Of Beast And Beauty, Daughters Of Eville By Chanda Hahn

Mother Teresa once said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” That message is present in everyday life, and in Chanda Hahn’s Of Beast and Beauty, Daughters of Eville. The story follows Rosalie, who is a young girl cursed with a death seeker gift and possesses magical powers of both healing and killing. She lives with her 6 sisters, as well as her revengeful stepmother, Mother Eville. They learn to exercise and control their powers. Almost. But before they can, Mother Eville starts her vengeful plan: to force the Prince of the country, Baist, to marry Rosalie, and make her the princess. Mother Eville then blackmails the king into agreeing to have the prince marry Rosalie. But there's one problem, magic is banned in Baist, and

At their wedding reception, Xander doesn’t seem happy, as he confines his wife to her room, and now doesn’t have another to dance or talk with. Rosalie disguises herself as a maid and eventually she learns what Xander really thinks of her. As “the maid,” Rose, speaks to Xander, he tells her, “‘The prince married a witch… I don’t know how he’ll survive being married to her’ ‘Is that so?’ I answer bitterly” (Hahn 13). From her bitter expression, Rosalie knows that she is more than the “witch” that Xander thinks her to be. By confining Rosalie out, Xander is dejected at his own wedding reception when, if he had judged Rosalie differently, he could be taking the stage with his wife and having a companion by his side. It’s not just Prince Xander, because her “bad” reputation has also been influenced on King Gerald, which is even worse for Rosalie. By this time, Baist goes to war with another country, Florin. Both the King and Prince are stressed out. So while locked in a room by themselves, Rosalie overhears King Gerald telling Prince Xander, “‘You will take care of this inconvenience’... I stood alone in my hiding spot, angry at what I’d overheard. Am I the inconvenience?” (Hahn 57). Again, King Gerald and Prince Xander see Rosalie as an “inconvenience.” Because of Rosalie’s angry expressions subsequent to Xander and Geralds’ conversation,

This is seen when Xander first sees Rosalie’s healing abilities. Queen Anya gets sick from poison, and none of the healers were able to do anything. But because of her healing power, Rosalie is able to cure Queen Anya. After seeing her abilities, “Xander seemed a bit more generous to me and agreed to my request to travel to town” (Hahn 101). In order to have allowed Rosalie to cure Queen Anya, Xander would have had to judge Rosalie strictly for her strengths, at least for the moment. But because in that moment, when he did end up focusing on Rosalie’s strengths, he may have saved his mother's life. Later in the book, Rosalie and Xander grow closer, and Rosalie reveals that she was actually Rose, the maid. However, Xander reveals that he has a curse. Though Rosalie could have easily cut him off, he stays by his side. By doing this, Xander and Rosalie live happy lives through their ups and downs. In the end, Xander tells her, “Thank you, Rosalie… For loving me despite my curse. For proving that every beast has a chance for love” (Hahn 296). Because of the happiness he feels knowing that Rosalie will only look upon him for his robustness, Xander finally not only knows to judge people based on their strengths but now has experience being on the receiving end as