Enchanted Beauty

Marly Mathews

Publisher:
New Concepts Publishing

Release Date:
August 14, 2008

Genres:
Fairy Tale
Fantasy
Romance

ISBN:
eBook
9781603942188

Bookmark Rating:

Reviewed by
Layken

Review Posted:
September 2008

Based off the traditional Fairy tale of Beauty and the Best, Annabelle is the beautiful daughter of a poor thief.  She is living in an impoverished kingdom that is in the middle of a war with a very powerful wizard from another kingdom.   After hearing that her father has been captured because he was trying to steal from a lord of her kingdom she musters her courage to seek his release.  However it isn’t going to be easy since she accidentally blinded herself trying to learn Magic.  The Lord living in the castle, Malachi Hawthorn, is described as a Beast, not only in disposition but also in appearance, having been badly scarred during the war.  Annabelle makes a bargain for him to release her father in exchange for her.  To sweeten the deal, she also agrees to marry him in order for her father to leave the castle unharmed. 

Once living in the enchanted castle, Annabelle meets some pretty interesting family members and friends of Malachi’s and soon finds herself falling in love.  After only a short time together Annabelle has to leave on a mission to save her kingdom from the terrible wizard who they are at war with.  Many twists and turns fill this tale as Annabelle is forced to discover her own hidden magic and face her true destiny. 

Overall, the story was unique and entertaining; an original twist to a classic fairytale stereotype.  The story introduced many unique characters and combined magic and love.  However, there were a few elements that were disappointing about ENCHANTED BEAUTY.  While the story was interesting the plot and the characters were not well developed.   For me the characters were flat and could have used a little more dimension to them.  While reading the story it was distracting when some of the character’s dialogue and actions would contradict each other.  Overall, it was hard to relate to the characters in the book because I couldn’t empathize with them.   

While the story itself held great potential, it just fell short of the mark for me.  The plot was a little thin and there were so many different story elements that popped up or were added along the way that it was a little overwhelming.  There were too many ideas introduced that for me it cluttered the story and deterred from the original plot.  The plot of this story is more conflict-resolution driven and if the reader is looking for love and romance in this book they will be slightly disappointed and left wanting.  While the main characters claim to love each other their love/relationship comes off a little forced.  While the story overall could use a little help I will be on the look out for the new worlds that Marly Mathews is able to create with her wild imagination.

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