Beauty

In this modern take on Beauty and the Beast artist Alix Miller is hired to paint wealthy recluse Leland Crompton. Alix is shocked to learn that Leland suffers from a physical deformity but she soon learns to overlook it. The two become friends but when Alix realizes she's in love with Leland she has a hard time convincing him her feelings are real.I'm a [fan of] Beauty and the Beast so I , of course, loved this book. The characters and plot were engrossing and fit well with the Beauty and the Beast theme. The writing was very good considering this is a romance novel but there was a couple of really cheesy lines in every chapter. I also hated the ending. I'm sure the author was trying to make some sort of statement with it but it wasn't really necessary. Overall this book is wonderful, I'll just skip the end if I decide to re-read it.

I love all retellings of Beauty and the Beast and admit to being addicted, so of course I had to read this modern version. It was exactly the type of book I dream of writing. You fall in love with Lee along with Alix. You begin to hate Mark. The characters are all so real, you can feel their pain with them. I loved this book so much, and it is something any fan of B & TB should definitley read! The only sore spot is the ending. I really don't see why Wilson chose to do what she did, but the book is still very beautiful.

I loved this beautifully written "reality" romance. Today's romance novels focus too much on external beauty and not enough on internal beauty. I've been reading romance novels for the past 20 years and frankly I'm getting bored with the too perfect babes and hunks. Here is a novel filled with emotion, strong characters and real issues. It doesn't have the typical romance "happy ending," but the story will stay with you forever and you'll be glad you read it. I recommend Hawkes Cove as well.

The characters in this book are so real, so well-written, you will be taken in. I read this book in an obsessed and feverish 4 hours! I couldn't put it down for a second. I was completely surprised at Leland Crompton's personality. Someone so cruelly treated most of his life was delightful and like a breath of fresh air to me. Lee seemed to be a man made purely of feeling. I guess the reason why I absolutely fell in love with Leland's character is because there aren't many people like him. I am fortunate to know one. Someone with such a beautiful heart that it makes him seem even more beautiful outside than he already is. Is it really our appearance (the clothing and makeup) that makes us beautiful, or could it be our personality that brings out our true beauty? Time has a way of changing our appearance but our hearts will always be the same. If you fall in love (can you even call it that?) with someone only because of the way they look, I ask you this: when time takes their beauty away and all that is left is their personality - a personality that you may have always had trouble tolerating but put up with because of their physical appearance - what will you do? Their wealth and beauty, and the physical pleasure will not always be enough. Just something to think about. Something, I am sure, Alix didn't think of when she began her relationship with her previous lovers and with Mark. She realized it, but stayed with him because she had likely not been with better men and was herself somewhat shallow. She had always focused on appearance...until Leland. He showed her what true beauty is made of. :-) Read it! You won't be able to put it down, I promise.

Susan Wilson has that rare gift of involving her reader to the point of emotional response. I was moved to tears at one point and laughed aloud at another. The characters are so very real -- My husband thought I was listening to a friend on the telephone! I am ordering this in large print as soon as it is available for my 98 year old grandmother. The story is indeed timeless, and Ms. Wilson has given us all something very special