About the Book

Book: A Dark Beauty

Author: Clarissa Kae

Genre: Fairytale

Release date: March 9, 2021

A Victorian Twist on Beauty And The Beast

Bold and brilliant, Georgiana has a gift for fixing machines—from clocks to carriages—while her father has a penchant for finding trouble. In an accidental fire, Georgiana and her father scar the once handsome face of Lord Pichon, cousin to the queen.
Rumors of Georgiana’s gift raise her family’s status. Her incomparable beauty captures the eye of many gentlemen and the wrath of Lord Pichon. Abandoned by his peers and alone in his cold castle, Lord Pichon is determined to enact revenge.
When Georgiana’s father makes a terrible mistake, she sacrifices herself to pay his debt—as a lowly maid in Lord Pichon’s castle.
Her wit and warmth begin to thaw Lord Pichon’s estate, making him question his version of the past. Will her kindness break the beastly lord or will he hold her family hostage forever?

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About the Author

Clarissa Kae is a preeminent voice whose professional career began as a freelance editor in 2007. She’s the former president of her local California Writers Club after spending several years as the Critique Director.

Since her first novel, she’s explored different writing genres and created a loyal group of fans who eagerly await her upcoming release. With numerous awards to her name, Clarissa continues to honor the role of storyteller.

Aside from the writing community, she and her daughters founded Kind Girls Make Strong Women to help undervalued nonprofit organizations—from reuniting children with families to giving Junior Olympic athletes their shot at success.

She lives in the agricultural belly of California with her family and farm of horses, chickens, dogs and kittens aplenty.

More from Clarissa

As a young girl most of the fairy tales talked about beauty as the only attribute but when Disney came out with Beauty and the Beast, my world was rocked. For the first time the heroine was a woman with a brain and a plan. I began researching the fairy tale and read every version. When my youngest daughter was born (with dark hair and big beautiful brown eyes) I named her Isla Belle. For as long as I can remember, I dreamed of writing a Beauty and the Beast retelling. And finally, that dream as come true.

My Thoughts

A Dark Beauty by: Clarissa Kae is a retelling of the classic tale, Beauty and the Beast. This book is set in 1850 London. I was drawn to the cover of this book. I have read one other book by this author. I am impressed by her ability to write across multiple genres. The book that I had read was her "Of Ink and Sea" which was a historical romance with paranormal elements.

In this story, we meet Georgiana de Beaumont. Georgiana can fix anything that has moving parts. Her father, can get into any lock - no matter how much it is designed to keep someone out. There is an accidential fire that scars Lord Pichon. Lord Pichon is the Queen's cousin. Lord Pichon does not like nor does he trust Georgiana or her father. However, he is greatly upset when his cousin, the Queen needs the de Beaumont's help. Lord Pichon catches Georgiana's father in an impossible situation - and wants to keep him as prisoner. Georgiana setps in and offers herself instead.

Watching how Lord Pichon and Georgiana try and navigate their new reality was comical. They got on each others nerves and it made me laugh. They get to know each other and discover that they may come from different ends of the spectrum - they have a lot in common with hurt and scars from their past.

This book does not follow the classic the whole way - I loved how the author threw in her own flair which includes mystery. The characters are well written and real feeling. I enjoyed reading this.

I received a copy of this book through the Celebrate Lit blogging program - all thoughts are my own.