To Love a Beast by Karen Witemeyer: Book Review

Details

• Genre: Historical fiction
• Series: Once Upon a Time in Texas (Book #1)
• Length: 219 pages (Kindle edition)
• Publication Date: June 10, 2025

Tropes

• Forced proximity
• Beauty and the beast

My Rating

Book Description

“Beauty & the Beast in 1800’s Texas. 

Once known among New York’s elite as the American Adonis, Everett Griffin now lives as a recluse in the wilds of Texas. The treachery of a former admirer left his face and his spirit riddled with scars, so he hides himself away, his only companions a trio of trusted servants and an oversized dog. Locals whisper of the beastly man who lives in the gloomy manor outside of town and his tendency to attack anyone who dares approach. Everett relishes his fearsome reputation and uses it as a shield to guard his privacy. Until a young woman as stubborn as she is beautiful infiltrates his sanctum and lays siege to his defenses.

When an injury to her father jeopardizes the family’s book binding business, Callista Rosenfeld determines to fulfill the contract herself, and no insufferable client or woman-eating dog will deter her. Finding unlikely allies among Mr. Griffin’s staff, Callista secures her position and sets to work transforming the manor’s remarkable library. Her employer transforms as well, his ill-tempered growls subsiding to reveal a considerate, intellectual nature. Affection blooms as Callista and Everett discover hidden depths in each other, but the evil schemes of a vengeful hunter threaten to leave their love and their lives in tatters.”

— from Goodreads

My Review

A Texas Tale as Old as Time

The little nods to the movie were both fun and clever!

I felt so sorry for Everett.  He was a bit vain and prone to flattery in the beginning, but he didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Callista is a smart, kind, and determined heroine.  The perfect “beauty” to see beyond Everett’s “beastly” demeanor.  I especially liked how she thought things through and logically concluded that Everett was no threat to her. Her dedication to her father even above her own desires was also admirable.

Ambrose Batton made me dislike him almost instantly.  (He just snatches Callista’s book out of her hands when she was clearly reading it.  Who does that? 😠)

I do wish that some events could have played out in story (like the things in Callista’s letters and Everett reconciling with his parents) instead of just being mentioned after the fact.

Favorite Moments

📘 falling off the stepladder
🦁 Everett’s paintings 
📘 using given names
🦁 sitting for a portrait 
📘 the yellow gown
🦁 the dance
📘 rescuing Callista from Batton 
🦁 reunion

Favorite Quotes

“‘The world might seem dark and frightful, but as long as you have hope, you have power.  Power to persevere.’“

Karen Witemeyer

“‘Your face does not define you, Griff. Your actions do.  A woman of a discerning nature will see the man behind the scars. It’s up to you to determine what type of man she will find when she does so.’“

Karen Witemeyer

“He’d spent hours on the details, desperate to get everything just right. An impossible task. For the more time he spent in her company, the more beautiful she became to him.  A beauty too deep for paint to capture.“

Karen Witemeyer

“‘I make my living by crafting beautiful book covers, but I know better than anyone that it’s not the cover that makes a person love a book.  A pretty cover might be admired and put on display, but it doesn’t stir the heart.  Only the story or knowledge capture within the pages can make one fall in love and return to a book again and again….It’s not the cover that inspired love, Everett.  It’s what’s inside.’“

Karen Witemeyer

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