Review: Beast in Shining Armor - Cassandra Gannon

Beauty vs. Beast…

Contestant One: Avenant is a handsome prince with a dark side. There’s a beast inside of him, always waiting to get out. All his life, he’s been labeled a monster and he’s done his best to live up to his Bad reputation. His parents hated him, his fairytale kingdom fears him, and now he’s been dragged into court. Again. His newest legal troubles are all because Belle Ashman stole his throne. The beautiful bookshop owner is the one woman Avenant longs for. The two of them have been in competition since childhood and the contest just became winner-take-all.

Contestant Two: Tired of Avenant ruining her dates, firing Mother Goose, and tearing down Humpty Dumpty’s wall, Rosabella Aria Ashman decided to depose the tyrant. Eight months ago, Belle led a rebellion and had Avenant thrown in prison. Now, the Beast has returned, demanding his kingdom back. Avenant might be gorgeous, but he’s also arrogant, selfish and he’s been mean to her since kindergarten. This time, Belle’s determined vanquish him, once and for all.

The Ultimate Showdown: In the farthest corner of the Northlands, there is an impenetrable labyrinth. Made of ice and stone, no one has ever entered it and emerged alive. Now, Belle, Avenant, and other storybook contenders for the crown are heading into the maze. Whoever solves its riddles gets the kingdom. In order to win, Belle and Avenant are going to have to work together. Considering their lifelong feud, that would be challenging enough, but they’re also dealing with an angry minotaur, an unknown killer, miles of twisting corridors… and the fact that these two mortal enemies might just make a perfect team.

A Kinda Fairytale Series:
Wicked Ugly Bad
Beast in Shining Armor
The Kingpin of Camelot
Happily Ever Witch (release date to be confirmed)

Visit Cassandra Gannon's page on Goodreads for more information

Review:
I'm so glad that Ilona Andrews recommended this series, it's been such a joy to read and I love the way Cassandra Gannon has used so many familiar characters but created her own world and a completely unique story for them. While each book is about a different main couple and works as a stand alone romance I'd definitely recommend reading the series in order so you can get to know all the recurring side characters and learn about the world.

We met Prince Avenant in the first book, he was a member of the WUB Club and he was with Letty, Marrok and the others when they escaped the Wicked Ugly Bad Mental Health Treatment Centre and Maximum Security Prison. Avenant was only in prison because his long term rival Belle (& childhood crush) set him up for fraud and then led a rebellion against him so that she could steal his crown and he is determined to get back what is rightfully his no matter what it takes. Avenant is understandably bitter about the way things went down between them but when he tries to claim back his kingdom he finds himself having to work alongside Belle to stop other rivals stealing the prize from them both.

Again I don't want to give away much of the plot but it involves a hero's quest, a labyrinth and a couple with years of fighting and bitterness between them who both refuse to admit they might have made a mistake. Expect lots of high jinx, plenty of fun characters and a surprisingly sweet romance. My only complaint about this series is that it could use a final editing pass but overall the errors I've spotted haven't take away my enjoyment of the stories and I find myself smiling the whole way through. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next book, The Kingpin of Camelot, and can't wait to see what Cassandra Gannon has in store for Guinevere and Midas.

Source: Purchased

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Review: Wicked Ugly Bad - Cassandra Gannon

Once Upon a Time...

Scarlett Riding is NOT an ugly stepsister. Cinderella is the evil one in the family and Letty is determined to prove it. Unfortunately, that’s kinda hard to do from behind bars. After the debacle at the ball, Letty and her sister Dru were dragged off to the Wicked, Ugly and Bad Mental Health Treatment Center and Maximum Security Prison. While Cindy’s planning her dream wedding, her two stepsisters are being forced to endure life in the dreariest dungeon in the land.

Luckily, Letty has a plan to change that unhappy ending. If she can just get to Prince Charming and prove the glass slipper doesn’t fit Cinderella’s foot, she can reclaim her life. In order to do that, though, she needs to convince The Big Bad Wolf to lend a hand in organizing a jailbreak.

Marrok Wolf isn’t sure what to make of the idealistic redhead in his group therapy sessions. With fifty counts of Badness on his criminal record, Marrok’s used to being surrounded by crooks and scumbags. Scarlett wants to lecture him about equal rights for trolls! When the little do-gooder comes up with an elaborate plan to break their entire “share circle” out of prison, though, Marrok is certainly willing to go along with the plot. And not just because he wants to see her naked. The woman may not be wicked, ugly, or Bad, but she’s definitely the only one who can save him.

Together with a wicked witch, a timid bridge ogre, an evil prince, and other villains straight out of a storybook, Scarlett and Marrok are about to make sure that Baddies finally have a happily ever after.

A Kinda Fairytale Series:
Wicked Ugly Bad
Beast in Shining Armor
The Kingpin of Camelot
Happily Ever Witch (release date to be confirmed)

Visit Cassandra Gannon's page on Goodreads for more information

Review:
Okay I'm going to hold my hands up and say that if I'd stumbled across this cover on Amazon I don't think I'd even have got as far as reading the blurb, the only reason I even picked this up was because Ilona Andrews raved about the third book in the series (The Kingpin of Camelot) and I can't read a series out of order so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad for that recommendation though because I had so much fun reading Wicked Ugly Bad! This is a fairytale retelling that is totally different to any others that I've come across, in fact it's not really a retelling, more a completely new story but with characters you may find familiar.

Cassandra Gannon has created a world where characters are either born "good" or "bad", there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason over who gets put into which camp, it's something you're categorised as at birth and you can't do anything to change it. What is very clear is that this is a world designed to let "good" characters thrive and where "bad" characters are constantly discriminated against. Scarlet Riding (Letty) is bad, she was born bad and she's happy to be bad just like her grandmother but she knows there is a big difference between being bad and being evil. In fact the evil one in her family is definitely her stepsister Cinderella but Cindy has conned everyone into believing she's the hard done one in the family who has been abused by Letty and her sister Dru for years.

Cindy has set Letty and Dru up and now they've been imprisoned in the Wicked Ugly Bad Mental Health Treatment Centre and Maximum Security Prison while Cindy plans her wedding to Prince Charming. Letty is determined to show everyone that Cindy is lying (she even has the glass slipper to prove it!) but first she has to arrange a prison break with the help of her support group.

I don't want to say too much more about this novel but it was absolutely hilarious, nothing you've ever believed about your favourite fairytale characters is true and the author makes it so incredibly easy to see Cindy as the bad one and have us rooting for the ugly stepsisters. I'm not going to lie there were a few spelling mistakes and this could have been incredible with a proper edit but there are FAR less errors than a lot of self published novels and I was enjoying the story so much that I just didn't care about the problems. I loved the characters, there was a brilliant romance, the humour was fantastic and the story was full of adventure. This series has me excited and I can't wait to see how the author twists all the other fairytales on their head as it continues.

Source: Purchased

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