Try The Aerowyn Tales if you enjoy fairy tales with a twist. The trilogy was meant to be a standalone Gaston retelling. It morphed into villain backstories and unlikely romances. Normally heroes get all the praise. Villains don’t usually offer virtues people desire in a character. The Gaston-type character, Gerard in Bellarose and the Beast is a villain with an unpredictable ending.

In The Aerowyn Tales, the anti-hero trope is revamped to provide a wholesome alternative for readers. Too often pop culture celebrates and rewards bad behavior. It has become romantic to break the law. In The Aerowyn Tales, the word “twisted” doesn’t refer to deviant behavior, but rather the turns each character takes. The reader won’t be able to foresee all their endings.

Even the vilest pirate in Bellarose and the Pirate gets his chance to choose light over darkness, but all choices have consequences and bad boys don’t get romanticized. There are reasons with backstories for each character’s actions. Gerard has more depth than Disney gave the pompous Gaston. Flawed characters can help readers relate to stories, but chances for redemption can give them hope. Despite a person’s weaknesses or failures, there is always a way to become the best version of ourselves.

Gaston in Beauty and the Beast was an original copyrighted Disney character and not part of the first novel by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740. Therefore Bellarose and the Beast, has a new villain, Gerard with extra twists to his story.

Chart of similarities and differences between Gaston and Gerard.