In this remake of this classic tale there is no magic, no curse, not even a singing tea cup. Belle aka Isabelle is a support your family, make sacrifices and do the best you can kind of beauty. The beast is Prince Adam is a horribly scared man emotionally and physically, his best friend is a dog named Stranger who he rescued. Sebastian, is still a servant of sort to his family, more of a friend. Belles’ tormentor is a wicked abusive man with money, power and wants to own her in the worst way. The characters are complex, the relationship is earned, in a slow painful process that I completely enjoyed.
Isabelle runs from her tormentor and home after a horrific series of events and sexual abuse at his hands. Her plan to take her blind, ill father and find a new life for them is thwarted when the weather turns and they are forced to seek shelter at a dank, depressed castle behind rusted gates. When the door opens and she is greeted by a huge man in a dark cloak and a growling giant dog she nearly turns back toward the sure death of the storm. Forcing this dark giant to let them in drawing on her determination to improve their situation she begins a series of events that had me up all night reading while my household slept.
The beast, Adam, lives in his past. He is a living nightmare, swimming with the ghost of his past day and night. Living alone in a decrepit castle with his dog and family relics. He feeds his unhappiness and sorrow with solitude and bitterness. When this woman and her father crash into his solitude he does not adjust easily and become the gentle host. He overreacts to a simple event that will cut a deep wound in Belles heart. He has little to no experience with other people, he is like a lost child acting out. He stole my heart.
Oh Ms. Demeter created a repulsive character in Raphael, Belles tormentor. Deplorable actions and words, a complete piece of rot. I couldn’t have hated him more, so what does she do ? She gives him a background that almost had me feeling sorry for the vermin. That was a tricky little twist of the knife. I was feeling a tug not he old heart strings until he pulled the trigger and killed… well I’m not telling you who. He wasn’t her only wicked man. A most trusted man broke the heart of his friend.
I can’t wait to read more from this author. She twisted me around her finger with her wonderful story telling. The words were beautifully pulled together and created an adult version that does justice to the classic.

James a K-9 officer is searching for his stolen partner, Bogart. It has been a month and he has finally narrowed in on his location. He witnesses the prime suspect playing fetch with his partner in front of a cabin. He hardly pays attention to the man in the woods dressed in camp and carrying a riffle. ( oh really ?) When he confronts the prime suspect a skittish woman with serious denial issues. She will not admit that the dog she adopted a month ago is his dog no matter how much the dog listens to him. Somehow James gets dragged into her mess of a life after a one night stand and thrown out of the house after glow drives him (in my opinion) insane.
I didn’t like the story, I loved the dog, I semi-enjoyed the twisted humans reeking havoc is some very unconventional ways, minus the sick cat toss (OMg!) I did not like the main character Shay. She ruined this story for me.
Shay, the victim. Honestly, what is up with this chick ? She has a traumatic past, a sealed juvenile record, a wacko ex, and no ability to speak up. I get it she has had some things happen, but I don’t get her silence. She seem to have this unwavering need to stick her head in the sand and click her heels to make things go away. Things like, harassing calls, sexual harassment, rape, keyed car, stalking, shadows lurking, and a dead cat ! Her handling of the cat, I was cheering for the neighbor to club her upside the head and knock some sense into her. Then there is the wam-bam I want sex now, (flash) get the heck out, method of mating. Whiplash girl ! I thought she was three shades of crazy, with her that’s my dog, to her head in the sand, after her past ?!?! There was one other massively stupid thing in the many she did, she walks off with Mr. Crazy into a room secluded from everyone, just as dumb as a girl could be. (dee dee dee) Yes, I hated this character, she played the victim card, put others in danger with her idiocy, treated people like trash and Grrrr, enough I hope to never meet her again.
James, the wonder cop and his partner Bogart. Bogart was the true main character of the story. He was all teeth and tail, he didn’t put up with wishy washy treatment. James, he seemed to like being treated like a throw out man, he came back over and over.
I can not continue this series. It was not what I like to read at all.

** After a couple days of thinking. This story is sticking like gum on my shoe. I'm getting more questions and more head shalking. Like what the cat thrown under the tire had to do with the story ? It was disgusting, and what was the purpose of it happening ? Did I miss something it seemed to be this almost random weird horrible thing without explanation, or the bad guy going mwahahahha !

What a nightmare read that was. I got physicality sick during three different parts. I quit it many times but had to know the ending. Uggg, it was so awful, so realistically frightening, I wish I never picked it up. I feel sick now just trying thinking of some of the horrors between the pages. It was a great horror book, it was pure horror and left me ill at heart. Stephen King said it was a story of nightmares and he was so right. It took me 9 days to read this black souled book. I feel like I'll never be the same as I was before, damaged and scarred. One word review-SICK
I gave it 4 stars, as horrible as it was it was exactly as it should have been, no fluff from this author. It starts out slow, even a bit dull, then it slowly builds from slight horror to absolute nightmare during the last 20 %

A moment of your time to draw your attention to a cause that is very dear to my heart and which I have also posted on my blog elsewhere.

I would like steal a moment of your time. I would like to use this stolen moment to draw attention to something that is very close to my heart, something that I discovered earlier this week via Facebook. It broke my heart. It made me cry so much when I saw it. What broke my heart was the tale of Mali the Elephant. She is a female elephant and she was taken away from her family and her forest when. Since that time, she has lived, and is currently living, in captivity in a very small concrete enclosure in a Manila Zoo. It's been like this for Mali for more than 30 years. She is the only elephant in captivity in the Philippines. What breaks my heart and defies understanding is how on earth can they knowingly do this to her? She has been denied companionship, company, vegetation, stimulation, you name it, for more than a quarter of a century. How can they leave her alone like that? Even back when she was captured it was widely known that elephants are social animals that form communities and close bonds with their family members. Didn't they realise what kind of irrevocable harm that they have done to her? It is beyond cruel, if you want to hear my honest opinion. It inhumane. It's one of the worst forms of abuse that I can think of. We must never forget about Mali, or the thousands of other majestic animals forced to leave in captivity. It is our duty, as human beings, to raise awareness and work towards their freedom, or at the very minimum, better humane treatment. By following the case of Mali, and signing the petitions below (this old petition is now closed), we can at the very least try to give her the happy ending she deserved, and hopefully one day she can be transferred to a sanctuary in Thailand, where she will no longer live out her life as a sad and lonely being. She may not have that many years left in her, but she deserves to live them out with dignity, decency and companionship.

Please check out this article and the links below and see how you can help in changing her future.

Mali on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Mali-the-Elephant http://www.petaasiapacific.com/feature-free-mali.asp

http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=15645 http://action.petaasiapacific.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=110&ea.campaign.id=18057

http://blog.petaasiapacific.com/animals-in-entertainment/urgent-help-save-lonely-bored-miserable-elephant

As an animal welfare advocate I was excited to read this. I have talked with the local animal control guys near me and they seem so jaded and unhappy. They never talk about the day to day job but, I thought saving animals would be a happy career. I was curious to read a real life, not made for TV retelling. I thought by the happy dog on the cover that these stories would be goofy, silly adventures. No, most of the stories dealt with the reality of the job. The Uglies, the abusive owners, the negligent owners, the delicate situations, it was mostly a tear jerker for this reader. There are some happy stories too, where creative ways of finding a solution made me cheer. It is a roller coaster ride emotionally and a very worthwhile read.