Gerard's Beauty by Marie Hall

Kingdom #2

     "A not so classic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, as seen through the eyes of the villain...

Betty Hart has had it with men. Jilted in love, her life now consists of shelving books by day, watching too much Anime by night, and occasionally dressing up like a superhero on the weekends with her fellow ‘Bleeding Heart’ nerds. Men are not welcome and very much unwanted. Especially the sexy Frenchman who saunters into her library reeking of alcohol and looking like he went one too many rounds in the ring.

     Gerard Caron is in trouble. Again. Caught with his pants down (literally) he’s forced to seek asylum on Earth while his fairy godmother tries to keep Prince Charming from going all ‘Off with his head’. Maybe, messing around with the King’s daughter hadn’t been such a great idea after all, not that Gerard knew the silly redhead was a princess. But his fairy godmother knows the only way to save his life is to finally pair Gerard with his perfect mate, whether he’s willing or not.

     From the moment Gerard lays eyes on the nerdy librarian he knows he must have her, but Betty is unlike any woman he’s ever known. He thought Betty would come as willingly to his bed as every other woman before her, but she is a woman who demands respect and even… horror of all horrors… love. Is it possible for a self-proclaimed Casanova to change his ways?"

The companion story to Her Mad Hatter.

Gerard is kind of the Gaston character from Belle's story. But while the fairy tale books tell us that Belle was a sweet darling who fell in love with the beast because of his kind heart. She was actually a cold-hearted gold digger, who loved the beast because of his riches. Heart-broken Gerard becomes mostly a womanizer. Doing a lot of bed hopping and not getting close to anyone ever again. But when he hops into the Daughter of Cinderella's bed, he lands himself in a world of trouble.

Betty Hart, librarian, jilted by her ex hasn't dated anyone in months. She no longer trusts men, or her judgement anymore when it comes to men. She spends her days shelving books, and taking care of her nephew. Even though she has a degree she chooses to help her older brother and stay close to home.

Danika, Fairy God-mother extraordinaire, is trying to find the mates to the forgotten men of fairy tales. But since Gerard messed up royally she has to make a bargain with Galeta the blue Head Mistress of Fairy Godmother Inc, and Danika's boss, to spare his life and give him a chance to find and fall in love with his mate, Betty.

This book, for me wasn't as good as Her Mad Hatter. It might be that I just didn't like the characters as much, or it could have been that I didn't believe that they could have actually fallen in love that quickly especially since Gerard spend most of his time being sulky because as punishment Galeta "neutered" him. Gerard did seem to have his moments that could make someone that was jilted start to feel for someone like him. But at the same time a month is awfully short amount of time to fall in love with someone.

I do plan on reading the rest of these books. They are fun, cute stories. And I do like my fairy-tale retellings.