Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Beast of the Night (A Fairy Tale Retelling)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Beast of the Night

(A Fairy Tale Retelling #1)

E.E. Rawls,

Elizabeth Rawls (Goodreads Author)

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 26 ratings · 19 reviews

A one-armed girl. A lord hiding a curse. A dark secret with the town's fate hanging in the balance.

A Beauty and the Beast retelling with an Austrian twist and a new type of curse.

When Rosen moves to Freudendorf—a secluded town in the Alps—she does odd jobs to earn a living. That is, until her dad suddenly vanishes and the debt collectors come to call: taking her into slave ...more

Get A Copy

Or buy for $2.99

Kindle Edition, 136 pages

Published June 11th 2020 by Storyteller Wings Press

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Beast of the Night, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Beast of the Night

Lists with This Book

YA Retellings of Beauty and the Beast

80 books — 173 voters

The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

A Tale of Beauty and Beast by Melanie Cellier

Beauty and the Beast Across Genres

127 books — 8 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-50

really liked it Average rating 4.00 ·

Rating details

· 26 ratings · 19 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Beast of the Night (A Fairy Tale Retelling)

Apr 30, 2020 Elizabeth Dragina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memorable, on-my-shelf

4.5 stars ~

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS.

This book is gold. 💖

PROS ~

· Gorgeous setting and worldbuilding. 😍
· Unique characters filled with depth and personality.
· The plot isn't "surprising" but it's fun to see how each author does it differently.
· THAT. COVER. 😍 (H.S.J. Williams did it BTW)
· Elizabeth Rawls has a fun author voice and I enjoy the adventure in every book she writes. It's like .... relaxing fantasy? But it's still action packed. I love it.
· Clean Christian Fantasy. 💗
· It's a short r ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2020 Christine Smith rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-reads, beauty-the-beast-retellings, fairy-tales, fantasy, owned-ebooks, retellings

Beast of the Night is a standalone novella, set in a slightly steampunkish, gothic, Austrian sort of setting. Yes, you read that right. Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds.

The take on Beauty and the Beast was extremely unique, and it had such a fun cast of characters! I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this quick, semi-creepy, unique read!

THE CHARACTERS

Let’s jump right into the true gem of this novella: The CHARACTERS. It’s a fairly small cast but *clutches heart* do they make an impact! I loved t ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2020 Deborah O'Carroll rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed, beauty-and-the-beast, novellas, retellings

Beauty and the Beast being one of my favorite fairy tales, I quite enjoyed this unique retelling!

I adored the setting and feeling of this one! It was delightfully autumnal and atmospheric and a smidge gothic/spooky but not in a bad way. The Austrian/Alps (but fantasy!) feeling was delicious, as was the old castle.

I loved the characters! Rosenrot and Lord Varick were wonderful, and the side characters were also intriguing and grew on me throughout the story.

Rosen is a fabulous heroine — I loved h ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2021 E.F.B. rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tale-retellings, spooky, romance

I will fully admit that this novella was a straight up cover buy for me. XD I did see people on Instagram talking about the story itself, so I didn't go in blind, but I don't think I actually read the book's synopsis until I picked it up to read it.

I did enjoy it. The world building was especially interesting and author did such an amazing job communicating what was unique about this setting with just a few bits of info woven in near the beginning and then creating a strong feel throughout. She ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 24, 2020 Kacie rated it liked it

I liked Beast of the Night a lot. I just wish it wasn't so short!!! It felt super rushed, especially the romance. I felt like the plot could've been developed a lot better too, which would likely be fixed by a longer book. so overall I liked it but I wanted a lot more especially with the plot, characters, and world building. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2020 Jenelle rated it really liked it

What? I wrote RTC on this and then ACTUALLY came back and wrote a review?!?! Will wonders never cease? :)

It never ceases to amaze me how creative various authors can be when it comes to retelling fairy tales. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, a new story comes and sweeps me away.

