When Beauty Tamed the Beast. Finished 3-20-17, rating 4.5/5, historical romance, 372 pages, pub. 2011

Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne is a Beauty . . . Naturally, she’s betrothed to a Beast.

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. And rumor also has it that a wound has left the earl immune to the charms of any woman.

Linnet is not just any woman.

She is more than merely lovely: her wit and charm brought a prince to his knees. She estimates the earl will fall madly in love—in just two weeks.

Yet Linnet has no idea of the danger posed to her own heart by a man who may never love her in return.

If she decides to be very wicked indeed . . . what price will she pay for taming his wild heart?      from Goodreads

When I heard Eloisa James say that she had read 7 years worth of House MD scripts to get the character of House just right, I knew I would love this one.  The classic tale of Beauty and the Beast is a timely one one right now and even though I haven’t seen the movie yet, I can recommend the book.  Like yesterday’s novel this takes me to Wales, only it’s the a few hundred years ago.  House, I mean Piers, was a solid curmudgeon of brilliance, complete with bum leg.  Linnet was beautiful enough to interest a prince, but not to seal the deal so the two are thrown together as a last resort for one and an olive branch, of sorts, for the other.

It’s witty, sexy and smart.  I love that Piers had his own hospital inside his castle with a loyal and loving family, even if dysfunctional.  Linnet, for all her beauty, had no one even though every man in the same room fell at her feet.   The two recognized something in each other and it was only a matter of time until they had their happily ever after.