After much okay a little analysis I've decided to remove a star to this book.
Here's the thing: did the romance swept me of my feet?
Hmmmmmm... No, it did not.
As other reviewers have mentioned, for me the weakest part of this book was also the romance.
Or romances, as in plural. Because there's another one to which we readers are presented to, and it honestly left me scrunching my face in distaste.

Here's the thing, in a general perspective I actually liked the characters.
maybe because they reminded me a little too much of the Hathaways... o_O
And if I want to read about a dysfunctional family I rather re-read the Hathaways, and not some distorted version of them.

In this one, our main characters are Devon Cam and Katherine Amelia... only in this one Devon is a cad with a sharp tongue, and Katherine could use a little more of Amelia's strength (See Mine Till Midnight). Or age.

As secondary characters there's West _ Devon's brother_ here a "little" of Leo Hathaway( See Married by Morning). He drinks, he doesn't care about anything else... until the moment he starts caring about everything.

Helen is Katherine's sister in law, and here a little of Winnifred (See Seduced At Sunrise). Or Poppy.(See Tempt Me At Twilight)
 Unfortunately she doesn't get to have a Merripen, but an ill mannered idiot who is supposed to be some sort of Harry Rutledge.
Then there's also a pair of twins, and one of them just reminds me of Beatrix (See Love in The Afternoon).
Do you see where this is going? -_-

Thing is, I actually loved the setting. I loved the fact that this story takes place in a time when the old traditions are being challenged by a new age.
I loved the relationships between sisters and brothers.
Katherine and West's friendship was a blast to read.
...
But the two romances weren't that great.
Even so I preferred reading Katherine's and Devon relationship to Helen's and Winterborne's. At least with the first ones there isn't a nasty shade of abuse surrounding the thing.

And I am already seeing how things are going to work out for those two. She's probably going to apologize to the idiot. Arghg.
I don't like bullies.
I don't care if he has had a difficult background: I don't like him, and I wish that Devon had let him drown.
But, and this was worth less a half a star, I also had a hard time with Devon's attitude towards the end!
Hey, jackass, if you want a dog, you should get a four legged one. Guys, who give commands by pointing fingers should have their hands broken.

On the positives I think I may like West's book when it comes out.

If only this book had been shorter, and more focused on Kathleen and Devon's romance _ I understand why it wasn't, with Kathleen being a widow _ I think I would have found less things to bother me.
Like Winterborne not being in it.

p.s- I better finish this review or by the time I'm done with it, this rating will be reduced to a one star rating. -_-

DNF at 41%

Confession time:

This story provoked such a reaction in me _ and no, it wasn't a good one_ that even after deciding to DNF it, I am still mad as... hell.

Yes, I am not being impartial, because back in the day when I started reading historical romances, most guys behaved as atrociously as this did does, and I would read them and like them.

Thing is, we're in 2015 and violence against women is still the main cause of women's death. More than cancer.

Being a woman our days still means that you're probably going to receive inferior wages compared with guys.

It also means that you're probably going to be subject to sexual abuse.

And to read something that tries to romanticize this type of behaviour in our time and age, really gets under my skin.

I've honestly been going over and over in my head, trying to find a way to write this review without going into a rant, but I cannot.

I can't get over the fact, that during the first interaction between Bella and _ I've come to think about him as the Pig _ Alwynn, he lifts up her skirts so than he can see if she was a specific tattoo (the one you see on the model's ankle) . Now, you're probably thinking: Oh, its just the ankle. It could be worse...

But it is, because not only did she not consent to it, soon enough he is grabbing her leg, and thinking about he would like to do with parts of her anatomy.He has all the power, and she has to submit to his whims.

Not hot. Not sexy.

_______

_____________

__________

To make matters even worse, Bella and all the other characters _ from what I read _ just felt flat to me.

I read a review in which the reviewer basically tells that if you liked the Mummy, especially Evie, you were going to love this.

I am not a fan of horror movies. I don't like to see scarabs eating people's... faces. -_-

But I've seen that movie a couple of times because I like the characters.

