Belle & Beast

Rebecca Fittery's 2020 Beauty and the Beast retelling opens the Istoire Awakens series with a multi-perspective approach: war hero Eddie Marchand comes home to marry childhood sweetheart Belle, but a beastly prince with a secret upends their world and pulls Belle into magic and mystery. At 497 pages it has room to build, and readers familiar with the series note that the character work and plot momentum grow as the story finds its footing. The author markets it as clean romance, which holds — faith-friendly readers will find nothing objectionable. The honest caveats: reviewers note grammar and spelling errors throughout that can pull readers out of the story, and the opening chapters are described as slow and awkward to start. Fairy-tale retelling fans willing to invest in the series will find it rewards patience.