This one pretty closely follows the plot of the original Beauty and the Beast, with the most notable difference being the addition of Belle’s woodcarving hobby that she picked up from her father. When she goes to live with the Beast at his enchanted estate, she encounters the legendary Heartwood Tree which, when carved, will reveal the face of one’s true love. The Beast insists she take on the task, believing that it will help him break his curse.

I felt like it had a lot of good potential that it just didn’t deliver on. The beginning seemed to be setting up an exploration of what true beauty is, but that theme was dropped by the time the curse broke. There were also a few other themes and character studies that were introduced and would have been really interesting if they had been followed through, but they weren’t, or at least not to the extent I would have liked to see.

Overall, still a nice story and a decent retelling, but with the potential to be amazing if the author had delved a bit deeper. ( )

A fine retelling of this fairy tale. Belle has both a sense of whimsical and courage. The backstory of her father's kindness and generosity when faced with financial adversity is a nice touch, as is the way her older sisters adapt to the results of that hardship. ( )

Belle by Cameron Dokey is a fantasy retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, “Beauty and the Beast”. In this version the author changed a few minor details, but basically kept the story intact. In order to expand the story to book length, she added details about Belle’s family. In this book, Belle has a happy and caring family with a mother and a father as well as two beautiful sisters. Belle herself, does not feel that she deserves a name that implies beauty, but, of course, she is about to learn that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Belle loves to carve wood and has a magical gift that allows her to see exactly how each piece of wood desires to be shown. Instead of her merchant father picking a rose at the Beast’s manor, he instead decides to bring Belle a piece of wood from a special tree, the Heartwood. The Beast then demands that Belle come to his manor and show him what the Heartwood carving is to be. Living with the Beast allows Belle to discover his kindness and caring, and before too long, she realizes that she has fallen in love. Of course true love is the secret that can release the beast from the spell he’s been under and brings about a happy ending.

I thought this was a well done version of the story. The author wisely stayed very close to the original but did flesh out some of the characters. I did think that the Beast could have been developed more and perhaps have been introduced a little sooner, as he doesn’t really enter the story until the book is more than halfway through. Belle allowed me to sink into a familiar and light story and was just the right kind of escape read that I need right now. ( )

While this is not my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast it is a very well written retelling with a few interesting changes that make it unique and keep the reader intrigued about what will happen next. ( )

More like a dissertation on beauty than a love story

As I continue my Beauty and the Beast mission to read every adaptation I can find, I chose BELLE next owing to its beautiful cover and placement on the Barnes and Noble Beauty and the Beast table.

BELLE by Cameron Dokey is a smartly written study of Belle in a short, predictable, and not very heartfelt adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast tale. This is a historical teen novel set in a mythical walled city outside a dark wood.

Annabelle is obsessed with beauty and has been ever since she was twelve and stood unseen next to her two beautiful sisters. The first 50 pages of this book is a study of the word beauty and what it means to Belle as she ages into her teen years. Belle believes she's too ugly to stand beside her sisters in public, and so she shuns events in favor of carving wood. When her father's shipping business suffers a huge loss, her family must move from the expensive city and into a quaint house in the countryside, next to a dark wood, where legend holds lives a Beast who protects a magical flowering tree. At about the 75% mark in the book, Beauty finally meets Beast for a very short, very shallow courtship that progresses in the most predictable way, holding true to the classic beauty and the beast story.

This was a slow-paced, predictable story steeped in atmosphere. There is no deep point of view here, and no opportunity to really invest in any love story, though Belle is likeable enough. I honestly couldn't tell if the beast liked beauty or not. He didn't seem terrible taken with her. The Beast remained mysterious and showed no real character change in this story. In a way, this is more of a lyrical tale than it is focused on plot.

To date, this has been my least favorite retelling of the classic Beauty and the Beast story. I skimmed most of it, but I did want to finish the book, which ended with a nice, though predictable epilogue. The writing gets an A+ but the love story earns an F for forgettable.
Beauty and the Beast fans may enjoy this enchanting short, which hold fairly true to the original fairy tale. I'll definitely hang on to this book and not only for its beautiful cover--there were some beautiful sentences I highlighted as well. The is no real romance here. It's more of a meeting of two minds. The language is tame, and the violence is nil. This book is appropriate for ages 10 and up. ( )