"Beauty and the Beast of Thornleigh" by Kate Westwood

Disclaimer: I am a subscriber of Kindle Unlimited, where this ebook is available.

Setting: Regency England.

Synopsis: Capt. Asher Brandt has to find a wife.  His older brother died in battle leaving behind a young daughter.  The girl's maternal grandmother will take the girl away unless Capt. Asher marries.  He's desperate, as he was seriously burned in the same battle in which his brother died and his face is badly scarred as a result, his attempts to find someone to accept his suit have been unsuccessful so far due to his disfigurement.  As a last attempt, the grandmother suggests someone that might be amenable to marrying him because of the young lady's unique circumstances.

Characters: And this is where my issues with the book begin.  The book is mostly told from the heroine's perspective.  We are regaled to all her motivations, etc.  We are also regaled to a lot about her and her family and friends (many of whom are really unlikeable).  I would dare say 85% of the book is all about her.  Her name is Georgiana Hall... and I really didn't care about her and whatever emotional situation of her own doing, she is in.  The whole book was about her... and sadly, I could care less.

Then we have the character that is supposed to be the hero, Captain Asher Brandt.  He is introduced to us in the prologue as a hero who saved his ship and most of its crew in battle.  As a result of his heroism, he was severely burned, particularly on the face, and he's disfigured.  His main problem is that he has a very young niece who is going to be taken away from him unless he marries.  Though I did want to like him, fact is that the author made it impossible for the reader to get to know him.  Why?  Because she bothered very little in fleshing him out.

Impressions: First, the pace of this book is very slow.  I am okay with that if there is a good story and the characters reel me in.  Additionally, the pacing in a Regency romance is usually slow to begin with, even if the story is engaging.  I am perfectly fine with that.  Sadly, this book didn't accomplish catching this reader's interest.  The story could have been good, but the lack of balance between the hero and heroine's development, what motivates them, etc. really did a disservice to what otherwise would have been a good story.  

The whole Beauty and the Beast trope is nominal.  Yes, the hero is referred to as the beast of Thornleigh early on and his face is disfigured, but that is pretty much it.  He wasn't cruel to the heroine.  I actually felt bad for him because of her.  

Georgiana Hall...I don't even know what to say about her.  I wanted to slap her a few times over.  Initially her reaction to the proposal is understandable, but once that initial reaction goes on and on and on and on and on... I got to the point in which I just wanted her to go AWAY already.  Given the fact that there is so little interaction between her and the hero, I also couldn't understand how in a matter of a few days she suddenly falls in love with him.  Yes, this is something that happens in other books...but in many of those it hasn't bothered me because it was handled well... in this one after being regaled with endless narrative about the heroine agonizing, I just don't buy it.  

In short, it really bothers me when a book I am reading involves less than 30% interaction between the characters that are supposed to be the main characters; gives more attention to one of those two characters (in the case I am talking about, the heroine gets about 85% of "air" time); the heroine is a Mary Sue; and the reader only gets to know about the hero almost as an afterthought by the author.  The story seemed promising, until I started wishing that the heroine would just go away. It is a Regency HR (meaning an attempt at following Austen's style), I don't think I'd dare call it a "romance" as we define a romance in modern times, though. I liked the description/blurb, but ended up quite disappointed.

As a final note, this book has no heat (not even a bit of physical attraction) to speak of.

Bottomline? The author is promising, but she definitely needs to work on her characterizations.  I will not be picking another one of her stories unless it is also available in Kindle Unlimited, as this one is.