How can I put this mildly? I was a bit disappointed with this version of the fairytale of the "Beauty and the Beast". 
 And I shouldn't be! 
 Because all the elements that I love in Alexa RileyaEUR(tm)s books are there: 
 -The humor: "You smell fertile. Mr Gold is going to be very pleased." 
 -The smut: Grabbing my cock at the base, I push into her wet warmth and feel her tight heat wrap around all twelve inches. 
 -The possessiveness: "I am yours....And you are mine." 
 -The breeding:"it's the mating heat. It's bearing down on us, forcing us to breed." 
 -The Alpha male:"The blood that pumps in my veins is alpha." 
 But it felt rushed and incomplete, like an obligation that it had to be out of the way. 
 Let me explain: 
 1. It is the shortest story. 60 pages which are really 30 if you subtract the title, the dedication page and the first chapter of the "Riding Red" that it is included. And it has really big fonts. Seriously the other three authors definitely put more effort on this series. Even if the other three stories are not your cup of tea, you have to acknowledge this. 
 2 . Although the story is short, it could have been more solid. And it is not. Not enough explanation in the beginning, then straight to sex, then boom straight to finish. The two epilogues (which cover one third of the pages) were actually more complete. 
 3. If you compare The "Beauty in the Winter" with the "Riding Red" which talks about shifters too, they are different like night and day. "Fairytale Shifters" is a nice PNR series and I highly recommend it. 
 4. One of my favorite books by Alexa Riley is "Owing the Beast". I believe this is a great and more appropriate version of the Beauty and the Beast myth by AR.