Her Beastly Stepbrother

Rachel Kenley

A Once Upon A Stepbrother Novella

Release date : Nov 19, 2015

Rating : 3 Stars

Welcome to Her Beastly Stepbrother, the first novella in Rachel Kenley’s multi-title Once Upon a Stepbrother series…Belle Somers met her stepbrother , Charles Barbot, on the day her father married his mother, but she hasn’t seen him since. She adored him the moment they met, and never really saw or cared about the scars that covered his face, a reminder of a tragic car accident. For years she wanted to see him but the only way they connected is through emails while he attends boarding school, then college. Over time her thoughts of have him changed and she thinks of him as much more than family.From the day they met, Charles knew Belle would grow into a stunning woman, a woman who would likely want nothing to do with a hideous artist once she grew into her own. Still he has always treasured her friendship and love, keeping her at a safe distance and acting as a big brother, no matter the thoughts – and fantasies – that cloud his thinking with every new picture she sends him. After a terrible fight with her stepmother where her father sides against her, Belle runs away and goes in search of the brother whose letters have always made her smile. Now a successful artist, Charles lives by the ocean and creates glass sculptures, fashioning the great beauty that he’s become famous for. But the man she meets is so much more complicated than the young one she remembers. Charles is a man who hides his burned face and callused hands in shadow even as his work express hope and light and he is determined to keep Belle at a distance, but Belle is committed to bringing him the joy she knows he deserves and win from him the love she’s imagined between them for years.

I am not quite sure what to think of “Her Beastly Stepbrother” by Rachel Kenley. With the whole “Beauty & the Beast” theme a reader can never go wrong and yet it is difficult for a writer to present the same well-known plot in a new design.

Rachel Kenley tried but I am afraid she only succeeded partly. And I think most of the “blame” is on the length of the novella. The plot itself needs no discussion and I would not have chosen it, if I would not have been sure that I liked it – basically.

It was just that the length of the novella did not allow the character development to go as deep as it should. For example, the reader knows next to nothing about “the Beast”. (With the exception of the few emails)

Yeah those emails – they were a real nice touch to show the passing of time – quite clever.And there were a lot of dialogue that brought Belle nearer to the reader. But for this to become a book that stands out among the sea of other adaptions of this theme, there is something missing.

This is supposed to be opening a series of books and I am not quite sure if that will work out well if the other books have a similar length as this one. But still those issues I had left aside it was an entertaining and enjoyable read.

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