Beauty and the Werewolf - Mercedes Lackey

Beauty And The Werewolf
Mercedes Lackey
Luna Books
Copyright: October 2011
978-0373803286

The amazon.com product description:

The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella— Isabella Beauchamps, daughter of a wealthy merchant—vows to escape the usual pitfalls.
Anxious to avoid the Traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman.
But on the way home she's attacked by a wolf—who turns out to be a cursed nobleman! Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between her family and this strange man who creates marvelous inventions and makes her laugh—when he isn't howling at the moon.
Breaking spells is never easy. But a determined beauty, a wizard (after all, he's only an occasional werewolf) and a little godmotherly interference might just be able to bring about a happy ending.…

Beauty and the Werewolf is an intriguing addition to Mercedes Lackey's collection of titles. First of all, it's the latest book in the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, meaning that it's a re-telling and modification of a traditional fairy-tale. This time, as I'm sure the title makes clear, it's a reworking of the tale of Beauty and the Beast. However, Mercedes Lackey has also mixed in a goodly portion of Little Red Riding Hood too.

This isn't the first time she's written a story around the theme of Beauty and the Beast - there's the novel The Fire Rose, which starts off the Elemental Masters series, also a series that's tied into fairy-tale themes, if not usually so directly.

As with most modern interpretations of fairy-tales and the rest of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, there's a happy ending - although I'm wondering this time if it's going to be as happy as it seems.

I liked the way that Elena from The Fairy Godmother reappeared in this book, tying it further into the series.

Beauty and the Werewolf was a shorter read though, only taking me a day or so to get through - however, for that time, I couldn't put the book down, I had to know what happened next.

Recommended for fans of Mercedes Lackey.