Title: The rose and the beast: fairytales retold.
Author: Francesca Lia Block.
Pages: 229.
Published: August 7th 2001 (first published September 19th 2000)
Publisher: Joanna Cotler Books/HarperCollins Publishers
Sort: Stand-alone.
With language that is both lyrical and distinctly her own, Francesca Lia Block turns nine fairy tales inside out. Escaping the poisoned apple, Snow frees herself from possession to find the truth of love in an unexpected place. A club girl from L.A., awakening from a long sleep to the memories of her past, finally finds release from its curse. And Beauty learns that Beasts can understand more than men. Within these singular, timeless landscapes, the brutal and the magical collide, and the heroine triumphs because of the strength she finds in a pen, a paintbrush, a lover, a friend, a mother, and finally, in herself.
Rating:

The only reason why I managed to read this book was because of the shortness of the stories. I kept hoping that one of them was good, but I was disappointed by all. The first story is by far the best one. It’s a retelling of Snow White and it’s the only one with a fairytale feeling. There is still something strange going on, because her mother’s new husband is the one who awakes her with a kiss..
The one from Beauty and the Beast wasn’t that bad either (otherwise I would have been very sad). Beauty is starting to turn into a beast and when he is starting to change into a human, she is a bit disappointed. That was a fun twist.
All the others were strange and not what I expected. There are several stories about rape, there is one with a drug addiction; not really stories you would expect in a fairytale retelling. It’s so harsh and realistic. I want magic, faeries, romance – hell, I even want instant-love. There is no fun in a retelling where Sleeping Beauty is made addicted to opium and where she is used by several men at the same time for pornographic photos. That is just wrong in my eyes and it doesn’t do justice to the real story.
Another thing that also bothered me was the fact that there are no quotation marks. It’s very confusing and I was sometimes lost in the conversations. The only positive thing I can think of is that I like the cover. It’s a shame that it doesn’t match the inside. The high ratings on Goodreads are a mystery to me.. And I don't think I will be reading anything from this author soon.