Review: Beauty and the Wolf

Title: Beauty and the Wolf (The Cursed Princes)
Author: Marina Myles
Format: egalley edition
Pub. Date: June 6th 2013
Source: Netgalley & Kensington Books

★★

Two stars.

Isabella never wanted to marry Draven. Sure, he is attractive. But he is also rumored to have a temper, and to have spent some time at an asylum. She's no stranger to odd looks and rumors herself. She wears an ancient Egyptian amulet that some whisper carries a curse that will doom her. After a quick escape, Isabella finds herself coming back to Draven's estate, in order to secure life for herself and her family, though Draven has his own intentions....

-There is way, way too much happening in this book. It seems like every possible book genre/topic is squeezed into this one. Fairy tale retelling? Check. Gypsy magic? Check. Asylums? Werewolves? Egyptology? Cursed amulets? Romance? History? Check, check. It seemed way over the top, to the extent that it was hard to read it with a straight face.

-None of the characters are likable. There's Draven, the hot but brooding misunderstood rich boy, who is a complete man whore with a violent temper. His mother is a miserable wretch, and the housekeeper is unpleasant and judgmental. And then there's Isabella. Sigh. She has utterly lost her mind. On one hand, I am pleasantly surprised to find that she's not just another damsel-in-distress. However, she was mouthy, argumentative, and demanding to the point that made it, again, unbelievable (yes, I am saying that in a book about werewolves). Oh, and at the beginning of the book, she spends all her time mentally complaining that Draven doesn't look his best on her wedding, on HER special day..... A few pages later it mentions that she didn't wear make up, why should she? REALLY? Pot, kettle. Kettle, meet pot.

-An overuse of words like "bloody" is also present in this book, which feeds into the unintentional hilarity of the story line and line delivery.

+One thing that I will say that I enjoy about this story is the werewolf-like twist on the classic "beast" character. Even Myles' version of a werewolf is unique in a new, intriguing way. It was a saving grace for this book.

+Another positive that this book has going for it is the cover. Whoever the model is is gorgeous, and it helped me to pick this book out right from the get-go.

Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of historic romance, or maybe I just didn't "get" what the author was trying to do, but I didn't enjoy this story and I won't be recommending it to any of my friends.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for my copy.