Bookish and the Beast | Review

Rosie Thorne is feeling stuck—on her college application essays, in her small town, and on that mysterious General Sond cosplayer she met at ExcelsiCon. Most of all, she’s stuck in her grief over her mother’s death. Her only solace was her late mother’s library of rare Starfield novels, but even that disappeared when they sold it to pay off hospital bills.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as he can remember—with all the privilege and scrutiny that entails. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA. At least there’s a library in the house. Too bad he doesn’t read.

When Rosie and Vance’s paths collide and a rare book is accidentally destroyed, Rosie finds herself working to repay the debt. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to the Vance Reigns, Rosie has discovered something about Vance: he’s a jerk, and she can’t stand him. The feeling is mutual.

But as Vance and Rosie begrudgingly get to know each other, their careful masks come off—and they may just find that there’s more risk in shutting each other out than in opening their hearts.

I’m so happy I finally finished this series! I read the first book years ago and then only recently read the second two books. And I’m so happy I did! This Beauty and the Beast retelling mixed with nerdy references was such a treat.

I love that Rosie and Vance met before so there is a mild secret identity thing going on. It added an extra something to the plot. And the romance was very cute, but it felt a little rushed? Or maybe because I’ve been reading lots of adult romance I’m not used to a quicker timeline. Still, I enjoyed it, I just hoped for a little bit more.

I think we could have fleshed out Vance’s problems a little more. He was going through a lot of family issues and I think we should have dug into that a little more. There was like one small scene, or exchange really, that was supposed to wrap his family stuff up, but it felt like putting a bandaid over something that needed stitches.

We never find out what happens with Elias and space dad!!! That is actually my biggest gripe from this book. Please, Ashley Poston, write a novella to tell us where everyone is at now in their lives because I wanna know Elias and space dad are happy and in loooove!

It was bittersweet to finish this series, but it was fun while it lasted. I hope we get another nerdy book or series from Poston in the future.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Ashley Poston, go to her GoodReads profile or her website.