 I loved Evie's personality. Even Rick's. And I loved their romance.

Bella is no Evie.

No.

So, let me recapitulate:

I hate the guy.

The woman is a nitwit who is supposed to be strong and brave but instead feels like an Anastasia.

Then I can't stop thinking that this book should be called "Bella and The Pig".

The guy has just gone to a brothel.

The guy returns home after frequenting said brothel, and decides "what the hell, I should f***k Bella as well".

She tells him no.

He decides to ignore her attempts to free herself from his unwanted attentions, because surely that's just her maiden sensibilities arising.

She pulls a dagger to his throat _ YAY! _ but only because she came second to the brothel scene. -_-

No. No. And no.

Not sexy. Not hot.

I want him tramped by a horse carriage.

And I want her shaken until her brain cells get back into place!

There: this is what this book has made me feel. I cannot be more honest than this.

I can deal with brooding, ill mannered Beasts. What I can not do, is stand abusive borderline rapists.

Also to call this a retelling of Beauty and The Beast is really, really pushing it.

First book that I've read by this author, and the thing is, I have been curious about the first book in this series for a long time now.

Now, not so much.

This is the second science fiction book I've had to DNF in less than a week due to stomach-turning ableism. 

I mean, not that that's the only problem. There's some misogyny vaguely disguised as pseudo-feminism, fucktons of gender essentialism, some mind-boggling Libertarian-esque politics that make no sense at all (a society that has survived 250 years with no laws, just contracts? How are those contracts even reinforced?), an anti-polyamory attitude (loving more than one person? how weird!), and a heroine with a supposed--and inexplicable--knack for making trouble and having people hate her wherever she goes (no in text evidence of this is ever really presented) and an even more inexplicable name of Athena Hera Sinistra. 

Early on in the book, however, I found myself flinching as the main character thought, basically, why be born with a disability if you don't have to. This is an atrociously ableist attitude, especially since most things that are disabilities are disabling due more than anything else to societies inflexibility. It's basically saying entire groups of people should cease to exist so that "normal" people can continue to always be catered to. I winced and tried to move on.

Then this happens:

The parking attendant made me flinch, because she was obviously mentally deficient. I'd seen mentally deficient people on Earth before, of course, but none with six arms [...]

(The arms, for clarification, are part of a freaking suit that assists her with her work, not part of her body. Athena is just ignorant of this.) Okay, first of all, fuck you. Second of all, FUCK YOU. Mentally deficient? Mentally deficient!? Just how fucking gross can you be? Athena literally flinches because OMG a person with a different brain than hers! Noes! You wouldn't think it could get more disgusting, but it does:

As we walked out of the garage I was silent, filled with horror at what had been done to this poor woman. Given the ability to bioengineer your children in the bio-womb, why have a deficient one at all? And if you chose to have one, why have her so grotesquely...dehumanized?

 

I reiterate: FUCK YOU. Excuse me? Her having extra arms (which again, she in fact does not) is "grotesquely dehumanized" but calling her mentally deficient and questioning her right to exist isn't? Just...just...

Nothing is more dehumanizing than this attitude. It's horrible. And then it turns out that the reason this woman is "mentally deficient" is because she wasn't bioengineered, which is spoken of much in the same way sensible people would criticize parents who won't vaccinate their children or refuse to get them medical care due to religious reasons. Like it's irresponsible to allow neuroatypical people to exist in the world. Like it's worse to let people be themselves than to completely eradicate entire swathes of neurotypes.

Of course, the suit with all the arms is there to assist the disabled woman in her job, which "allows the poor thing to earn a living." Because let's devalue her further by insisting her life is utterly worthless if she can't make money.

Joy, a society that eradicates disabled people and treats them like shit when they do exist. Fun fun. Did I mention there are no people of color in this society, because all the bioed people who escaped Earth 250 years ago were apparently white? 

Excuse me, I have to figure out whether I want to puke or cry.