Beauty and the Beast Meets Knife-Fighting Street Gangs
Beauty and the Blade: A Fantasy Romance Fairytale Retelling
The Talented Fairy Tales, Book 1
Fairy Tale Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
S.C. Grayson
January 5, 2024
Ebook, Paperback
282
Most London socialites dream of marrying for love or status, but Contessa’s wedding is about justice—and revenge.
Nathanial Woodrow is known on the streets of London as the Beast, leader of the fearsome Lion gang who mark their victims with three slashes on their face. Since her mother was found dead with the signature slashes years ago, Contessa has wanted nothing more than to see her murderer brought to justice. However, the Beast has been impeccable at maintaining his façade as the high society Mr. Nathanial Woodrow, and nobody has been able to gather enough evidence to convict him. When the Beast unexpectedly asks Contessa’s father, the Chief of the Royal Police, for her hand in marriage, Contessa and her father hatch a plan to bring him down from the inside.
As Contessa enters the lion’s den in search of evidence to convict the Beast, she finds that not everything is as she once thought. Her father’s work, hunting down Talented that use their magic to rule the criminal underworld, is thrown into question with each glimpse of the kind-hearted man beneath the mask of a hardened gang leader. As Contessa navigates her search for justice, she finds herself questioning what side she’s really on, and why she finds herself drawn to a man she’s supposed to hate.
“It was the first time I realized that maybe — maybe sharp things could be beautiful too.”
S.C. Grayson’s beauty and the beast retelling is one of the more enjoyable that I’ve read thus far. Beauty and the Blade, Book 1 in the new Talented Fairy Tales series, is a unique twist on the classic story that gave me all the good feels.
Contessa is given away in marriage by her father, the Chief of the Royal Police, to Nathaniel Woodrow, the “Beast” of the streets and leader of a dangerous gang called the Lions. She agrees to the arrangement for one reason: revenge. The Beast murdered her mother, and Contessa will use all of her wit and skill to see him taken to the executioner’s noose. By gaining access to his private home, she hopes to earn his trust and then betray him to the authorities.
Life under the Beast’s roof, however, is not exactly what she bargained for: she is respected, the servants are friendly and happy, and she can’t find a shred of evidence to link the Beast to the murder. As they play nightly games of chess together, Contessa begins to realize that perhaps there is more to her new husband than what she has been led to believe.
If you like sweet, supportive MMCs who can still wield a blade like a deadly assassin, Nate will quickly become your new favorite. Grayson wrote Nate in true “beast” style; he is aloof and brooding in the beginning but slowly opens his heart to Contessa. Despite her coldness toward him, he seems to be in Contessa’s corner from the very beginning. He sees her for the intelligent, passionate, and independent woman that she is.
Contessa nodded and pushed to her feet, the events of the night before and lack of sleep finally crashing down on her and making her feel drained. She turned to leave and head to the sanctuary of her bedroom, but before she turned into the hallway, Nate spoke behind her.
“It’s a shame your mother hasn’t gotten to see what you’ve grown into.”
Contessa stopped but didn’t face Nate as she asked, “Oh, and what am I?”
“Whatever you want to be.”
Oh, my heart!!
In addition to having some of the most swoon-worthy declarations of affection coming from Nate, Grayson kept me turning the pages with a combination of some classic tropes:
- Found family
- Enemies-to-allies-to-lovers
- Marriage before romance
- Sweet romance (with a teeny bit of spice)
- He falls first
- Scars (emotional and physical)
- Revenge v. justice
- Undiscovered magical gifts
This is a feel-good story with a sweet happily-ever-after, just like many great fairy tales are. I’m looking forward to reading Book 2 of the Talented Fairy Tales series by Grayson, Little Red Shadow, which was released with Beauty and the Blade.
Catch S.C. Grayson at Romantasy Book Con 2024 hosted by Fabled Fantasy Events.
Celeste is a woman who is unwavering about certain things in life; three of those being books, cats, and cold brew coffee. If she can enjoy all three at the same time, it’s going to be a good day. Her favorite genres are fantasy or sci-fi romance, historical romance, and historical fiction but every few books she likes to mix it up with contemporary fiction, a good psychological thriller, or an inspiring memoir. She has a busy schedule working full-time for an online university but she makes sure to unwind each day with stories, either by reading to her elementary school-aged daughter or tucking herself in bed with her Kindle or the latest book she picked up at a local book store.
