The Beast of Beswick

Starred review from November 4, 2019
Rapid-fire repartee and a struggle for self-acceptance underpin this playful, steamy Regency retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” from Howard (What a Scot Wants). Lady Astrid Everleigh is livid when she learns her greedy uncle intends to marry off her younger sister, Isobel, to the Earl of Beaumont, who destroyed Astrid’s reputation with a malicious rumor nearly a decade earlier. Powerless against her uncle’s decision, Astrid impulsively proposes marriage to reclusive Lord Thane Harte, known as the Beast of Beswick as much for his quick temper as for the grisly scars covering his body. Despite intense mutual attraction, both Astrid and Thane are convinced that they are unworthy of love because of the way society has shunned them. Their marriage of convenience presents a chance to both save Isobel’s future and to heal their own wounded hearts. Thane and Astrid are equals in their independent spirits, intelligence, and verbal dexterity, and their passion is off the charts. Readers will fall in love with this fresh twist on the fairy tale. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown.

November 22, 2019

After Lady Astrid Everleigh rejects her fiancée, the Earl of Beaumont, he slanders her reputation and arranges to marry her younger sister out of spite. Astrid sets off to find a man more powerful than the earl who can stop the marriage and offer protection, so she visits the infamous Duke of Beswick, Lord Thane Harte, a severely wounded war hero hiding from society at his estate. Astrid proposes marriage, but when Thane refuses, she moves with her sister to his estate anyway, taking a position cataloging the former duke's collection of antique porcelain for auction. Astrid's sharp tongue is at constant odds with Thane's mercurial moods, though he secretly enjoys their verbal sparring matches. While Astrid slowly grows to care for the duke, Thane's emotional scars rival his physical ones, and he can't imagine any woman wanting him, much less one as beautiful and kind as Astrid. VERDICT Having penned several historical romances with Angie Morgan (e.g., "Tartans & Titans" series), Howard strikes out on her own in this thoroughly enjoyable stand-alone that perfectly captures the badly behaved beast in a clever Regency retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast.--Eve Stano, Ball State Univ. Muncie, IN

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
A scarred, sharp-tongued nobleman meets his feisty match in Howard's (What a Scot Wants, 2013, etc.) historical romance. It's 1819, and 25-year-old Lady Astrid Everleigh, a cash-strapped Englishwoman, must find a way to save her 16-year-old sister, Isobel, from getting married off to the loathsome Earl of Beaumont; Astrid previously refused his proposal herself, and as a result, he ruined her reputation and marriage prospects with a "horrible lie about her lack of virtue." For hard-to-understand reasons, Astrid's only hope is to marry the wealthy, powerful, and single Lord Thane Harte, Duke of Beswick, and she puts the proposal to him after barging in on his bath. Alas, she's horrified by the scars, left by French bayonets years ago, on Thane's face and body--a result of Beaumont's abandoning his post, and a subsequent French ambush. Thane's temper earned him the moniker "the Beast of Beswick." Fortunately, she observes, the French spared his "luscious mouth," "burning" eyes, and muscular torso--among other body parts. Instant bickering ensues, and when Astrid installs herself with Isobel at Beswick Park to catalog Thane's Ming porcelains, the attraction between Astrid and the duke grows. The young noblewoman also voices feminist theory, which Thane eagerly appreciates--though sometimes less for what she says than how she says it: "Her eyes shone with indignant passion, lips parted, breasts heaving." Their wedding night comes rather early on, but Howard successfully keeps the sparks flying thanks to Thane's self-pitying mood cycles--worried that Astrid will leave him because of his scars, he gets cold and nasty; Astrid snaps back and maddens him with scandalous gowns, and bodice-ripping follows. The author's reprise of "Beauty and the Beast" motifs effectively mixes Jane Austen-ite manners with lewd mores. However, it's full of anachronistic language--"I don't want a fucking prince, you idiot. They're too pretty, too full of themselves, too much maintenance"--and suffers third-act problems as long-anticipated comeuppances fizzle inconclusively. Fortunately, vigorous prose, lively characters--including Thane's Aunt Mabel, who beds all the footmen--and lubricious rounds of fighting and sex will keep readers turning pages. A lasciviously entertaining Regency romp.

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