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Gilded Rose: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling (Celestials Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Emma Hamm (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 854 ratings

Book 1 of 3: Celestials

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A beast is holding me hostage inside a chateau.

The world is plagued by creatures called the Dread, and the monster who's captured me is their king. But no matter how hard I try to get away, there's no escaping him. Not when he's magically bound to turn me into one of his creatures.

When I discover he wasn’t supposed to destroy cities—that he’s one of the Celestials meant to save humanity—I realize my only hope of survival is breaking his curse. The one that turned him into a beast.

But as I uncover the truth to break his curse, I begin to wonder if I’ve lost myself in the process...

Can I still escape him? Or has he taken my heart forever?

Fans of Robin McKinley and Grimm will fall in love with this twisted fairytale retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

Scroll up and once click today to read this dark fantasy romance from USA Today bestselling author Emma Hamm today!

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07X4B5DMM
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Emma Hamm (November 27, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 27, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5743 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 348 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #282,272 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 854 ratings

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Emma Hamm

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USAToday Bestselling Author Emma Hamm grew up in a small town surrounded by trees and animals. She writes strong, confident, powerful women who aren't afraid to grow and make mistakes. Her books will always be a little bit feminist, and are geared towards empowering both men and women to be comfortable in their own skin.

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4.3 out of 5

854 global ratings

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Chelsea

Another masterpiece!

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2023

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Hamm has done it again- beautifully flawed and deeply damaged lead characters set in a land full of all manner of extremes, from the lavish elegance of the life of nobility to the muck and destruction outside the castle walls. The conflict is nuanced and I didn't see the ending until I got there, which is always fun for me. May be a difficult read for dialogue surfers as there are long sections without any characters interacting with one another. However, if you're into richly detailed world building and character introspection this novel will be a real treat for you.

Only downside for this OCD grammar nerd was that some of the mistakes made certain passages a little more difficult to parse. That being said, before Hamm such issues would have been an immediate turn off for me but WOW does this author spin the most glorious fairy tales.

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Rose

I really really really had fun with this book, but........

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021

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I really really really had fun with this book, but about a day after, I realized I still had a lot of questions.

1. What happened to the locket she risked her life for?
2. What happened to the man in her village that was assigned to help hunt her?
2a. Did he actually even do what he was requested to do?
3. What happened to her only friend when they all changed?
4. What happened to the body in tombs?
5. What happened to all the people once they were changed?
6. I still don't completely understand how the change was happening, then reversed and got worse, and then actually happened.
7. The red coats. Were these ones killed off or just gone to torment others?
8. At one point the beast claims he knows where she is hiding, but it takes a while to actually get her.....

I think this was a great take on Beauty and the Best. I had a lot of fun reading it, I just wish some of the ideas, details, and concepts were completed.

One person found this helpful

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dakota

Boom, that’s how it’s done!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2019

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Ohhhhh snap this book was brilliant!! Oh author how I love your books so! Please disappoint me just one so I know that you is human! Jk
Anywho this book delivered and delivered it with a bang. I love that a tale (that is my fav btw) can be spun in so many ways. This one was beautifully unique and engrossing. Our little mouse lives in a world that literally went to Heck in a hand basket and just got worse. She had tough choices to make and I like how she stayed true to her. She is inquisitive and curious yet strong and steadfast. The perfect counter curse, if I’m saying that right. I literally held my breath at some points and almost walked away if it was going to go down how I thought. My emotions were all over throughout this book and not in a bad way. I mean yes I did almost throat punch peeps at times but hey the writing must have been brilliant if I was so emotionally invested eh. I do wish however that it had more of her tinkering that was mentioned. Maybe hints of some steampunk and magic?
The creatures ( all of them) were beautifully described in their beauty and/or their grotesque-ness. The world was woven into a tapestry of intrigue and mystery that drew us in and sent us along with our wee mouse as she uncovered and discovered what was hidden. I like that this wasn’t a one and done story, now no worries there is no cliffhanger but this is not done yet. The danger remains afoot for some and we get to meet more character and fall in love all over again.... I hope.

6 people found this helpful

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EmptySea

Frustrating

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2020

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The monstrous Dread have attacked and the last stronghold in the kingdom has fallen. Amicia, the daughter of a humble tinker, must make terrible decisions for herself and her people.

Alexandre, the King of the Dread, fights to remember who he is.

The alchemists, dripping blood, plot and connive to destroy the world.

Can love put to rights all that has gone wrong?

*Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

That is the long-suffering sound I frequently made while reading this book. While I think the idea for this story was original and interesting, I spent most of the book frustrated at the characters, frustrated at the situations, and frustrated at both the missing key details and the overabundance of pointless details.

