Type: Audio Book Purchase
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
As soon as I finished Monstrous Beauty my first thought was holy hell this is one dark and twisted book! I will say that, except for Gone Girl, I have not read anything that has shocked me so much. Don't get me wrong I don't hate this book and I love that Elizabeth Fama can pull such a reaction from me, but I don't like many of the characters.
The story is told in two time periods. Present day and 170 years in the past. In the present, Hester meets a mysterious guy who she feels drawn to. Just as she meets this guy strange things start happening around town, some that can only be explained as haunting. Hester starts to uncover mysteries as to who she is and how her family line might be tied into these strange occurrences.
In the past Ezra falls in love with a creature named Syrenka. A lot of the darkness I blame on Syrenka, because if she had not fallen in love with Ezra none of the crazy things in this story would have happened. Syrenka's selfish actions caused a lot of pain. I didn't relate to her at any point and when she was in the story I wanted to skip it.
I love the cover, but I felt like it was a bit misleading. The cover says pretty and even a bit girly, but that's not what the book is about. I wish they would have used something darker or that represented both Hester and Syrenka.
There are a lot of mature subjects in Monstrous Beauty including rape and multiple murders. I think Monstrous Beauty is a good read, because Elizabeth Fama is an amazing story teller. If you like darker novels with a mysterious twist then this is the book for you!
Audio: Katherine Kellgren is one of my favorite narrators. Katherine is the narrator for both Ashes and Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick. Katherine has won a number of awards. She did a great job with the present story as well as the past. I think having a talented narrator really adds to the experience of listening to a book.