Review: Bollywood and the Beast

Bollywood and the Beast by Suleikha Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know any think about Bollywood outside of a few clips I've watched, but I have liked what I've seen. On the flip side, I am specious of retellings of fairy tales as there are so many, and so many that have gone horribly wrong. Add to that, Beauty and the Beast has to be one of my least liked stories for many reasons.

All that said, I really liked this book.
It owns the Beauty and Beast connection upfront, the characters referencing it with derision on the part of the 'beauty' Rakhee “Rocky” Varma, an American who is trying to make her way in the Bollywood movie business. The character's outsider status was really nice as it helps introduce concepts, language, and references to those of us who have no knowledge of any of it without it feeling like an info dump.

The one issue I have with the story is the 'insta lust' between Rocky and the 'beast' Taj Ali Khan. Khan was disfigured in an accident and has spent the last ten or so years never leaving his family's mansion. He was a great heroic/romantic actor before the accident, and has continued to be the most dramatic, scene eating alpha into his chosen isolation.
Rocky stands up to him, but the first time they kiss I found myself desperately wishing that she had just cold-cocked him right in the nose. Lady, there is no reason to put up with that crap!

The secondary plot of Khan's younger brother will tear your heart out and stomp on it, and then you will want to stop on Khan a bit for being such an ass to the poor guy. As this book is part of a series I am hoping that one of the other books covers the younger Khan's story and that he gets all the happy ever, a pile of kittens, and the world's most comfortable chair to enjoy them in.

The writing and descriptions are really nice, I have a little issue with the time frame of the romance, but then I don't get the insta love thing or the putting up with alpha-holes. But the book is a fast fun read, you want to hang out with Rocky and her family. I would love a prequel or sequel about her parents as we got to see some of how badass her mom is and I would love to see her parents interact.

The ending was a little shoehorned in and felt too quick even though we all know what's going to happen. However, a pretty good/fast introduction to a series.

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