Waiting on Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights any upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

Publication Date: July 23, 2013

In the beginning was the darkness, and in the darkness was a girl, and in the girl was a secret...

In the domed city of Yuan, the blind Princess Isra, a Smooth Skin, is raised to be a human sacrifice whose death will ensure her city’s vitality. In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.

Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.

As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love. (Goodreads)

It should now be obvious to anyone who reads my posts that I adore retellings. Fairy tales, folklore, myths, classic literature, you name it. There's just something so fascinating in seeing how an author is able to use a well-known story as inspiration for a new one. 

With that being said, I am not sure whether I've made it as well known that the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale holds a special place in my heart. I have researched the tale in depth and examined how the story has evolved over the years for a thesis. It's incredible the amount of information I found out on it, and I treasure each opportunity to read another retelling of the story. 

I've heard good things about Jay's retellings of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet Immortal and Romeo Redeemed. Knowing that Jay has already done retellings, and that she has now chosen one of my favorite stories to retell, makes me super excited for Of Beast and Beauty's release. Her retelling sounds like it will take a more political stance, so I'm eager to see how she incorporates politics into the spine story, as well as to be introduced to two new incarnations of "Beauty and the Beast."

What are you waiting on?