Because of the criticisms I lay out in this review, along with many bolded words and exclamations, you may think that I hate this book, but I don’t. In the end, I think this book is worth reading once. I’m not sure it was worth paying for, but if you see it at your local library, go ahead and give it a try.

I grabbed a sample (the first two chapters or so) to see if it looked worth buying. The sample was great, so I bought the book. Unfortunately, after the initial action at the beginning, it got incredibly boring. Not that the action died down, but that the SAME action was supposed to hold my attention for about 30% of the book. I kept wanting to shout, “DO SOMETHING DEFINITE,” at both the main characters and the story itself. As a reader, I can only follow a character skulking about for so long, and Amicia skulked for at least 10 pages.

I kept wondering why I kept reading about how smart Amicia is when her actions, thoughts, and at times interactions with others are SO STUPID. At the beginning of the book, it’s believable that she’s this bright, logical, brave, science minded woman who just does a few dumb things because of the traumatic situations she’s in, but by the 50% mark I was convinced the woman couldn’t find her way out of a cardboard box. When I was 80% into the book and Amicia is still asserting she doesn’t believe in magic, I wanted to smack her upside the head; “I’ve acknowledged this awful curse on the people, I’ve been reading an enchanted book with letters that swirl and appear/disappear, I’ve encountered ghosts, I’ve watched people get turned into monsters in front of my eyes and watched a monster turning into a man, but magic? Pshaw, that’s not real.”

I could have forgiven Amicia a lot of her poor decisions if she would have just stopped whinging about being a peasant, “ I can’t look at such magnificent art; I’m a peasant. I can’t wear nice dresses; I’m a peasant. I can’t have a nice room; I’m a peasant. “ You are living in a rundown chateau with monsters dressed in loincloths lady, get some perspective. There is purpose behind her complaints. It’s pretty clear by the end that she’s meant to be overcoming her insecurity through Alexandre’s help (who you are is a big theme in the book), but it’s not done well enough to look like character growth/development.

Other reviewers mention that there are many unanswered questions, I agree, but in kind of a different way. I’m fine with all the questions that come with the mystery of the book. A great book keeps you hooked with great mystery. What truly drove me crazy was all of the questions I had that were not important to the overarching story, but which made the character’s actions either confusing or pointless. An example: Amicia just thought, “I’m NOT going to do this,” then less than a sentence later she’s thinking about how she IS going to do it, then, suddenly she’s NOT doing it again. Make up your mind! I understand how a character might go back and forth when making a difficult decision, but it wasn’t written like back and forth, it was written like the author forgot what she just said a second ago.

*Minor Spoilers*
Examples of confusing moments that never get an explanation or that led nowhere:
The beast discovers where Amicia is hiding. He and his beasts storm to where she is, but she’s gone before he gets there. It’s SO anticlimactic and pointless. If you have a build up it has to lead somewhere. Even if it lead to the monsters getting there, seeing she’s gone, and feeling disappointed, that would have been something, but no, it says they’re going to where she is, and then we hear nothing more about it.
The beast tells Remy to find the girl, and then……. Nothing, literally never go back to that character or that order. I thought that Bernard was possibly Remy, in which case that detail would have made sense, but then Bernard has knowledge and memory of things long before Remy, so if he is Remy I’m annoyed for entirely different reasons.
Alexandre falls into the frozen lake. His fellow beasts, who are loyal to him, don’t even try to help, then Amicia is also dragged in and Alexandre grabs her and flys out of the frozen lake. Why did no one else try to save the beast? Why did Alexandre not save himself before she fell in? Oh, did he forget HE CAN FLY ?! Maybe it was a test, maybe he wanted to die, I don’t know because the reasoning is never clarified.
These little details lead nowhere and just take up page space. I kept waiting for things that were hinted at to happen, but they never did. If I thought that they would be wrapped up in later books I’d be pacified, but they’re all things that aren’t important enough to be wrapped up later.
*End Minor Spoilers*

*Major Spoilers*
There is Deus Ex Machina galore: Gee, it’s so convenient that the Dread’s best warrior just lets Amicia run into her with a blade. It’s bad enough it happened once, but it actually topped itself by happening twice when Amicia again “accidentally” runs another antagonist through. Also, it’s pretty lucky that all of the alchemists just sit back and watch as Amicia kiss-cures the King. Yes, yes, I know that the Dread were holding them back, but earlier we learned the alchemists were stronger than the Dread King, who is the strongest Dread, so why can they boil his blood in his body but at this critical junction theyre powerless?
*End Major Spoiler*

While the pace of the book is interminably slow, the relationships progress swiftly and with no apparent reason. Amicia’s friendship with Bernard is the only relationship that develops at a normal pace and for normal reasons. Somewhere along the way, Amicia becomes friends with all the Dreads. The readers are not privy to how this happens, but apparently it does because the narration says so a little more than halfway through. Its jarring to have everyone be a stranger or antagonist one instant and then close friends the next. One second the beast is a murdering monster who threw Amicia off the building, the next second she loves him because he’s shown that he still has a human side ( I mean, he did save her from dying after he broke all her bones, so stand up guy, right?). It would have been okay to show his change leading her to love him, but really the only thing that seems to lead her feelings towards him are that she feels bad for him and helping him and the others assuages her guilt for murdering her village ( it may be harsh to characterize what she did as murder, her actions with what she knew at the time made sense….but she did kill everyone in a horrible way).

