The first thing that charmed me about this book (and charming is definitely the adjective of the hour for this story) was Joel Leslie’s performance. He created a voice for each character that was unique, with clear accents and idiosyncrasies, so I never needed the dialogue tags to navigate who was speaking. His David was geeky and upbeat, his Alun broody but refined. The juxtaposition was perfect for the reference to the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.
As for the story, if this had been any other retelling by any other MM author, there was a point about 30% through that would have been the end. In fact, I expected that to the be resolution to the entire book. Instead, it kept going—and I am so incredibly glad it did. It can get to a point where the trope of ‘ridiculous misunderstanding followed by reconciliation, end’ gets tiring. This had a misunderstanding involved, sure, but it went further. I was glad to get extra time with the characters, and explore the world that E.J. Russel built.
Overall I really enjoyed this read, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for future books from this author AND this narrator.