Review: Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Author: Stacey Jay
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Number of Pages: 400

Synopsis:

"In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...
In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.
Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.
As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love."

Stacey Jay creates rich, colorful world where you will be blown away. This is definitely the best fairy tale retelling that I have ever read. This book was absolutely adorable and I was extremely upset when this ended.

“In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret.” 

The main character, Isra, is blind. This girl is a definite role model for me. Throughout her life she has faced major tragedies. First her mother died, then she was blind for the rest of her life, and now her father's dead. All she has seen is heartbreak, hurt, and pain, yet through all this she still stays happy and she never gives up on her responsibilities. She is definitely a character to look up to.

The male main character is Gem. He is such a great guy! He is doing anything he can to protect his loved ones that live in the desert, and now he's been arrested for trying to get food for his people while they lay starving. He was so perfect in this book, he had natural instinct in the beginning to hate the people that are destroying his tribe, but eventually he learns to trust and love Isra. He realizes what her intent is for his and her people and he begins to care for her and he tries to fight it. Stacey Jay made him feel what a human would feel in reality, she didn't make him look like a saint or anything.

This story is definitely a powerful one. I was hooked until the very end and I was devastated at the end because there was no sequel. This is definitely one I would re-read. 

I highly recommend this because everyone will love this. This is the perfect story that everyone will enjoy, especially those who love fairy tales. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars!!

* An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.