★★★☆☆

: 2019.587 ( A Word for Authors Obviously this is a lesbian love story, and the only question is how long will it take Red and Beauty to realize it and then what will they do about it?On another level, it’s a story about abused women who have come to “love” their abusers but then realize they want their freedom. Red and Beauty are trapped in different ways, but both are trapped in abusive relationships.The ending (not the epilog) is satisfactory in that Red pays a price (a high price) for her happily-ever-after with Beauty.There’s very little surprise in this story up until the very end. The abuse elements are evident in the original fairy tales; they’re just more explicit here. And the resolution to the final conflict is pretty much aThe conclusion, in which we learn this was all a story one girl was telling to another, doesn’t really add anything.