Title: Beauty and the Beast (Faerie Tale Collection #1)

Author: Jenni James

Genre: Fairy Tales, Young Adult

Published: August 29, 2012

There were things new to me in this retelling I had never encountered before and I thought they were an interesting idea. The first was the beast wasn't an animal all the time. During the day he was human and still able to go about his daily life as he had before. I thought the book taking place in a normal regency courtship setting. The other thing was they knew each other before he was cursed. They did not have a good relationship from before, in fact he had been intentionally mean to her.

I did wonder why the girl didn't have a problem dealing with a talking wolf and I thought their friendship developed rather quickly. Her feelings toward the prince also do an abrupt about face. I would have liked to see more depth. I was a little confused by the prince's inability to see the villain's motivations and his possible actions to get what he wanted.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Review: The Frog Princess

Title: The Frog Princess (The Tales of the Frog Princess #1)

Author: E. D. Baker

Genre: Fairy tales, Childrens

Published: October 7, 2004

I was thirty pages from the end of the book before I realized it was the basis for the Disney cartoon The Princess and the Frog. In my defense I only saw the movie once and other than the girl turning into a frog, then having misshapes, there wasn't a lot the two had in common.

The guy of the story had a major character shift. He started out watching out for her and protecting her. Then as she became more and more self sufficient he became more and more oblivious. It wasn't malicious on his part. It just made it easier for the reader to see the main character's growth.

It was a fun children's story and I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.