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I ended up having a love-hate relationship with this novel that leaned more towards hate than love. I was excited for this story because the story of the Beauty and the Beast is one of my all time favorite fairytales, and I love erotic fairytales. However, the story was off-putting from the very beginning.

I am very much against slut-shaming, but Danya was obnoxious. Even as someone who enjoys sex, I found her character unbelievable, unrelatable, and extremely childish. I thought she made poor decisions and her sex drive bordered on ridiculous. I couldn't force myself to like her, or her sister for that matter who fell in love after being ravaged by a man she didn't even know.

This story had a lot of potential, but somewhere early in the beginning, the train jumped the track and never seemed to get back on. I almost did not finish it. I reached the sex scene where the Beast was shoving Danya's chest onto a steak she was eating as he took her savagely from behind and just had to set the book down. I could not even pretend to find this erotic. Most of the erotic scenes were not horrible, some were actually very steamy, but some reached a point of absurd.

I did pick it back up at a later date to finish it. It never became any better, but it also did not get worse. What I did appreciate about this book was the author's courage to write erotic scenes that differed from the cliche and overused mainstream formula you can find in pretty much any novel you pick up.
  
A wonderfully engaging, inside look behind the scenes of Doctor Who in the late 80s. Andrew Cartmel writes a fantastic peek at what was. Unfortunately the tone of the first half of the book is very matter of fact, chaotic production notes and bits of exchanged dialogue from the principles associated with the shows being produced. It's the second half of the book that contains the meaty stories and thoughts of what was trying to be accomplished and wether or not Mr. Cartmel thought they succeeded. While I miss the factoids in the second half of the book, I wish the first half was written with this kind of open honesty and optimism. Cartmel believed then (and now) that they were doing GOOD science fiction and GOOD Doctor Who at the time, and it's a joy to read his insights on the matter. (For the record, I agree with his assessment.) I just wish the tone of the book was constant throughout. If I were to be so bold, I'd suggest a special edition may be in order, to beef up and marry the two styles together.

Regardless, it's an entertaining read, and provides a rare look at a unique time in the shows history.