Meet Rosenrot, a young woman living in Freudendorf Town. (She goes by “Rosen” most of the time, and… well… I can’t blame her). She is just trying to fit in; avoid Gasto, the handsome aristocrat who follows her around f ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2020 J.L. Mbewe rated it it was amazing

Beast of the Night is a beauty and the beast retelling filled with interesting characters and creatures set in our world overlaid with fantastical elements. When I started reading, I was swept into another time and place, familiar yet fantastical and fresh. The elements and imagery from the beloved Beauty and the Beast fairy tale was beautifully woven into an original story. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, watching them grow and their relationships develop. If you enjoy fairy tale rete ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2020 C.B. Cook rated it really liked it

Shelves: arcs, e-books, fantasy, historical-fiction, retellings, favorites

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What I liked: The character building in this book was wonderful! I felt like I really got to know Rosen, and I loved that she didn't let missing an arm stop her throughout the story. As someone who's been reading and writing a lot about disabilities lately, it was so awesome to read a story where the disability wasn't a major plot point. It was handled really well without being a main focal point, and I highly appla ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 12, 2020 Faith Anderson rated it really liked it

Wow. Just wow.
I've been in the mood for just some short, easy reads lately (especially fairytale re-tellings) and I'd heard a lot of stuff about Beast of the Night that had really piqued my interest. And really..... it surprised me quite a bit.

I especially loved the characters of course.
I was REALLY impressed with all the character building since I don't usually expect lots of character development from shorter books. But this book blew me away with how much it had. I really felt like I knew Ros ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 21, 2020 Emily Grant rated it really liked it

3.5//RTC

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2020 Madeline Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ya, christian, reviewed-books

This was suuuuch a cute story! It didn't take long to read, it was short and sweet, but the story it packs into such a short amount of time was incredible.
I really loved Rosenrot, I thought she was a fantastic main character, one that felt real and relatable. I also really loved Lord Varick, though it took me a bit before he began to rub off on me. Not gonna lie, he was a HUGE jerk at the start of the story. But as time went on, my heart softened toward him and by the end I just loved him to pi ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 23, 2020 Lemon rated it really liked it

Shelves: remembered-reads, reads-of-2020-cont, the-modern-reads

After seeing this around the blogosphere...

Positives: So. Medium sized cast of characters plus a novella usually means a slight disaster. Surprisingly, it worked GREAT for this book! The Beauty and the Beast elements were subtle here but also very much B&B, which let it stand apart as its own story (though Gasto's name made me laugh because Gaston and Spanish definitions...). The setting was also really intriguing, and I would love to explore the Altered more...not to mention the disability rep ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Feb 23, 2021 Gemma McLaughlin rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was craving another Beauty and the Beast retelling when this book popped up on my kindle recommendations. I fell in love with the cover, the colours drawing me in instantly. The book itself isn’t very long, in fact I think it only took me a couple of hours to finish. It has all the key elements of Beauty and the Beast that you’ll expect; beauty, a beast, enchanted creatures, a small town, a curse and a magical being that sets everything in motion who is never too far away observing the chaos t I was craving another Beauty and the Beast retelling when this book popped up on my kindle recommendations. I fell in love with the cover, the colours drawing me in instantly. The book itself isn’t very long, in fact I think it only took me a couple of hours to finish. It has all the key elements of Beauty and the Beast that you’ll expect; beauty, a beast, enchanted creatures, a small town, a curse and a magical being that sets everything in motion who is never too far away observing the chaos they created. But it has its own unique twist that had me drawn in. Even when I knew how it would end, I was still questioning how it could turn out when we discovered the truth behind the rose necklace around Lord Varick’s neck.

