As Old as Time

Title: As Old as Time

Author: Liz Braswell

Published: September 6, 2016 by Disney-Hyperion

Price: $7.99 on Kindle.

☆☆☆☆☆/5

Blurb: What if Belle’s mother cursed the Beast?

Belle is a lot of things: smart, resourceful, restless. She longs to escape her poor provincial town for good. She wants to explore the world, despite her father’s reluctance to leave their little cottage in case Belle’s mother returns — a mother she barely remembers. Belle also happens to be the captive of a terrifying, angry beast. And this is her primary concern.

But when Belle touches the Beast’s enchanted rose, intriguing images flood her mind — images of the mother she believed she would never see again. Stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful Enchantress who cursed the Beast, his castle, and all its inhabitants. Shocked and confused. Belle and the Beast must work together to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is twenty-one years in the making.

Review: This is the third book in a ‘series’, but given that these books really have nothing to do with one another, it doesn’t bother me to read it out of order. I loved this book. I’m so glad that I got back into Disney and bought this book. Just makes my decision to these ‘what if’ types of books that much stronger.

I really loved that it started off the same way as the film and even gave us those familiar scenes, with that slight twist to make this story unique. For once, I enjoyed the switching of the POV’s every chapter, the author kept switching from the past to the present. A good way to build the past up for the readers while keeping the main story going.

It was written pretty simply, the age range of this book for teens, but it was still able to hold my attention. A little extra mystery at the end there that was a bit easy to solve, but was fun.

Completely different ending than the movie and I really enjoyed that. Honestly, it’s kind of set up to where, if the author wanted to do a spin-off of this one book, she could. I know I’d pick it up without hesitation.

The story flowed, it didn’t have any stagnant bits or any parts that made me roll my eyes. I really enjoyed this ‘what if’ book and I look forward to reading the others.

Thank you for reading my review.