Love's Journey to Awakening--Beauty and the Beast--Happily Ever After
by Laurel Cain Haws
Book Summary Information
Author: Laurel Cain HawsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-23
ISBN: 0615210406
Number of pages: 572
Publisher: Karen L. Haws dba Honey Tree Enterprises
Book Reviews of Love's Journey to Awakening--Beauty and the Beast--Happily Ever After
Book Review: Beautiful Happily-Ever-After Sequel to the Beauty and the Beast TV Series
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a masterfully written sequel to the Beauty and the Beast television series! This journey of Ms. Haws' imagination definitely mended my shattered heart after having it torn asunder by the tragic end of the series. The characters come to life again in this novel, and I could hear their voices as the story progressed. The characters from the series that Ms. Haws writes about in this story are the characters that I see when I watch the series, and I had no trouble recognizing their personalities in her story. She further develops them, so that they evolve naturally in this novel. The new characters that she introduces are equally well developed, rich, and interesting people. Most important of all, this book is set and centered around Vincent and Catherine.
In some negative reviews I've read written by people who apparently don't recognize fine literature when they read it Ms. Haws has been referred to as "naïve." I wish there were a lot more "naïve" writers out there! It is refreshing to read a compelling story, written using perfect English and spelling, without any illicit sex or foul language. I really appreciated the thread of morality that runs throughout her book, and I believe that the series started out with that, and it was diluted along the way, which I was sorry to see. I am also happy to see other men standing up for Ms. Haws' work who agree with me both at the US Amazon and at her website. The male gender is a small percentage of the series fans. Ms. Haws has not ignored worldly viewpoints in her novel. She acknowledges them, offers a more wholesome view of life, and demonstrates an individual's potential to successfully choose a different path in life leading to greater happiness and fulfillment. That also was a basic element contained in the original series plots for individuals who entered and became members of the tunnel-world community.
I'm sure the US entertainment industry has to be happy with this book, because with almost every breath Ms. Haws strongly encourages her readers to purchase the series DVDs and view them in entirety before reading her book. I know that I followed her advice. Even though I have been a BATB series fan since it first aired in 1987, I purchased a new set of DVDs and watched the entire series again as Ms. Haws suggested, and then the book flawlessly continued the story without any feeling that something was missing. Ms. Haws must have been truly inspired to weave her story into the series the way she did. All of her unique story-line makes perfect sense because of her repetition of parts of some of the series episodes in her book. I have seen many sequel movies containing many discrepancies between the sequel and the original because careful time was not taken to review the original in order to create a proper sequel that wasn't annoying because of mistakes. Ms. Haws' sequel has no irritating discrepancies, and she even builds upon and completes episodes in the series with surprising and wonderful results.
Ms. Haws' epic tale gives us a chance to see clearly the unselfish natures of Vincent, the tunnel-community, and the Helpers from above as they work together toward restoring Catherine to health. That, to me, was the whole point of the original series; the way a community of unique individuals can function together as one working toward a common goal. The fascinating, and as her editor, Dr. Anderson, says in his discussion of her novel on her website, "unpredictable" story she created to demonstrate that unselfish love flows seamlessly and is very easy to read and follow. She has a very elegant writing style.
Even Ms. Haws' book cover is fascinating to me. Although from a professional artist's point of view it might seem a little busy, the symbolism she uses is poignant. Every image and color or background used is symbolic for some important aspect of either the series or her unique story. Those who are already familiar with the television series will readily recognize the symbols she has employed from the series, and the meaning of the rest of the colors and images will become apparent as her story is enjoyed.
The settings and scenes are seemingly painted with her words so that you can see the story unfold in your mind as you read. So many of the questions left unanswered by the abrupt ending of the television series are answered in this novel in a logical and imaginative way. Catherine's rescue is a very exciting and well-developed tale. The continuing romance between Vincent and Catherine and the other romances that begin in this story are very warm and wonderful, definitely food for any love-starved heart. You know a book is really good when you want to read it again, and I have now read this book numerous times.
I've read some truly beautiful reviews of this book which I entirely agree with, and I've read some truly ugly mean-spirited ones which have little basis in fact in my opinion. I have noted that some of those negative reviews have been written by other fan-fiction writers, and it seems to me that "sour grapes" would be an apt description for their attitudes. Ms. Haws has been nothing but kind in response to these vicious attacks and pays tribute on her website to the many talented writers out there who have contributed a lot of wonderful fan-fiction in the world of Beauty and the Beast. I am deeply grateful that she was able to take the tragedy in her own life and turn it into something as positive and uplifting as this book is and that she made the decision to share it with the world.
It should be noted that Ms. Haws has generously made her entire novel available as a free download at her own website on the Lulu self-publishing website. You can access the link to her website by visiting her profile page here on Amazon under her "real" name of Karen L. Haws-Dearing. There is a lot of information there about this book as well as some very well-written positive reviews. I like actually having a book to hold and read rather than reading a download, but if you are worried because of any nasty reviews you may have read elsewhere, I would suggest that you visit her website, read the information posted there, read the reviews, and check out the free download before you buy the book. I promise you that it won't be a waste of your time. I am deliriously happy with this book!
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