I do have to say, was disappointed in how rushed it all felt. The author didn’t give us enough time for our characters to get to know each other and for the romance to fully bloom into something special. It felt like the whole experience between them took days which wasn’t enough to build up the characters or the connection between them. A few small ‘adventures’ outside the castle collecting mushrooms, exploring the salt mines and a disguised visit to the village festival was all it took which felt lacking. It needed more of a spark but I did enjoy the innocent gestures between them when they finally accepted each other’s friendship. You could feel the trust growing and the changes in Lord Varick’s character when he began to accept that he was more lonely than he realised without Rosenrot around.

As much as you didn’t have a lot of time to get to know the characters, I did like the how they were uniquely different from all other Beauty and the Beast spin offs I’ve read. As much as I didn’t like her name, Rosenrot liked being different even with one missing arm. She preferred having short lavender hair when all the other girls had long natural colours, she was content in being on her own and knew what she wanted which was to get lost in a library and not marry unless it was for love. Her acceptance that she will have to pay off her fathers drunken debts didn’t affect her overall character or attitude, even when she found herself in the service of a cursed lord in a forbidden castle on her own.
I did feel like her arm disfigurement was unnecessary for the most part, there was no backstory to it or why, it just was. It’s like the author wanted to create a heroine with flaws that allowed her to stand out but failed to make us emotionally invested in it.

I actually liked how our very own Beast was a vampire. Or rather ‘Vempar’. Not the typical blood sucking, swoon worthy, invincible, immortal teenage vampire. But rather a lonely isolated ill-mannered lord with added strength and healing abilities. Not undead, but rather another race of the Altered. Whatever that means. It made a refreshing new ‘beast’ from the typical werewolf type creature we’ve come to accept and his Vempar aspect didn’t completely overpower the story. So much so, I honestly wouldn’t put it in the same category as a vampire romance at all.
He has lived on his own surrounded by servants since he was nine years old, hidden from the town and the horrors surrounding the death of his family. Varick’s obnoxious cruel behaviour comes from the reclusive privileged upbringing that he soon adapts around Rosenrot and the kindness she brings to the castle. I liked how he went out of his way to keep reminders of his family around him, and chose to embrace the memories he had with them rather than hide away from it. It was the one part of his character that really stood out to me.

One thing I did love was the world building. The author was able to bring the scene to life and fill it with beautiful colours that made it always feel like autumn, whether it was the pumpkins that were always present in everything they ate, the autumn decorations around the castle that his family had enjoyed on their last day together, the walks through the forest under the colourful leaves, the village festival that was bright and cheerful with it’s autumn costumes or sitting in front of the fireplace creating a warm cosy atmosphere. I adore autumn which made me love this aspect of the story even more.

‘Each footstep crunched through layers of autumn leaves. Birches stood white against the cacophony of orange and gold smothering the forest canopy. The sky was a sea of clouds, trapped by the mountaintops surrounding the valley, and growing darker by the minute, the fading light casting a strange glow and turning the autumn forest almost eerie.’

I would have liked to have had more history surrounding the whole Altered and the rest of the supernatural beings that made an appearance. It was a bit confusing and messy in places. The Nymiads for example were the ‘enchanted beings’ around the castle, but we weren’t really told anything about them, only that they worked for Lord Varick. For some reason. I just needed more. What are they, who are they and where did they come from? They were their own mystery that didn’t quite add up but were just there and nothing to do with any curse or magic surrounding the story.

Overall I liked this fairytale spinoff, it had some great features that I would recommend to anyone who loves Beauty and the Beast retellings as much as I do just to experience a new perspective on the tale. It wasn’t the best version I’ve read by any means, but I still enjoyed it! ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 15, 2020 Bethany Kellam rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-reads, fantasy, retelling

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Spoilers for this book and maybe another series if you know what I'm referring to (avoiding the title on purpose here). My apologies.

I'm not sure what to think here.

On the one hand, this is an interesting retelling with... a vampire-like guy. Let me assure you now, he doesn't sparkle.
Surprisingly, I got into the story more than I thought. Rosenrot was cute and even Varick (the vampire-like guy) grew on me. Plus the twist at the end was great, even if it did come a bit out of no where. I was wi Spoilers for this book and maybe another series if you know what I'm referring to (avoiding the title on purpose here). My apologies.

