This book is, basically, Beauty and the Beast, with an Urban Fantasy twist. Swap the cursed Prince for a railroad baron, turn Beauty into a highly educated woman, especially by 1905 standards, and that's basically the story, summed up of course.

Looking for a job after her father's death, Rosalind Hawkins gets a letter from one Jason Cameron, who is looking for a tutor to educate his children. When she gets there, Rose finds out that Jason has no children, and that he has hired her to read to him obscure Medieval books, through a speaking tube, never actually seeing him. After a while though, Rose learns the real reason Jason hired her - Jason is a magician of sorts, but a miscasted spell has transformed him physically, and this new form prevents him from reading his spellbooks, as he is stuck in the form of a wolf-like creature - meaning he needs help. Eventually, Rose sees Jason, face-to-face.

Will she run from him, or will she see the man trapped inside the Beast?

Romance lovers, Fantasy lovers, Sci-Fi lovers, Wolf lovers, Magic lovers, Beauty and the Beast lovers.

There's a lot I like!

Here's a For Instance. Near the beginning, Rose is on a train, heading to San Francisco, where Jason lives, and she's reading this book. A man, who has been very rude, steals the book - probably trying to get a kiss, or something. Rose calls for the Conductor, and calls out the thief for the scum that he is, saying that the guy stole her book. The thief claims that the book is his. Rose challenges the man to read a paragraph in it. Thing is, the book is the Greek version of The Odyssey, meaning that the guy can't read it. Rose also points out that her name was written on the front page, from a teacher of hers, and points out that no man would call themselves Rose. Conductor gives the book back to her, calls over two big burly guys, and tosses the thief off the train - or at least locks him up in the last car.

Most other scenes are well done.

The ending. It wrapped things up a little too quickly for me to be really satisfied.

See if the author wrote a sequel involving these characters.

Has a witty sense of humor, is fairly well researched - talk about how difficult corsets are - the Female lead doesn't like them too much.

Mercedes Lackey has also written a number of other fantasy books, involving magic, dragons, and more.

From the moment you open up the first page, you will be hooked. I picked it up - I couldn't put it down. My mother, she can't put it down. As for my Aunt, I'll have to fight her in order to get it back, as I want to read it again.

If you like stories involving characters who have to overcome challenges,like handicaps, and prejudice, in order to achieve their goals, this is a good book to read. Of course, if you want a good laugh, there's plenty of those as well.

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Created Nov 19, 2014 at 6:30pm • Submit your own review...