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Let’s talk about a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a side of Pride and Prejudice, aka WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF, aka The Beast and the Bookseller by Eva Devon! IF THERE IS ONE THING IN LIFE I LOVE (lol no such thing, I am an ENTHUSIAST) it is books about books and the people who love them. This historical romance follows book lovers Elizabeth, the curator of her father’s bookshop, and Garrett, a reclusive Duke who relies on a steady supply of books to keep his brain busy (there’s such a thing as TOO relatable, Eva Devon 🤣). The book starts with Garrett showing up to confront Elizabeth’s father about slacking on his scheduled book deliveries, but he ends up having to deal with Elizabeth instead. When I tell you that this book squeezed my heart! 🩵 These characters, Garrett especially, made me fall for them immediately. Give me a grumpy book loving Duke with a savior complex please. Truly how am I expected to go on when Garrett thinks things like: “Books allowed him to keep hoping, hoping in a mass of humanity that seemed intent on destroying itself.” This is what I wanted The Earl Takes a Fancy by Lorraine Heath to be. I loved the way The Beast and the Bookseller explored the social class difference of this couple instead of using it as a plot device and I loved that conversations about women’s rights and institutionalization were so central to the novel. This was my first Eva Devon book, and I loved how she took elements from two of my very favorite stories in the world and made them her own. I can’t wait to read book two, set to release in August, but in the meantime I will probably be rereading this one! TW: alcoholism ID: A kindle displaying the ebook cover of The Beast and the Bookseller sits on a white shelf. I’m reaching out to touch the kindle with one hand. My manicure coordinates with the blues of the cover. via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/Ct9I_cVrro9/