Synopsis:
A dark shadow stalks the night, watching her—waiting to claim what is his.
Seventeen-year-old Tayla Jonas longs for a simple life, but after a traumatizing family loss, she is forced to be both mother and sister to her cousins while caring for her mentally unstable aunt. Moving to her grandma’s quiet town of Cody, Wyoming, Tayla finds some normalcy with her quirky green activist friend, Chel, who spends no time converting her to vegetarianism.
A few weeks into her new school, Tayla catches the eye of Kyle Harrington—the high school quarterback and resident millionaire—who can seduce any girl with his charismatic charm, including Tayla. But Kyle is anything but what he seems.
Walking through City Park, Tayla is unaware that an ancient curse has her in its crosshairs. The silver moonlight illuminates the path to her van, sprinkling shadows like evil twinkling eyes. Tayla’s skin prickles, and she turns. Something—or someone—is watching her.
A powerful werewolf steps from the shadows. An iridescent blue cord shoots from him and slams into her stomach, dissolving instantly. Pain wracks her body, and she tries to scramble to safety, but his silver eyes freeze her in place as the curse binds them together. The cord settles deep inside her body, coiling with dread around her heart.
Dismayed by the prospect of a werewolf for a shadow, Tayla fears for the safety of her friends and family. How will she keep the werewolf’s insatiable hunger in check? Her plans for a vegetarian lifestyle quickly dwindle away, and Tayla wrestles to fit her frazzled life back together—piece by piece. But what she didn’t expect was her attraction to the werewolf or the power of the full moon.
Will Tayla be strong enough to survive the Curse of the Beast? Or will it consume her like so many before? Find out in the first installment of this unique retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
My Review
Tayla's life is definitely not the life of a typical happy teen. She was abandoned by her mother as a baby, she is being stalked by the crazy yet sexy star football player and she is cursed. Only she didn't know she was cursed. She just thought she was cursed to walk around her new school the obsession of the crazy star quarterback, but one of her escapes from the stalker football player lands her right in the path of a werewolf. Now the real curse begins. Bound to him she must leave everything she has ever known to live out her days with the sulky werewolf named Beast.
Now I am just going to say it, I really enjoyed Curse of the Beast, once the Beast became a part of the story, which I am sad to say doesn't happen until 40% into the book. I have to say I was a little disappointed it took so long to introduce the owner of the silver eyes haunting Tayla. I understand that we needed a background, but I personally found the beginning of the story to be a little boring. I got the point that Kyle was stalking her and that he refused to say no, but to be honest I was over the whole Kyle story. And after discovering the identity of the werewolf I was a little baffled as to why it took so long to introduce him.
However, that being said once the werewolf stepped onto the page I was completely enraptured by the story. Yes I wish it happened sooner, but after meeting the sulky, snarky, humorous and often gentlemanly werewolf I can forgive the delay in meeting. But for me, that is when the true story of Curse of the Beast began. That was when I truly knew that I had to know the whole story. That was when this story finally got its claws in me.
I love what Ashley Lavering did with the tale of beauty and the beast. No longer are we dealing with a desperate girl trying to save her father, no now we are dealing with a girl cursed for things completely out of her control. This new bond changes everything. Now Tayla has a wolf for a shadow that is not nearly as playful as a dog.
Knowing the risks to her and her family Tayla makes the decision to leave her family to be with Beast. Never did she plan to get to know Beast or see him as something other than a Beast. But truths unravel and Tayla realizes that Beast isn't just a beast, but a man. A man with feelings and a past. That he is a gentleman that is surviving a curse just like she is. But with this bond comes complications that neither could have predicted. Complications that put Tayla's life in danger from more than just Beast.
Now Tayla's and Beast's true strengths will be tested as they face the great unknown. And I for one want to be there and find out exactly how this all turns out. Of course you have no idea what I am talking about, but trust me when I say that the final twist that Ashley Lavering puts into Curse of the Beast is one that I did not see coming.
Curse of the Beast is not just a retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story you and I were raised with. Oh no, Ashley Lavering completely recreated it for the modern day. She took our love for the original story and breathed new life into it. Adding twists and shocks that I would never see coming. If you like fairy tales then you need to take a chance on this great remaking of a classic tale.
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