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A review by eyreguide
Artisans by Julie Reece
4.0
A contemporary Beauty and the Beast retelling is always welcome, and I really enjoyed this book! It's light on the retelling aspect, although there are the important elements from the fairy tale - the confinement, the beastly hero, the connection between the couple, and the power of love to redeem. The story weaves in a great backstory for the heroine - Raven or Rae, who has a talent for designing clothes, but who has a very tough home life. Raven was so much fun to read about because of her wryly sarcastic voice. I found her hilarious!
The romance in this story is very sweet -it's sweeps you up if you don't pay too much attention to why they fall in love. Although for me, I felt it was hard to understand why Gideon fell in love with Raven so quickly when she was always so antagonistic to him initially. But I didn't mind too much since I really loved the characters, and it was great to read about their growing interest in each other. And I thought it was wonderful that Gideon can help Raven just as much as she can help him. And Gideon does help Raven realize her potential. Raven has two best friends who come to visit sometimes, and I loved that there is a little romantic b-plot going with those friends - this was an all around wonderful read for the romance aspect. (And YAY no love triangle!)
The story includes an interesting spin on the magic - there is a curse of sorts and a dark, forbidding house which made the story very mysterious and creepy at times. There were some particularly nerve-wracking scenes! Both the romance and the mystery of what secrets Gideon was hiding made this book so readable - a fantastic page-turner with engaging characters, swoony romance, and eerie mystery!
The romance in this story is very sweet -it's sweeps you up if you don't pay too much attention to why they fall in love. Although for me, I felt it was hard to understand why Gideon fell in love with Raven so quickly when she was always so antagonistic to him initially. But I didn't mind too much since I really loved the characters, and it was great to read about their growing interest in each other. And I thought it was wonderful that Gideon can help Raven just as much as she can help him. And Gideon does help Raven realize her potential. Raven has two best friends who come to visit sometimes, and I loved that there is a little romantic b-plot going with those friends - this was an all around wonderful read for the romance aspect. (And YAY no love triangle!)
The story includes an interesting spin on the magic - there is a curse of sorts and a dark, forbidding house which made the story very mysterious and creepy at times. There were some particularly nerve-wracking scenes! Both the romance and the mystery of what secrets Gideon was hiding made this book so readable - a fantastic page-turner with engaging characters, swoony romance, and eerie mystery!