A Tale of Beauty and the Beast by Melanie Cellier

Because Princess Sophia won the Princess Tourney, she is now betrothed to cursed Prince Dominic of Palinar.  When she arrives all alone at his palace, she is dismayed to discover she no longer has a mental link with her twin sister Princess Lily.  Her betrothed is frightening and rude, but Sophia learns to hear the invisible servants who try their best to make her stay at the castle tolerable. Sophie tries desperately to find a way to break the curse over the castle and free herself from the betrothal, but none of her ramblings around the castle, nor her conversations with the servants bring her closer to a solution. When something happens and the prince is injured trying to save Sophie from some wolves, the hearts of the two lost souls start to turn toward each other instead of away. Time is running out for the prince, and Sophie must decide whether to follow her heart or continue trying to save the kingdom.

After the last book, I was eager to read this one and see how Cellier handles the story of Beauty and the Beast.  In the end I was a little disappointed.  Cellier borrows too much from the Disney version of the story, and only makes a few nods to the original fairytale. I am a little surprised she could draw so much from the Disney version and not have their legal department come down on her.  The scene where the Prince is battling wolves and the description of Sophie's hair and dress at the ball are straight from Disney.  There is the secret library that the Prince makes for Sophie, and the handsome bad guy who asks the princess to marry him, and then ends up fighting with the prince.  I am perhaps being too critical.  It was an okay book and if I wasn't comparing it to the Disney version, I probably would have enjoyed it more. Still, I might wait a while before I read another in the series. (296 p. 2017)