The Beast Within by Alanah Winter was excellently written, but was not what I expected it to be.

This novel was marketed to me as a woman battling her inner demons, little did I know it would have a twist in the middle to something completely different.

The first half of this novel had be believing this story was about a woman dealing with a mental illness, and I was so excited for that specific story! The summary of the book had me believing just that! It sounded spectacular and such an inspiring but unique read!

But, this book was not that. Halfway through the book it turns into a woman battling with her inner werewolf. The entire novel gives no hints to this until it magically happens about 200 pages in. It leads you to believe a woman is dealing with a mental illness and she will overcome it, and then it just switches into a fantasy read. It was almost as if a different author picked it up and continued the story.

This novel was well written, Alanah Winters is an amazing author, but I was thoroughly disappointed with how the book lead me on to a different path. I didn't like the surprise of making it a fantasy novel suddenly. It would have been nicer if the summary hinted at that, or throughout the novel there was some foreshadowing.

Even though my opinion of this book is not good, that doesn't mean this book wasn't spectacular. Alanah Winters was incredible with her words! Her descriptions and character growth was mesmerizing, I just felt like the book put me off advertising it as something much different than it was. I could go on and on about how Alanah Winters pulls you in to love the characters and feel attached to them, and how she has developed her story out quite clearly!

Overall, I wasn't impressed. I feel no further need to continue reading this book since it was not very truthful with it's summary/marketing towards the reader.

One out of five stars. It was definitely not the book for me.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )