Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston

This Beauty and the Beast retelling is the third book in Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con series, but it can very well be read as a standalone. It was a cute, funny and lighthearted read, and with amazing supporting characters, but it lacked a bit of the necessary chemistry between the main characters.

Rosie Thorne is the daughter of the town librarian, who is grieving the loss of her mother. Vance Reigns is a Hollywood bad boy, who gets sent off to a small town to hide after one tabloid scandal too much. When Rosie accidently runs into Vance’s hiding place, searching for a dog, they end up destroying a rare and expensive book and instantly hating each other. What neither of them realizes is that they have meet before. The jerk that Rosie can’t stand, is actually the masked boy she’s been dreaming about ever since the magical night they spent together at the ExcelsiCon ball a few months earlier.
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I loved the geekiness, that the story centered around a library and all the wonderful pop culture references. I also absolutely adored Rosie’s dad, the sweet and queer “Space Dad”. He is one of my favorite fictional dad ever, and I would have loved for him to get a bigger part of the story, especially at the end and the blossoming romance that we never knew where it went. Rosie’s friends were also such amazing supporting characters, and with great representation. I loved how the friendship circle came together to support and encourage her non-binary friend going for Homecoming Overlord.

Unfortunately though, the romance and the main characters weren’t as amazing as the supporting ones, and I didn’t really feel the chemistry between them. Rosie was fleshed out enough and a likeable character, but Vance felt more like a shallow stereotype.

But all in all, it was a fun and enjoyable read and a more than decent Beauty and the Beast retelling.

Rating:
​3 stars

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​Author info:
Ashley Poston