Welcome to the Book Blitz for Beauty and Beastly by Melanie Karsak thanks to Xpresso Book Tours! As someone who absolutely adores the Beauty and the Beast classic, I love the opportunity to read or feature any retelling of this wonderful story.
Beauty and Beastly sounds really good and I hope you enjoy the excerpt I have to share today!
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When Isabelle Hawking and her papa set out from London on a sea voyage, Isabelle is thrilled. Visiting foreign courts, learning from master tinkers, and studying mechanicals is her dream. And it doesn't hurt that the trip also offers Isabelle an escape from her overbearing and unwanted suitor, Gerard LeBoeuf.
But Isabelle never arrives. Swept up in a tempest, her ship is lost.
Isabelle survives the storm only to be shipwrecked on a seemingly-deserted island. The magical place, dotted with standing stones, faerie mounds, and a crumbling castle, hints of an ancient past. Isabelle may be an unwilling guest, but her arrival marks a new beginning for the beastly residents of this forgotten land.
See how NY Times bestselling author Melanie Karsak puts a steampunk spin on the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale.
From Beauty and Beastly.....
My hands shook nervously as I slid on the yellow ball gown. It was quite silly, really, feeling so nervous. What was there to be worried about? I had done something to help the mechanicals, and they found a way to thank me the best they knew how.
Adjusting the dress, I sat down and looked into the vanity mirror. I smoothed my hair back once more. I’d styled it as Elyse Murray often wore her hair. Then I adjusted the small bumblebee hairpin in my hair—its cousin gifted to the fairies. I dabbed some perfume on my neck. By now, the Scottish lord who Papa and I had traveled to meet was already married. I’d missed that wedding. The ball gown was going to go to waste. At the very least, I would enjoy dressing up for just one night.
I adjusted the off-the-shoulder sleeves of my dress then pulled on my long, yellow gloves. Even my pair of heeled silk dancing slippers had survived in the box. I was suddenly very grateful for them. It would not due to wear traveling boots under a ball gown.
I took a deep breath, steadied my nerve, then rose and headed to the stairwell.
To my surprise, all of the candelabras in the main foyer had been lit, even the massive chandelier that hung overhead. The hall, which had seemed so dim before, was bathed in orange light. Everything felt so cheery and alive.
At the bottom of the stairs, Mister Flint, Missus Silver, Bronwyn, Missus Smith, the cook, and Mister Steele, another of the servants, stood waiting. All of them were dressed in their finest. It pleased me to see Missus Silver with her arm wrapped around Bronwyn’s waist.
And alongside them was Rhys who was dressed in a handsome suit. He wore a dark blue doublet trimmed with gold embroidery, a white silk collar, breeches and leggings, and boots. His metallic face glimmered as if it had been polished.
My stomach rocked with butterflies the size of ravens.
Isabelle, you’re being ridiculous. He’s just a machine.
You cannot possibly be falling in love with an automaton.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the ladies curtseyed, the men bowed.
Rhys offered his arm.
I linked my arm with his, and we moved down the hallway opposite that which led to the library. At the end of this hall was a set of double doors.
Mister Flint opened the doors to reveal a massive ballroom.
My hands shook nervously as I slid on the yellow ball gown. It was quite silly, really, feeling so nervous. What was there to be worried about? I had done something to help the mechanicals, and they found a way to thank me the best they knew how.
Adjusting the dress, I sat down and looked into the vanity mirror. I smoothed my hair back once more. I’d styled it as Elyse Murray often wore her hair. Then I adjusted the small bumblebee hairpin in my hair—its cousin gifted to the fairies. I dabbed some perfume on my neck. By now, the Scottish lord who Papa and I had traveled to meet was already married. I’d missed that wedding. The ball gown was going to go to waste. At the very least, I would enjoy dressing up for just one night.
I adjusted the off-the-shoulder sleeves of my dress then pulled on my long, yellow gloves. Even my pair of heeled silk dancing slippers had survived in the box. I was suddenly very grateful for them. It would not due to wear traveling boots under a ball gown.
I took a deep breath, steadied my nerve, then rose and headed to the stairwell.
To my surprise, all of the candelabras in the main foyer had been lit, even the massive chandelier that hung overhead. The hall, which had seemed so dim before, was bathed in orange light. Everything felt so cheery and alive.
At the bottom of the stairs, Mister Flint, Missus Silver, Bronwyn, Missus Smith, the cook, and Mister Steele, another of the servants, stood waiting. All of them were dressed in their finest. It pleased me to see Missus Silver with her arm wrapped around Bronwyn’s waist.
And alongside them was Rhys who was dressed in a handsome suit. He wore a dark blue doublet trimmed with gold embroidery, a white silk collar, breeches and leggings, and boots. His metallic face glimmered as if it had been polished.
My stomach rocked with butterflies the size of ravens.
Isabelle, you’re being ridiculous. He’s just a machine.
You cannot possibly be falling in love with an automaton.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the ladies curtseyed, the men bowed.
Rhys offered his arm.
I linked my arm with his, and we moved down the hallway opposite that which led to the library. At the end of this hall was a set of double doors.
Mister Flint opened the doors to reveal a massive ballroom.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Melanie Karsak is the author of The Airship Racing Chronicles, The Harvesting Series, The Burnt Earth Series, The Celtic Blood Series and Steampunk Fairy Tales. A steampunk connoisseur, zombie whisperer, and heir to the iron throne, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.
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