Crazy Beautiful

In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself. Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

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Beth says 4 Stars...

I enjoyed reading this book. It was cute and a little different. The only thing that bothered me was that it didn't go far enough. It attempted to be different, but didn't go far enough. It bordered safety and risk without falling into either category. Also, there are so many different retellings of Beauty and the Beast and I've read my fair share of them. I thought it was interesting that there wasn't a strong magical presence in the novel. I guess I've come to expect large amounts of magic in my neo-fairy tales. I think that it makes me enjoy it a little more, but maybe that's just the fantasy nut in me. The book was good but not great. The writing style was really interesting. I loved how it alternated perspectives, and felt that it was well done. It was obvious who was speaking and the voices were well developed. The rest of the characters weren't too compelling, and the side plots fell a little flat. Despite its shortcomings, the book was really a fun read. It was just dark and twisty enough to appeal to me. I'd say to grab this one if you want something that's a little on the dark side but has no magic.