Title: The Beast and the Bethany

Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Number of Pages: 256

Summary: From Goodreads: “Ebenezer Tweezer is a youthful 511-year-old. He keeps a beast in the attic of his mansion, who he feeds all manner of things (including performing monkeys, his pet cat and the occasional cactus) and in return the beast vomits out presents for Ebenezer, as well as potions which keep him young and beautiful. But the beast grows ever greedier, and soon only a nice, juicy child will do. So when Ebenezer encounters orphan Bethany, it seems like (everlasting) life will go on as normal. But Bethany is not your average orphan . . .”

Review: Thank you, Dave, at The Write Reads for organizing and inviting me to be part of this blog tour. Thank you, Egmont Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start off this review by saying that I absolutely loved this book. I’ve been in a bit of a reading/blogging slump for the past month or two, and this book was a perfect combination of some things that I love, and it certainly helped pull me out of my slump.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket, and Neil Gaiman got together to write a children’s version of The Picture of Dorian Gray? If so, you need to pick up The Beast and the Bethany because that’s the best way for me to describe this fantastic book. I thought that this book was the perfect combination of whimsical, dark, creepy, and suspenseful, and I cannot recommend it enough.

My favourite thing about this book is that it kept me on the edge of my seat while reading it. There were so many moments where I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I was glued to the pages to find out what would happen next. I also found that during the scenes where I knew how they were going to end, the lead up was suspenseful, and it was almost like watching something terrible happen in slow motion.

I was a huge fan of the characters in this book, and I thought that Ebenezer and Bethany made an excellent pair. I like watching both of the characters grow into better people, and I liked watching them try to figure out how to deal with their hungry beast problem. I thought Bethany was a very clever character, and she’s definitely a character that I’m going to remember for a while.

Finally, I loved that this book felt like a combination of some of my favourite things. When I was growing up, I was obsessed with A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I devoured every Roald Dahl book I could get my hands on. More recently, I’ve read a lot of Neil Gaiman’s middle-grade books, and I love the creepy vibes that a lot of them have. It felt like this book was the perfect combination of these three authors, and I think it’s the kind of book that could get someone hooked on reading and stories. I also loved that it had similar elements as The Picture of Dorian Gray because that’s my favourite classic.

Overall, I thought this book was fantastic. It was dark and full of suspense while still having an element of whimsy. I highly recommend checking out this book, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

Rating: 5 Stars!