Rating: 
Summary: this was a great book
Review: Beauty, by Robin McKinley, is an enchanting love story about a kind girl named Honour, though everybody calls her Beauty, and a half human, half bear-like man, named Beast. Beauty has always been sour towards her nickname. Thin, undersized with big hands and feet, she's always thought of herself as the plainest girl in her family. One day, when her father returns home from a trip, he tells the story on the "enchanted forest" he got lost in, and of the Beast she met. Although, he made an agreement with the Beast, Beauty hears her fathers' tale and decides immediately what she has to do. She herself will travel to the castle to meet and live with Beast to pay off her father's debt. - This novel is absolutely enchanting and mesmerizing. Little twists are thrown in and emotions are played with to make this a more delightful read. The ending could be a little more informative as to how they end up later in life, but over all, it's a very tasteful and unique retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast!
Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite book 6 stars
Review: Before Disney's Beauty and the Beast this version of Beauty was a book worm.
I'd hate to write spoilers so I just ask you to read it. I have never read or heard a negative review about this version of the fantasy.
Tell a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairytale magic strikes again!
Review: Contrary to Donna Jo Napoli's Beast, Robin McKinley's Beauty shows a more practical, feminine side to this well-loved tale. Beauty & the Beast has been kicked around by more authors and film-makers than anyone would care to count, but still its messages remain as potent as ever in a society that longs to conquer every single part of the dark, enchanted forest, and would explore every single room in the enchanted castle if given the opportunity.
Tales like Beauty & the Beast symbolize our greatest human weaknesses and fears. They celebrate our hopes and dreams and bring to light facets of our humanity that we examine every day (and a few features we'd rather not examine). In the "olden days" when these stories were first created, the people who read them had no trouble at all relating to the events and the people they read about. In today's world, we can still relate to the core of the story, the moral, but can no longer correlate to those out-dated story lines. Many thanks goes to McKinley, and her fellow writers, for bringing these antique fairytales back into contemporary society, with a little bit of polish and a whole lot of elbow grease, to make a tale that is not quite forgotten ring true once again.
I have given Beauty 4 stars because, although the book in it's entirety was written quite well, I was disappointed at it's ending. In my opinion, this "grand finale" seemed rushed, while at the same time giving too many details. If it had ended 3 pages sooner, it would've been fine, but it wouldn't have been a bad idea either to build up suspense for the outcome. As a reader, I like to jump in all the puddles that the previous rain of foreshadowing had promised me. It may be that my disappointment lies only in that I knew what would happen to Beauty and the Beast (almost everyone does), and so I kind of missed the mark and jumped OVER all those finale puddles. But anyway, at least the ending was a happy one, even if it was predictable.
If you're a fairy-tale fanatic like me, or just like your good old-fashioned fantasy-romance, then you'll love reading Beauty. Under titles of this same genre, I'd also recommend any of Donna Jo Napoli's novels- they're really something else!
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: Don't pay attention the Joseph McGrath thing, cuz I am actually a 14 year old using my dad's account (just in case you might find it odd to see someone with that name reviewing this book) But anyways, Beauty is one of my absolute favorite books. Robin McKinley tells the story of Beauty and the Beast wonderfully, changing it in some places to create a fairy tale on its own. It is just so great. The story, is that Beauty, unlike the her nickname, is not nearly so lovely as her sisters, Hope and Grace. Her nickname was given to her when she was little, when her father was unable to explain the meaning of Honour, her given name. Beauty tries not to dwell on her plainness, and concentrates on books. When she is about sixteen, her sister's fiance, Robbie, and the boats he was sailing with, experience some trouble, and therefore, the end of their father's fortune. They move to an old smith's house, which her other sister's fiance got for them, and live a harder, but pleasant life on the edge of an enchanted wood. But on a journey home, Beauty's father encounters the castle of the Beast, and makes a horrible promise when he unknowing plucks a forbidden rose: either he or one of his daughters must come back to the castle. Brave Beauty, who believes she will be no loss to the family, takes her father's place. There, she discovers the Beast is not some horrible monster, but human in many ways. Though he asks her to marry him every night, Beauty and the Beast become friends, until Beauty discover her feelings in her heart, and the curse is broken. This is a wonderful, wonderful book. One I've reread countless times. It is one of my favorites, maybe even my absolute favorite; it is that good. McKinley has retold the classis fairy tale in a new way, and this is a book that you will treasure forever.
