Behooved is a charming fantasy romance that draws from Beauty and the Beast stories and shifter romances in a creative and sometimes very funny way. It also has a solid representation of life with a chronic illness. While this book wasn’t subtle about its messages, it was heartwarming, exciting, and sweet.

Bianca (our narrator) is a princess whose parents teach her to honor duty above all else and to conceal any vulnerability at all cost, including emotional vulnerability. She must be especially careful to conceal her chronic illness, which flares at unexpected intervals and causes her nausea, exhaustion, and abdominal pain. When her parents tell her to marry Aric, the prince of a neighboring kingdom, in order to prevent war, she agrees.

When Bianca arrives at Aric’s kingdom, she finds Aric to be rude and unfriendly. He ignores her until the wedding night, for which both parties have little enthusiasm. Before matters get underway an assassin breaks in and Bianca attempts to protect Aric by triggering a protection spell that was gifted to her by her sister, Tatiana. Bianca is shocked when the spell instantly turns Aric into a horse. They escape into the woods, regroup, and quickly discover three very important things:

1. Aric can speak with Bianca telepathically when in horse form but not to anyone else.
2. Aric is only a horse from sunrise to sunset. The rest of the time he is a hot nerd.
3. Bianca cannot break the spell.

There are a lot of good things about this book. The setting is lovely and the world-building, though not extensive, is enough to place the reader fully in the setting and help the reader understand what is happening. The descriptions are solid. The plot is exciting and well-paced, with plenty of quiet moments in which the relationship between Bianca and Aric can build. There are moments that are funny and moments that are sad. There is a sense of high stakes for the characters and their world.

As solid as this book is in all regards, it really succeeds because of its characters. The very first scene puts the reader fully on the side of Bianca and establishes that it is going to be Bianca vs. the World and Everyone In It.

But the first time we see Aric reading a book – well.

It is immediately obvious to the reader (but not Bianca or Aric) that Aric’s cold affect is due to insecurity just as Bianca’s refusal to admit vulnerability is due to fear, and that both of these survivors of emotional abuse are at their best when they work as a team. Although the marriage begins with my least favorite trope, A Big Misunderstanding, that gets cleared up quickly so we can get on to the important stuff of Bianca and Aric getting to know each other.

I was also impressed by the depiction of chronic illness. The author discusses her own experience with celiac disease. Bianca’s disease is never named, but her symptoms are similar. Although I don’t have celiac disease, I struggle with other chronic conditions and I found Bianca’s experiences to be very relatable. I especially related to the unpredictability of her flares and her realization that although she can mask a certain degree of misery, the more she tries to push through a flare, the worse the flare is and the longer it takes to recover. I was touched by Aric’s insistence that Bianca is not, as her family has taught her, weak. Rather, Aric says,

You left your country and family behind for a marriage you never asked for, just to keep the peace. You risked your life to save mine, and now you’re risking it again to protect a land that isn’t even your home. And on top of that, you’re clearly in pain and should be in bed under the care of a greenwich, not making yourself worse by riding through the cold, but you’re determined to push on anyway for the sake of your people. Most people would give up, yet you’ve never wavered. Only a monster would think a woman like that was weak…. Strength isn’t about what your body can do.

By sheer coincidence I read this on a bad night. I was discouraged, depressed, and re-playing some internalized ableism tracks in my head. This quote got me through the night and out the door the next day, which turned out to be lovely. So I’d like to thank this well-timed story for giving me a much needed pep talk in a bleak moment.

The book ends with the major plot points and the romance wrapped up but some room for a sequel. The supporting characters are certainly interesting enough to merit one. This book arrived at the moment I needed it, and also charmed the heck out of me. I can’t wait for the next one.