Looking at what I’ve written, even I would think I hated this book, but I actually didn’t. It has MANY flaws, but it feels like a real book, which is a triumph in itself. I didn’t feel the need to stop reading, I was interested in finding the answers to the plot questions. The issue was the frequency with which I was left thinking “it would have been good if….it could have been good if…” It’s a book that simply didn’t live up to its potential. Right before I finished I thought, “this would be great with an editor and some beta readers to just help with the more glaring problems,” but in the acknowledgements at the end the author mentions some editors and beta readers, so I’m at a bit of a loss. I definitely think the author should keep writing, and it looks like she’s a lot of people’s cup of tea, I just hope that there’s an improvement to her book polishing process so her stories can be as good as they deserve to be.

81 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Sanghita

What a terrible waste!

Reviewed in India on March 15, 2021

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A terrible waste of potential, it held so much promise but in the end stacked under the "worse than hated" pile. I mean for 25% of the book it continued on with that incessant cat and mouse game because our heroine is a spineless scaredy-cat who seems to be supernaturally good at running and hiding. How frustrating and pathetic! Then it was denial mode, the very common phase in all romance stories, and heated arguments but no channel for that frustration or steam to be let out of, and then sudden epiphany and kiss and make up. What else? Oh, to tie it all together with a bit of immature and no-brainer mystery to keep the readers from dozing off. But i did doze off and... beauty and the beast retellings are my favorite but God, that was insufferable.

LEP

Beauty and the Beast

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2021

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A take on the story of Beauty and the Beast. This version has a mighty being cursed to turn into a monster, the King of the Dread and in his turn turn others into monsters and kill humans. The Dread swoop on the city of Little Marsh, killing or capturing all in their wake. Amicia escapes when all other die or are captured, including her father, and makes her way to what she hopes is safety, instead she finds a magical castle, the very castle where the King of Dread and his army live. She hides for days in the secret passages in the walls of castle before being found . She and the King eventually come to an agreement, if she can find a way to lift the curse then she wins her freedom. So she studies in the castle library to try and find a way to lift the curse and as she slowly gets to know the King she loses her fear of him and he begins to change, become more human looking. Good book.

K-ELF

Classic made anew

Reviewed in Canada on November 30, 2019

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Fantastic spin on a classic tale.
I really enjoyed reading this book and loved how the author spun new life into The Beauty and the Beast.
As always, Ms Hamm delivers a great story.

Evelyn Fae

love it!

Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

An adventure love story of Amicia who shows that if woman would use their talents and be brave, they could achieve anything! The story gripped me from page one, it took me into heights and into walls. This is a whole new retelling of Beauty and the Beast and Belle could learn a few things from Amicia. I am glad Emma Hamm wrote this masterpiece. Thank You Emma!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

One person found this helpful

Delilah

So, so, sooo good!

Reviewed in Australia on November 27, 2019

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Show more
Review I received a free copy of this book from book sprout ( but I’m not going to cancel my preorder!)
4.5 stars
WOW! Unlike any romance book I have ever read before. This is a retelling of Beauty and Beast, and a book I have desperately been waiting to read ever since I read the blurb months ago!
I read this book in a day, engaged wholeheartedly from the first page till the very last. I couldn’t read the words fast enough, but was also checking how much was left Of the book, trying to slow down so I could stretch out the story. It was simply that good.
I loved both the main characters. Their love story paced out to perfection. No instalove, and no unnecessary angst. The storyline was fantastic. As beautiful to read as it was was to watch the Disney animated version.
And even though it’s a retelling, Emma Hamm made it very much her own story. At one point I skipped ahead for a quick peak, as the storyline was unfolding in such way I Thought it could possibly finish on a cliffhanger! There were moments I was holding my breath at what was being revealed! And you know it’s a good book that when even though you know what the premise of the story is, you still don’t know what’s actually going happen in the story!

As this is book 1 in the Celestials series, I’m already twitching for the next book in the series! There’s a reason Emma Hamm is 1-click author for me! (less)

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Gilded Rose: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling (Celestials Book 1) Kindle Edition

A beast is holding me hostage inside a chateau.

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Emma Hamm

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