Rating:
Summary: The best version of Beauty & The Beast that I know of!
Review: I love this book and have re-read it many times. Beauty is a refreshing heroine - intelligent, stubborn, and completely believable. The other characters are also much more "real" than many fairy-tale characters are, allowing the reader to relate to them in a way that makes the entire story acceptable.
To describe the story would make it seem standard fare, but the way it's written makes it so much better than you might expect. If you find Disney's Beauty & The Beast a bit saccharine, try this book as an antidote.
Rating:
Summary: one of my favorites
Review: i love this book! beauty and the beast is one of my favorite disney movies and i can never get sick of it, no matter how old i get! and i love the book even more than the movie which is saying a lot! it is so romantic and beautiful. i have read it 3 times and i am ordering it soon. it is one of the best books ever and i highly recomend it no matter how old u are. enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Tale
Review: I love this book. It is perhaps one of the best renditions of Beauty and the Beast, and I like it even more than the well-known fairy tale. The skeleton of the story is widely familiar but McKinley lets her creativity flow through the writing and creates a totally original telling of the tale. Honour is not your classic so-weak-that-the-guy-has-to-do-everything damsel in distress. She is spunky, intelligent and real! The character develops into a complete, realistic person through the story, and so does the beast. Clearly one who loves fairy tales as well, McKinley tells the tale with grace, charm and enchantment, that not only gives depth to the story, but makes it real in our minds. You don;'t get a goody-good, beautiful, flawless Beauty, but rather, one whose nickname mocks her appearance (compared to her sisters) and whose character has flaws, like any other person in real life. The love story unfolds with a plot that wrenches your emotions through the unfortunate situations and have you tearing with joy at the happy ones. Unlike many other authors, who tend to inject too much violence or sex into fairy tales to make them the "adult" version, Beauty is a remarkable tale written with originality and maturity. This book is the definitive of how fairy tales for adults should be like. Well-rounded, well-written and complete. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars
Review: I love this great retelling of Beauty and the Beast and all of its details. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because there did not seem to be enough romance, and the end seems a bit awkward and unrealistic, and fast. Other than that, this is great book for teenagers who like fairy tales! I recommend buying the book, I'm going to the first chance I get!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: I really enjoyed this book & end up rereading it every few years. A classic!
Rating:
Summary: A beauty of a book
Review: I strongly suspect that when the folks at Disney decided to make the "Beauty and the Beast" story into an animated film, they used this book as their template. McKinley's Beauty (real name Honour) is much like Belle in her love of books and horses, though much plainer in appearance and without the nuisance of a Gaston character. Rarely is an author's first novel so worthy of praise. Her later novel "Rose Daughter," another retelling of the same fairy tale, is excellent but not, in my opinion, quite as endearing. Beauty is the youngest, smartest, and least attractive daughter of a successful widowed merchant. When her father's business falls on hard times, the family relocates to a village near an enchanted forest and spends the next few years embracing their newfound poverty. A trip back to the city from which they hail results in Father getting lost in the enchanted forest, where he encounters the Beast and is forced into a terrible bargain: the Beast will spare his life, if one of his daughters will come and live as the Beast's companion. Beauty, arguably her father's favorite child, insists on being the expendable daughter and takes up residence in the Beast's magical castle. Over the course of months she befriends the curious creature, who fosters her love of books and slowly wins her confidence. But when Beauty makes a discovery that will vastly change the life of her eldest sister Grace, the Beast grants her a week at home...where she must finally come to terms with her true feelings for him, before her absence destroys him completely.
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