless in this story to me.