Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?
(Goodreads)
After studying various adaptations of Beauty and the Beast in-depth, you would think pleasing me with a new adaptation would be difficult. Let me tell you a secret: it’s not. I have loved this story from childhood with the Disney animation and continue to love it through the years. Hunted is no exception to my love for the story.
I would say Hunted is definitely more than just a Beauty and the Beast retelling, though, because of the details of a Red Riding Hood-esque hunt and incorporating the Russian folklore hero Ivan. These three stories interact and create a beautiful tapestry for the story to be told through. I picked up the book because of the Beauty and the Beast aspect, but I really fell in love with a plot twist from the Ivan folklore.
The plot twist at the end shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did. I was so focused on the details and story that when a character plot twist occurred, it blew my mind. I applaud Meagan Spooner for that brilliance at the end. And the actual ending left things wrapped up, but also open-ended which is perfect for this story. I couldn’t imagine it happening any other way.
Also, I am a fan of formatting in books and when authors change things up once in a while. A major part of this book is the few pages readers get to see from the Beast’s point of view through a journal-type entry. The pages have an amazing ink-splattered background (which increases as the novel progresses) with handwriting over the top. The subtle differences as the story develops in the Beast’s handwriting and vocabulary tugged at my heart with the deep meaning in a few simple changes.
Overall, I absolutely adored the story and will be recommending it to anyone and everyone who wants a story for winter, romance, action, with a woman hero, and a classic retelling.
As an added bonus to my FIRST BOOK REVIEW on here, I created a few aesthetics for the story and some of the characters. Beneath the aesthetics are quotes from the book as well as the character depicted.
“I am what you seek. I am the conclusion of your journey. All you’ve ever wanted. Magic. The music of the forest. Forever. You are home, Beauty.”
-Firebird
To the girl who reads by flashlight who sees dragons in the clouds who feels most alive in the worlds that never were who knows magic is real who dreams this is for you.
-Dedication
“She moves like beauty, she whispers to us of wind and forest- and she tells us stories, such stories that we wake in the night, dreaming dreams of a life long past. She reminds us of what we used to be. She reminds us of what we could be.”
-Beauty
“The animal does not understand, cannot understand the need to end our existence but I am here now, I control us. I have let it take me for so many years, but she has brought me back.”
-Beast
Did you like the aesthetics? Have you read any Beauty and the Beast retellings you love? What classic stories do you like reading retellings of? Let me know in the comments!
