I must say this book ended up surprising me in the best way. It started out a little slow and I was kind of going back and forth deciding if it would get better. The turning point for me was when they started playing chess and becoming more comfortable with each other. Maybe their marriage wasn't such a lie after all.
I loved the way that their partnership bloomed into something real and beautiful. There are many, many Beauty and the Beast retelling nowadays, but this one really stood out. The time period seems similar but with a bit of steampunk, industrial flare. The terf war aspect also added another layer to the complexity of the characters and their situations.
I felt like the realization of the truth could have been built on more but overall I really enjoyed this. The trust that was built and the crumbling away of the Beast's shell to reveal the brave boy inside was well written. The independence and willingness to learn from Contessa was also beautifully done, painting her as a true force to be reckoned with.