Category: Movie / Story Retelling

Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Movie / Story Retelling, Part of a Series, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Dearest Beast (Once Upon the East End #3)Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Series: Once Upon the East End #3

Release Date: June 30, 2026

Roger Berab and Rebecca Adler have known each other for years, and disliked each other for nearly as long, but they meet one night when they are both feeling vulnerable and share an intimate encounter, which ends with Roger declaring it a mistake and that they don’t need to marry, causing Rebecca to hate him even more. Rebecca is a midwife and chemist who prides herself on her independence. But when her home and workshop is ruined by Roger’s daughter, she has no choice but to accept his offer of shelter. As she heals, she gets to know Roger and his children, particularly his daughter, which adds tension as well as opportunities for growth within the household and her feelings for Roger.

For Roger, status is everything and now that his time of mourning has passed, he is eager to find a new wife who will help him achieve his hope for a seat on the Commission of Delegates and mother to his children. But when his daughter destroys Rebecca Adler’s home, he is honor bound to offer her a place to stay, which brings the two back into close contact after months of avoiding each other after their passionate encounter. Roger finds Rebecca sharp-tongued, opinionated, plain, common, and utterly intriguing.

When I read the blurb for this book, I was intrigued because I love a “Beauty and the Beast” retelling, but quite honestly, I found both main characters rather beastly and am not sure who was the “beauty” and who was the “beast” in this story. I also didn’t care for the fact that Roger had a love interest for most of the book, someone he hoped to marry, even while lusting after Rebecca. The book does delve deeply into Jewish culture and uses a lot of terms that were not familiar to me, so I appreciated the glossary of Jewish terms used in the book, but think it would have been more helpful at the beginning of the book rather than the end, because I had to stop several times to look up a term, which if the book started with that information, I would have already understood while reading. Overall, I wanted to like this book, but I never really liked Rebecca or Roger and found it hard to be invested in their relationship. This is the third book in the series and is connected with the previous books, but it could be read as a standalone title without issue.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

 

The Duke’s Got Mail by Samara Parish

On By TracyIn Historical Rom-Com, Movie / Story Retelling, Part of a Series, Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Duke's Got Mail (England's Sweethearts, #2)The Duke’s Got Mail by Samara Parish

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: England’s Sweethearts #2

Release Date: April 28, 2026

Miss Eleanor Wright’s life is just about perfect; she is the premier compositor in London and is in high demand. Thanks to her salary, she is independent and can afford to indulge in all the books she could want, pretty gowns and a spacious apartment. She has also recently begun a new pen-pal relationship with the brother of her secret pen-pal and they have really connected. Life is good, until it isn’t… She is blindsided by the Linotype machine, a new technology that will forever change the publishing industry and will make her obsolete and costing her job and her self-worth. And the man responsible for her misery? Peter, The Duke of Strafford and the primary investor of the Linotype.

Peter, The Duke of Strafford has not been having the best year, he was jilted by the woman he planned to marry, when he was in a coma and she fell for his younger brother and now he has been roped into acting as his sister’s personal secretary as she is recovering from eye surgery. But there are bright spots, first after years of worrying about providing for his family and his estate, he has finally found an investment that will secure his finances for years to come, the Linotype and he has been corresponding with an amazing woman. Everything is going great, until it isn’t… the woman he has been falling in love with is the same woman whose life has been upended by the Linotype. He knows that there is a price to be paid for progress, but he never imagined it would cost him the love of a lifetime.

I am not a huge fan of movie adaptations, but I will give credit where credit is due – Ms. Parish didn’t just rewrite the plot of the hit 90’s Rom-Com “You’ve Got Mail” and call it a day – she took the idea of that story and made it her own. Yes, there are a lot of similarities to the movie, but there are also a lot of original ideas that give this adaptation its own flair. Unfortunately, I think one of the biggest changes was in Eleanor’s character, who is plagued with atychiphobia (the fear of failure) and is a perfectionist who is unwilling to try anything new and be deemed less than perfect, something that she has struggled with all her life, seemingly thanks to her parents. I tried to feel sorry for her, but unlike her movie counterpart, her dislike of Peter came off as nasty and shrewish, and I felt like she was being unfair to blame Peter for everything. So overall, it was a good read, but it did seem overly drawn out and the romance was bland. I did enjoy the story and appreciated the new twist as well as the cute epilogue, making it a book that I would recommend, but I probably wouldn’t read again. This is the second book in the series, but each book can easily be read as a standalone title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *