Bookish and the Beast
by Ashley Poston
4 Stars
Rosie Thorne has always loved Starfield. Especially the novels that were so special to her mother before her death. While driving home one day she spots a huge dog in the road. After chasing it she finds herself in the odd castle on the outskirts of town and stumbles into the library. The very library where she sees a book her mother loved. With the book still in hand she's startled and tries to leave the castle. Bumping into none other than Vance Reigns an actor from the Starfield movies. Outcast to a small town to avoid any more scandals. Asking why she is in his temporary home she falls in the pool and ruins the very rare book she was holding.
A plan is devised to help Rosie pay off the debt. She must organize and catalogue the library with Vance's help. But the two grow closer over time. Following the typical Beauty and The Beast narrative Rosie softens Vance's heart and has him questioning life in a small town. The two also realize that they have met before. At a magical night at the end of ExcelsiCon, but what seemed like a romance was all based on Vance faking who he was.
Slight spoilers ahead. These are such cute stories. I love all the nerd references in the story, both for the books universe and our universe. I will say this was the weakest of the series so far. But it was still greatly enjoyable and took my favorite part of Beauty and The Beast, The Library and made it such a central focus of the story. The only thing that threw me off was the TMZ leak at the end, I don't know why Vance running someone who broke into his house out was such a bad thing? Also Vance admits Rosie didn't have his phone number when she told him she lost her phone. And then she's concerned that someone might see the text messages between them. Just a little continuity error. I would also have loved more ExcelsiCon in the story. It was such a focus of the previous two novels and I was upset it was more of a footnote than a part of the story. This was highly entertaining and I hope there's more books in this universe to come. I would love a story about Quinn finding love in college since the characters all seem to be getting slightly older as the books progress. Also what is going on with Elle and Darien! It was implied they broke up but there was no closure and they are couple goals!