Search - The Fire Rose (Elemental Masters, Bk 1)

This is a good, easy read version of Beauty and the Beast, with an ending I like better than any of the other versions I've read. Unlike Robin McKinley's Beauty, however, this is a little more adult, with many references to opium, the white slave trade, Chinese prostitutes, breaking in new girls, etc. No graphic descriptions, but one of the side characters is really into it & it comes up often. There are also many, many references to classical literature we're either supposed to understand or shrug off. It's distracting, but you don't need to understand them to keep up with the story.

Although this is book one in the series, it is not connected to the other books and can be read in any order.