Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: The Beast at the Door
AUTHOR: Althea Blue
PUBLISHER: Supposed Crimes
LENGTH: 136 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2016
BLURB:
In this steampunk fairy tale, Patience is no proper young lady. Faced with the prospect of marriage, she runs away from home, from wealth, and a looming life of lies. She finds a garden guarded by a fantastic beast.
The beast also guards a young girl like herself, alone in the world. Ada is wise and beautiful. Their burgeoning friendship is threatened by outside forces. Only a clockwork menagerie of monsters can save them from an unfriendly world.
REVIEW:
This was an absolutely delightful story and so not what I expected! Not that I’m entirely sure what I expected given I’m not familiar with steampunk. Patience is a wonderful character, a strong young-woman in her own right.
After fleeing her family and impending arranged marriage, Patience stumbles across a possible safe place only to encounter ‘the beast’! But what or who is ‘the beast’? I can’t say without spoilers, but as per above things are not as they seem.
Ada, an equally engaging character, and the story of the two heroines trying to make the best of what life has doled out to them, kept me on the edge of my seat. When bad men break-in with the intention of killing the beast and taking over the house, the girls have to get inventive to save their hides, their home, and ‘the beast.’
The addition of trips to the market, Mr. Welsh and his creepy son, Calvin, added another layer of depth and mayhem to this story.
The adult content was sensual without being overly explicit, which suited the characters perfectly given it was a sexual awakening for Patience.
The only reason I didn’t rate this five stars is I personally wanted to know the fate of two characters that played vital roles in each of the girls lives before they met, and are referred to throughout the story. The author has talent and I’m sure she could’ve pulled it off. With that said, for a debut novel I can’t complain.
The story is very well written, with a unique plot and characters you’ll be rooting for. I definitely recommend it and will happily read more by this author.
RATING: 
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