The Rose Gate A Beauty and the Beast Retelling by Hanna Sandvig Review

Back in the year 2020 I bought a bunch of paperback Beauty and the Beast books to read over the summer. One of those books was The Rose Gate by a new author Hanna Sandvig. Right from the start the book caught my attention. The idea of a modern-day girl traveling into a fantasy world through a portal reminded me of the magic wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia. The fact that it was a based off my favorite fairy tale was just the icing on the cake. This book did not disappoint. It balanced the right amount of seriousness, humor, and romance and is definitely worth reading.

The Rose Gate introduces us to Isobel a modern-day girl living with a broken family. After her father's company declare bankruptcy, he moved her and her two sisters Lily and Amber from the city to their summer cottage home in a remote town in Canada. While Isobel mostly enjoys her new life working with preschoolers at a library with the head librarian Ms. Chloe, she can't escape her dad and Amber constant quarreling. One night during a particularly bad fight Isobel goes for an evening walk to get away from them and finds herself being chased by creepily intelligent wolves. As she tries to escape them, she is saved at the last second by a bear who takes her through a portal to the land of Faerie. As it turns out the bear is a Fae prince named Leith who was cursed by the Unseelie Queen to be a bear whenever he goes into the human world. Time is running out for him and his servants before the Unseelie Queen will come to take him away and force him to join her wolf pack. As time runs slower in the human world Isobel is forced to stay in Leith's palace until its daytime and the danger of the wolves has passed. As she gets to know Leith and his cursed servants, she finds herself wanting to help them break the curse to save them all. Leith claims that only his death or the Unseelie Queens can sever it but there must be another way. Can Isobel save her new friends and the bear prince who she might be falling for before it's too late?

I love how this book combines fantasy and real life together. Most books I read are set only in a fictional fantasy setting with no traces of the real world mentioned in it. So, when an author mixes the two settings together and does it as flawlessly as Hanna Sandvig does you know you're in for a real treat. In books like Beauty and the Teenage Beast by Tarrah Montgomery and The Curse Girl by Kate Avery Ellison the main heroine spends the majority of their story in a fantasy world and as a result the real world feels more like an afterthought. The Rose Gate however balances both settings very smoothly with one not overshadowing the other. The world of Faerie seems like a fascinating place but sadly, you don't get to see much of it because of Leith's curse preventing him or Isobel access to it. I hope to see more of it as new books are released. 

Isobel is a great modern-day version of Belle. Like her Disney counterpart she loves reading books and isn't the most social person. She has had to deal with a lot of family drama with both her parents and can't wait to leave for college. Despite all that has happened she maintains a cheery attitude and isn't one to give up easily. It was nice to see her also learn to use magic despite not being a Fae and fight for the ones she loved.

Leith was a great take on the Beast character. Unlike the Beast he is only a bear when he is in the human world. He retains his human form while in Faerie but has lots of scars and has lost an eye. He has been through a lot both physically and emotionally and my heart went out to him. It was refreshing to see a take on Beauty and the Beast where Belle is at the castle for her own protection and not to save her father's life. Leith is just trying to protect her from the wolves and they both know that Isobel will return home once the danger has passed. Their relationship was really sweet but also felt realistic since it's not without is fair share of disagreements. Overall, both characters were meant for each other, and I was rooting for them the whole time.

Overall, this book was a delight to reread. It had plot twists I didn't see coming, a clean romance worth rooting for, and a calculating villain whose actions are felt even throughout the book despite not being physically in it for most of it. I rate this book five out of five stars. With Hanna Sandvig's upcoming book The Glass Gate (a retelling of Cinderella) coming out by the end of this month I can look forward to learning more about the world of Faerie and its inhabitants. Until next time. Emma