Sunday 23 August 2015

Masque by W R Gingell (Fantasy, Fairytale, 10E/10E)

Pretty dress, Isabella looks a bit stuffy looking and she really isn't!
 December 2014, CreateSpace, 334 pages,  Ebook, Review copy from NetGalley 

Content: magic, murder, lots of humour, tissue needed

Summary from W R's website
Beauty met the Beast and there was . . . Bloody murder?

It’s the Annual Ambassadorial Ball in Glause, and Lady Isabella Farrah, the daughter of New Civet’s Ambassador, is feeling pleasantly scintillated.

In the library is Lord Pecus, a charming gentleman whose double mask hides a beastly face, and who has decided that Isabella is the very person to break the Pecus curse.

In the ball-room is young Lord Topher, who is rapidly falling in love with an older woman.
And in the card-room, lying in a pool of his own blood, is the body of one of Isabella’s oldest friends: Raoul, Civet’s Head Guardsman. The papers sewn into his sash seem to suggest espionage gone wrong, but Isabella is not so certain.

Lord Pecus, as Commander of the Watch, is of the opinion that Isabella should keep out of the investigation and out of danger. Isabella is of the opinion that it is her murder to investigate, and that what a certain Beast-Lord doesn’t know won’t hurt him. . . .

Will Isabella find the murderer before Lord Pecus does, or will she end her investigation as a bloody spatter on the parlour floor?


Nayu's thoughts  
This is a hilarious and thrilling retelling of Beauty and the Beast! I'm a little obsessed with fairytales at the moment, and this one is amazing! (Sometimes self-published books can have a not so good reputation but this is a high calibre read) I was a tiny bit wary of the magical setting, but it provides much humour and danger (and didn't seem too fantasy based, if that makes any sense).  

Isabella's view on life is ever so like my own. She's extremely funny, even at the most dangerous times. She finds way of dodging around forbidden activities, thinks sideways and then some, cares for those she lives with and the entire community. I squee-d over the yellow dress (a la Disney version of the tale), was delighted by the novel way Isabella gets 'trapped' by the beast, wanted Belle's servants in my life for their antics and sneaky ways. One of the reread shelf, especially when I need a laugh!

Suggested read
Another Beauty and the Beast tale can be found in A Different Reflection by Jane L Gibson (Romance, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review) 

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