Yeva's father has taught her to be a hunter so, when the family are forced to relocate to a remote cabin in the woods, Yeva follows her father when he goes out to provide for his family. When he doesn't come back one day, Yeva goes to look for him but in doing so encounters an adversary who is more than a match for her. 
 I absolutely love Slavic tales and Russian folklore so as soon as I opened this novel I knew it woule be for me. Although it is supposedly from the YA genre, I found it had a depth that those stories often don't have and again, this added to my overall enjoyment very much. 
 Yeva and the Beast, of course, are very well rounded characters who we get to know well as one would expect. The real strength of this retelling for me though, were the other characters (both animal and human) who were also expertly brought to life and most definitely not just there on the sidelines. 
 The central relationship between Yeva and the Beast is sensitively done but not over the top, and we begin to get to know him as she does; as a complex character with many sides to him, all fighting for dominance. The cleverness with which the Beauty and the Beast tale is interwoven with Russian fairy tales adds yet another dimension to the story and again, just makes it an absolute joy to immerse oneself in. 
 This is a beautifully written story and a lovely book and I would definitely recommend reading it for yourself.