To Love a Beast

Once upon a Time in Texas

De: Karen Witemeyer

Narrado por: Cara Firestone

Beauty & the Beast in 1800s Texas.

Once known among New York's elite as the American Adonis, Everett Griffin now lives as a recluse in the wilds of Texas. The treachery of a former admirer left his face and his spirit riddled with scars, so he hides himself away, his only companions a trio of trusted servants and an oversized dog. Locals whisper of the beastly man who lives in the gloomy manor outside of town and his tendency to attack anyone who dares approach. Everett relishes his fearsome reputation and uses it as a shield to guard his privacy. Until a young woman as stubborn as she is beautiful infiltrates his sanctum and lays siege to his defenses.

When an injury to her father jeopardizes the family's book binding business, Callista Rosenfeld determines to fulfill the contract herself, and no insufferable client or woman-eating dog will deter her. Finding unlikely allies among Mr. Griffin's staff, Callista secures her position and sets to work transforming the manor's remarkable library. Her employer transforms as well, his ill-tempered growls subsiding to reveal a considerate, intellectual nature. Affection blooms as Callista and Everett discover hidden depths in each other, but the evil schemes of a vengeful hunter threaten to leave their love and their lives in tatters.

©2025 Karen Witemeyer (P)2025 Tantor Media

Disney

This retelling of the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast was well done. It was clean, Christian, and uplifting. I really appreciated the way the story was integrated into a western late 1800’s - early 1900’s Texas timeline & background! It worked well with the fairytale! The character growth was also amazing, and I loved the happy ending!

Good story, lackluster narration

I always like Karen Witemeyer's stories, and I have especially enjoyed this series, however, I did not care for the narrator for this book. I missed Barbara McCullough narrating, as she usually does for this author's books. The narrator seemed to have very little vocal range when it came to male voices. (I can understand that narrating voices belonging to the opposite gender can be challenging, but I have heard narrators with more depth.) I also didn't care for her cadence/pace of reading. I enjoyed this retelling of Beauty and the Beast and had fun finding the little nods to the Disney story in the character names. I would still listen to another story if it was offered, but I might think twice if it was this narrator.

Great story, dreadful narration

I love the way the author honored the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, and yet made the story fresh in its historical Texas setting. Making the heroine a book binder was so perfect and believable.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the novel was greatly lessened by a terrible narration. Overacting and voice changes that made most characters sound ridiculous. If not for my love of Witemeyer’s fairy tale reimaginings, I would have stopped listening and skipped the book. I took no points off the rating for the narration since it isn’t the author’s fault.

Disappointing narration

I have all of Karen Witemeyer’s Audible books and have enjoyed all of them, until this one. I had to force myself to listen to the end as this was quite possibly the poorest narration I have ever heard. I’d like to listen to the book again as the story got lost in the poor reading, but cannot listen to this narrator again. (I made the mistake of pre-ordering this title before a sample was available as I thought that as this was Karen Witemeyer, the reader will be very good, right? I was very wrong and wasted a credit.) And no, this was not an AI narration, Audible states clearly if a narration is by Virtual Voice (which would have actually been better).

Great Book - Awful Narrator

I LOVE Karen as an author and have read all her books and continue to reread her books. Love how she’s turning these fantasy stories into reality stories but keeping with the fun fiction of her writing. Absolutely enjoyed this book, by Kindle. Unfortunately, I pre-ordered this and ended up having to stop listening and just buy the book on my kindle. The narrator was awful! I tried so hard to keep listening and get past it but I just couldn’t.

Great Story but not My Favorite Narrator!

This was a great Beauty and the Beast retelling! However, I have definitely heard better narrators.

Bad narration but good story

The book is good but I have to agree the narration was really hard to listen to
I normally love her narrator but this one was a fail it reminded me of ai for sure .

Good Version

Good story! Everybody likes a good fairy tale and safe for little ears to listen to! The narrator is pretentious and lacks good inflection, if the story wasn't good enough to bear up under it, this would've been a terrible purchase. As it is, I how they change narrators before releasing any more audios in this new series.

Love this Beauty and the Beast Retelling

I love the Beauty and the Beast retelling. This story is full of the same romance with elements of faith that make it a heartfelt, clean exciting romance that I love to read.

Fabulous fairytale with a Texas twist

I absolutely loved this story! Karen Witemeyer did a fantastic job of retelling this classic fairytale with an old West setting and details. The narrator wasn’t my favorite, but it didn’t keep me from enjoying the story.