I'm not sure what to think here.

On the one hand, this is an interesting retelling with... a vampire-like guy. Let me assure you now, he doesn't sparkle.
Surprisingly, I got into the story more than I thought. Rosenrot was cute and even Varick (the vampire-like guy) grew on me. Plus the twist at the end was great, even if it did come a bit out of no where. I was willing to give it a pass.

Then...the true climax happened. What...

Basically, Varick's curse was that he'd die if he fell in love. Long story with even more spoilers. Thus...he falls in love and dies. It's sad, really sad actually.
Then...Rosenrot gets her hands on a spell book and finds one to fix his heart at the cost of half her life. She casts it, everything's fine. And yet...it was so unsatisfactory.

Why?

There was no emotional weight leading up to this. This Deus ex machina spell came out of nowhere and fixed Varick for her, just so she could have her happily ever after. I would have been fine with this solution...but only if it was set up better. Rosenrot could be scared of death, fearing it, but learning over the course of the story to not fear it... That way, sacrificing half her life had consequences. But no, she's totally fine with it, making this plot point have no meaning.
I'd rather have a bitter-sweet ending with emotional weight and ideas to reflect on, rather than a happy ending that leaves me, the reader, with nothing.

In my favorite manga, the story also ends with sacrifices. The MC gives up the thing he loves, the thing he's amazing at, to save his brother. And what did the author do to make you feel that? She established that the MC loved doing the thing he gave up throughout the series. (I'm being really vague here and I'm sorry. It's the best example I can think of. 😅)
That's a sacrifice with real consequences. And the aftermath shows the MC learning to adapt without his skill, but also letting the readers see it was worth it.

Anyway, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading my rant. I really did enjoy the story up till the end: it was an interesting atmosphere, the servants were fun and I didn't see some of the twists coming. The ending though...well you can see it really bothered me. 🤣 ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 16, 2020 Rachael Ritchey rated it it was amazing

Beast of the Night is a lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast with just enough of the familiar to quickly immerse you in the story and so much different to keep you interested in where all the turns and twists will take you.

YA fantasy fiction from a Christian author, Beast of the Night is about Rosenrot, a girl with a stump for an arm, a chip on her shoulder, and a heart of gold. The story begins in a little village where she discovers her father has run off, leaving her responsible for all h ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2020 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, ku, romance

This is on Kindle Unlimited, and it was a cute quick read! I like the cover, and it was interesting to see a "Belle" who wasn't model perfect. Rosenrot is tough because she had no one to rely on but herself, and I gotta say it makes the too-pretty-to-be-real Beast seem like a wimp in comparison. Cute ending! Happy Reading! ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 24, 2020 Ashley rated it liked it

Shelves: fairytale, fantasy, novella, own, story-retell, ya, paranormal, romance-fantasy, vampire

3.5
This was a really cute, fast paced novella. It was fun, it had some mystery and it gave me all the fall feels. Pumpkins, fall festival, vampires and golems and fantastical creatures, it's a perfect Beauty and the Beast retell for October. ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 25, 2020 Iris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fairy-tale-retellings, fantasy

I loved this retelling of beauty and the beast. It was so unique and this world fascinating to delve into. Great character development and interesting plot. Beautifully written.

Content:
Sexual: kissing only
Violence: mild
Language: none

flag Like · see review

Jun 23, 2020 Hannah rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-and-a-half-star, fantasy, retellings, read-2020

Some readers may think it’s quite short, perhaps even too short. Before I started, I thought to myself ‘How the heck is the author going to fit one awesome adventure in under 200 pages?

Yet here I am, the other side of those 136 pages, now of the opinion that yes, it was short, but if I was the average length of a novel (300 pages ish) it would have possibly dragged on.

It was short, sweet, a whirlwind of nostalgia and I was here, soaking up every single word.

flag 1 like · Like · see review