The Borrowed Rose: Beauty and the Beast Book Recommendations and Retellings

I see you there.  I think you love Beauty and the Beast tales just as much as I do.  They are fun, challenge the status quo, and scratch that inner call-of-the-wild itch we don't want to admit.   I read an interesting book that well articulated why I appreciate a Beauty and the Beast story over other selections.  Why I gravitate towards a werewolf or shifter romance for an easy weekend read. Hey you!  I'm not the only one!  Beauty and the Beast is a tale as old as time (see what I did there), showing up throughout the ages in various forms and myths.  The oldest version is likely " Cupid and Psyche " from the second century AD.  "The Woman Who Married a Snake" was another early version in Indian culture, shared orally and finally appearing in print in 500 AD (p 15).  Each age and culture has it's version of Beauty and her Beast.  And it turns out we love it just as much in today's culture. In The Meanings of "Beauty & the Bea...

Everything has to have a first, including happily ever afters (HEAs).  The love story of Cupid & Psyche is noted to be literature's first fairy-tale.  Elements within the story influence tales such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.   Shakespeare also drew on elements from the tale for his M idsummer Night's Dream . The story of Cupid & Psyche itself is cleverly embedded within a larger story, called Metamorphoses (which was also called The Golden Ass ), written by Roman author Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in 2nd century AD.  Cupid & Psyche's story is one of overcoming obstacles with a heavy dose of soap-opera drama.  You know those fickle, attention-greedy mythological gods. Cupid & Psyche's Story:  The First Happily Ever After Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova (my own photo) The general plot goes something like this:  Psyche is gorgeous and Venus is jelly.  She sends her son Cupid to make Psyche fal...