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Summary: A captivating romance story
Review: The characters in this book are so real, so well-written, you will be taken in. I read this book in an obsessed and feverish 4 hours! I couldn't put it down for a second. I was completely surprised at Leland Crompton's personality. Someone so cruelly treated most of his life was delightful and like a breath of fresh air to me. Lee seemed to be a man made purely of feeling. I guess the reason why I absolutely fell in love with Leland's character is because there aren't many people like him. I am fortunate to know one. Someone with such a beautiful heart that it makes him seem even more beautiful outside than he already is. Is it really our appearance (the clothing and makeup) that makes us beautiful, or could it be our personality that brings out our true beauty? Time has a way of changing our appearance but our hearts will always be the same. If you fall in love (can you even call it that?) with someone only because of the way they look, I ask you this: when time takes their beauty away and all that is left is their personality - a personality that you may have always had trouble tolerating but put up with because of their physical appearance - what will you do? Their wealth and beauty, and the physical pleasure will not always be enough. Just something to think about. Something, I am sure, Alix didn't think of when she began her relationship with her previous lovers and with Mark. She realized it, but stayed with him because she had likely not been with better men and was herself somewhat shallow. She had always focused on appearance...until Leland. He showed her what true beauty is made of. :-) Read it! You won't be able to put it down, I promise.
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Summary: I have loved all of B&B's countless incarnations ,and Wilson
Review: The only thing I found questionable about Beauty was the notion that Leland would want to have his portrait done,since he was so self-conscious.Since the Cromptons are supposed to be an illustrious New England clan,I would have made Alix an historian hired by him to catalogue the family archive.It would make sounder dramatic sense, since Leland intends to be the "last of his line."And since such a project can take months, Alix would not have to go instantaneously from distaste to adoration. This caveat aside,I enjoyed the characterizations of Mr.Crompton,Alix Miller,her father and Mrs.Greaves. Mark was a self-absorbed cipher who might as well have left a fifty on Alix's dresser,for all of the emotion conveyed in thier "love" scenes.. But this lapse is more than compensated for by the effective and persuasive rapport between Alix and Lee.
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Summary: Reinforces society's punishment of independent females
Review: The premise of 'Beauty', a modern re-telling of 'Beauty and the Beast', is innovative, and at first Alix Miller is an interesting character, both as woman and as artist. However, the last 20 pages or so change drastically in tone, transforming this tale of the importance of loving the soul of another, not the physical appearance, into another patriarchal diatribe displaying the extreme consequences a woman suffers for defying society's wisdom. What do Alix and Lee gain? They are both punished for their love, not rewarded for it.
'Beauty and the Beast' doesn't necessarily mean that the 'Beast' has to return to a 'normal' apppearance for a happy ending. However, neither should 'Beauty' die for her love of the 'Beast'. I absolutely loved this book until the last twenty pages, when it just made me ill. The message this book sends is quite the antithesis of the whole spirit of 'Beauty and the Beast'. An extreme disappointment.
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Summary: Who wants to read a "fairy tale" with an UNHAPPY ending?
Review: This book had me right up until the last chapter. Then I went from totally loving it to totally hating it! I loved everything about it (enchanting characters you could empathize with, beautiful descriptions of winter scenes, engaging plot). I thought it had a magical quality, in spite of the modern setting, but then it all went right out the window in the last 13 pages. (I know this was supposed to be a modern, updated telling of the classic, but was the depressing ending REALLY necessary?) If you want to enjoy this book, DON'T read the last chapter, and just pretend they lived happily ever after!
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Summary: A lovely book
Review: This is the first book I have read by Susan Wilson and I am eager now to read more of her work. It was different than I thought it would be, but it really did have a fairy tale feel to it, and was beautifully written. Having read all the reviews here beforehand, I was prepared for the ending, but even so, it really left me sobbing. I would love to read a sequel.
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Summary: Beauty is a Beautiful Story!
Review: This was my first time reading anything by Susan Wilson and I loved Beauty and thought it was a very good book!Beauty is a beautiful heartwarming story and I loved the message that inner beauty is more important then outer beauty and I definitely have to very strongly recommend this book!
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Summary: This project should have been left to Patricia McKillip
Review: While I think the premise of the novel is interesting, Susan Wilson's use of language is not powerful or evocative enough to create a sense of atmosphere which tends to be essential in many fairy tales (or powerful romances such as Wuthering Heights). Somehow, this story does not work or give it the power of the fable from which it is derived, perhaps because the majority of the description is limited to reminding the reader how "modern" this world is when expressions of feelings, mood and atmoshpere would have been more to the novel's advantage. This project should have been placed in more able hands, namely Patricia McKillip (see her version of Tam Lin in her novel Winter Rose...there is a novel which reeks of atmosphere and mood).
Rating: 
Summary: Well-written, though not entirely concise...
Review: Wilson has hit home with her adaption of the age-old tale. Modernized, this is her idea of the story about love and loss. It is enjoyable, though it moved almost too quickly and was a bit unbelievable, given the two had only spent one week together to "bond." Alix is a true heroine, and everyone who reads the story eventually falls in love with Lee themselves (you simply can't help it). If only real-life love were this uncomplicated!
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