The Beast by Alianne Donnelly

The Beast (novella)

The Beast #1

A free installment

Alianne Donnelly

Historical Romance/Fantasy/Fairytale

Published in 2011

H/h - Lord Bastien (The Beast)/Lysette

Setting: Unsure, maybe Regency?

Read in Jan, 2012.

My rating:

                                                        [spoiler alert]

Another free novella, another winner. I totally loved it! The Beast was my 1st Alianne Donnelly book and I can only say WOW! In a free short story like this (of about 52 pages with 18 short chapters), the author gave me much more than I could’ve hoped for. It had a plot, a great storytelling. It was full of intense scenes filled with emotion. I really enjoyed the whole gothic atmosphere of it. The sexual tension between Bastien and Lysette was so great and I was frustrated in the end that there wasn’t any love scene. In this book, I’m complaining about it. This should’ve been a full-length novel with loads of love scenes! Just sayin’... lol

When I started, I wasn’t sure what to think because 1st few chapters gave me a mixed read. Some of the stuffs were confusing me like, how did Lysette end up here or who is this beast? Why is he cursed? It was quite complex, the plot, so the twists of the beast and Lord Bastien really took me by surprise. Were they one and the same or were they two different persons? I couldn’t even conjure up a face of the Beast, only that he had a leonine head, had big paws and towered over normal people. Then the story began unfolding. Lysette is the middle daughter of a poor man. He was in the Beast’s debts for something and in return, he wanted the man’s eldest girl. Lysette is the kind one whereas the eldest, Marguerite is very self-centered. But before she could do anything, Lysette took the chance and went to the Beast. I don’t know why, but it seemed like she loved him from the start. This part was kinda vague. Lyesette knew she can break the curse. But how? I was as confused as she was. The trouble is, if I want to comment on the twist that surrounds Lord Bastien and the Beast, I have to give away the fun. Lysette did try her best; she was treated badly by Bastien. He gave her a thorough razor tongue, in a very non-sexual way! He taunted and mocked her innocence. He even forced Lysestte to read explicit narratives of his affairs to him, as penned by himself. I just wanted to slap the hell outta Bastien and yet, his words and actions roused me too, as it did to Lysette. No idea how or why! Maybe it was because I felt that behind Bastien’s mean façade, things were different because he never genuinely harmed her or her family. Lysette almost gave up too because he was so crude and mean to her, not really knowing why. She was a smart heroine who pieced together a lot of it but Bastien kept surprising her in every turn.

The ending was a bit abrupt for my liking but it involves the Fey and explains why the Beast/Bastien was cursed. I thought it served him right for 300 yrs because he was a self-absorbed, vain a-hole who couldn’t keep his pr*ck in his pants. Lessons were learned. Fey queen helped. I was glued to my laptop because it totally absorbed me. I wish, again, that there were more of this book. I LOVED the author’s writing style, very flowing and beautiful, even though I don’t prefer 1st person narrative. The narrative kinda read like a diary from Lysette which was interesting. I wish a bit was there from the Beast/Bastien’s POV too. Anyway, I’m gladly giving it a 4.5 star and I don’t always give novellas more than a 4. I’ll definitely look forward to more AD books.

“The Beast” is a free installment which can be downloaded from smashwords.


*Update*

Just found out that Ms. Donnelly featured lines from my review in her website. I totally appreciate it and would like to thank her. :)

Update on Mar 24: Good news for the fans of The Beast. There is a sequel coming in May 5th, 2012 titled Bastien. We’ll finally get to read Bastine’s side of the story, which takes place before this novella. For more information, visit Ms. Donnelly’s website.