Bookish and the Beast

The Once upon a Con Series, Book 3

By: Ashley Poston

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly, Curry Whitmire

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

In the third book in Ashley Poston’s Once Upon a Con series, Beauty and the Beast is retold in the beloved Starfield universe as bad boy Vance Reigns meets his match in fanfiction writer Rosie Thorne.

Rosie Thorne and her father have been short on luck - and money - for years. So when she loses her grocery store job in a heated moment of smashing the patriarchy, she knows she may be forced to give up on her dream of leaving her small town for a prestigious college creative writing program.

On the other hand, Vance Reigns has been Hollywood royalty for as long as Rosie’s been clipping coupons and secretly writing massively popular fanfiction. When a tabloid scandal catches up to him, he’s forced to hide out somewhere the paparazzi would never expect to find him: Small Town USA.

Rosie and Vance’s paths collide in a chance encounter, and suddenly cataloging the Starfield library at Vance’s manor house is Rosie’s only shot at saving money for school. And while most Starfield superfans would jump at the chance to work in close proximity to Vance, Rosie has realized something about Vance: he’s a huge jerk, and she can’t stand him.

Still, there may be more to Vance than meets the eye. As Rosie and Vance begrudgingly get to know each other, secrets are revealed that could change their minds - and their hearts - forever.

©2020 Ashley Poston (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Fun twist on a favorite fairy tale

I enjoy these fairy tale twist. This version is no different from the others in the series. If you like the other books in the series you'll enjoy this book. One thing that was a distraction for me is one of the characters is identified binary. Since I am not use to a person being called them, they...etc, it took me a bit to get use to how they were talked about because I kept thinking they were talking about multiple people. But besides being a distraction for me, they are one of the characters I really enjoyed in this book. I also enjoy how the author weaves in her other characters into her stories making it fun to hear what is happening in some of our favorite characters from the other books.

Not as good as the rest of the series

I’m not sure why but this one didn’t hit me like the first few in the series. The main character was younger so maybe that was the issue for me. The love interest didn’t have enough growth and development for me. He goes from a playboy to a boyfriend so fast. The pace to me was a bit rushed. Everything just happened without huge amounts of development. If there is another book in the series I hope it’s a bit more rounded out.

Look to the stars!

I enjoyed this book and it’s twist on Beauty and the Beast vibe. This go around, our “Beast” is Hollywood bad boy Vance Reigns but it’s really more his attitude that’s beastly. Our “Beauty” is a local bookworm Rosie Thorne who is obsessed with Starfield. We don’t get much of the Con scene in this book like we did with the others but it works with all the references to the beloved Starfield characters. Overall great read!

Amazing story!

Absolutely loved it! Loved the references and it is relatable! Highly recommend this whole series!

A great young adult story for today

Our world is changing. And this book takes all of that into account well also telling an interesting and entertaining story.

The characters are well developed, and as a reader, I understood their actions.

Not all of the characters were immediately likable. But they were relatable.

Amazing

I love this series so much.
I'm not into misunderstanding tropes, I'm glad the author resolve things fast.
I loved the main couple and seeing some cameos from the previous book.

Meh. Not nearly as good as the first.

I listened the first in this series and thought it was cute, so decided to give this one a try too. It was not that great. I’m not planning to continue on to the third.

Do I like this one better?

I didn’t understand the “Villain” passage that the book began with, but was extremely interesting. Adore all the references just like the two previous books. This book lacked action, lacked something intense to happen.

Adorable nods to Beauty and the Beast

Such a fun story for book nerds and cosplayers. Recommend to those who love romcoms and quick reads. Clean YA story

Loved this series!

The first book was my favorite, but I honestly loved all of them. They were a fun and easy listen.