Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey (Five Hundred Kingdoms #6)

Bella is smart, responsible, and resigned to the fact that she will end up a spinster. She has a plan-learn her herbs and stuff and open an apothecary shop. Then one day on her way to Granny's, Bella is bitten by a wolf. After getting home she is carted away by royal guards to the local Duke's manor and told that the wolf who bit her was in fact a werewolf-the duke to be exact. In order to make sure that Bella doesn't turn lupine and get loose she is required to remain at the duke's castle until they are sure she is safe and fully human. While staying there Bella gets close to the duke and his mysterious gamekeeper, and tries to solve the mystery of how the duke turned werewolf in the first place.

Overall Thoughts:
I love the concept of the Five Hundred Kingdoms novels but haven't loved all the books themselves. The story in Beauty and the Werewolf was cute, and I thought combining Little Red Riding Hood with Beauty and the Beast was clever, but I found the plot kind of messy. At any point I was either really bored with what was going on and completely lost patience with the tedious details, or jumping out of my seat with excitement, desperate to see what happens next. There was no middle ground which could have very easily dissuaded me had I not enjoyed some of the previous Five Hundred Kingdom novels. I also felt like Beauty and the Werewolf would have made a better novella or short story than full blown few hundred page novel. There were many unnecessary details that could have been left out, and I also felt that Bella's adventures with Eric were completely pointless. They accomplished very little storytelling and what they added in detail and collection of information wasn't as valuable as the patience they took away.

Characters:
Bella is similar to all the other heroines in the previous Five Hundred Kingdom novels in that she is smart and a little too sensible. But while I didn't mind that in the other books and actually enjoyed having a heroine with a brain, something about Bella struck me as stuck-up. It seemed as though she judged people and if she decided they weren't smart enough or up to her standards she would write them off as stupid or vapid and act as if she was better than them. What was especially hypocritical was that she would complain and comment about her stepfamily and their friends insisting on living up to certain social expectations while she herself is inflicting her own standards on everyone she meets. Speaking of Bella's family-where were they? They were mentioned so much in the beginning and they were introduced in a way that made me think they'd be prominent characters all the way through but instead they disappeared after a few pages and only made occasional appearances in Bella's thoughts. Either they should have been mentioned more throughout the story or they should have been mentioned minimally in the beginning. Their characters were too developed to act as a real foil to Bella.

3.7 stars.

The magic continues in "New York Times" bestselling author Mercedes Lackey's enchanting new story from the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series. A beauty must battle some beasts before she rescues her prince.

The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella—Isabella Beauchamps, daughter of a wealthy merchant—vows to escape the usual pitfalls.

Anxious to avoid the traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman. But on the way home she's attacked by a wolf—who turns out to be a cursed nobleman. Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between her family and this strange man who creates marvelous inventions and makes her laugh—when he isn't howling at the moon.

Bella knows all too well that breaking spells is never easy. But a determined beauty, a wizard (after all, he's only an occasional werewolf) and a little Godmotherly interference might just be able to bring about a happy ending.