Beastly [Hardcover]

I love fairytale retellings, and Alex Flinn’s books have been on my TBR list for a long time! I was a little bit worried when I started the book because I just hated the main character, Kyle Kingsbury. What a jerk! I soon learned that he is supposed to come across that way, and his attitude is the reason why he’s been cursed.

Kyle is a 16 year-old teenage boy that every girl swoons over: He’s rich and good-looking. Unfortunately, he feels that this gives him the right to act like a Class A jerk. The sad news is that he usually gets away with it. This time, however, Kyle has picked the wrong girl to mess with: A goth girl named Kendra Hilferty. He acts as though he likes her and invites her to the dance, telling her that he will buy the tickets and meet her there. All the while, his intention is to take the prettiest snob in the school, Sloane Hagen. News spreads like wildfire all over the school that Kyle is taking Kendra to the dance, and he lets Sloane in on his secret plan.

At the dance, Kendra is waiting for Kyle in the lobby. He sees her, and he kisses Sloane in front of her. Kyle and Sloane laugh at Kendra’s expense, humiliating her. Kendra doesn’t seem shocked, however. That night, Kendra appears in Kyle’s bedroom and morphs into a gorgeous girl. She puts a curse on Kyle, telling him that he will become as ugly on the outside as he is in the inside and that he has two years to break the curse or remain a beast forever. He must fall in love, his beloved must fall in love with him, and their kiss will break the curse.

Kyle’s father, a news anchorman, is too consumed with own looks (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!) to care much about what has happened to Kyle. After taking Kyle to the obligatory meetings with specialists to see if plastic surgery or other treatments can revert him back to the way he looked before, he realizes that any attempt will fail and ultimately dumps him off with a maid and a blind tutor in a five-story brownstone. Talk about cold-hearted!

Wow, I loved this Beauty and the Beast retelling! I really hated Kyle in the beginning and was glad to see his comeuppance. As time went on and his personality began to change, I really started to feel sad for him. This just shows how brilliant Flinn is, when she can make someone first loathe and then love the protagonist! The unconventional romance built slowly with first a foundation of trust and friendship.

This book has turned me into a huge Flinn fan, and I will definitely be reading more of her books! I can’t wait to start on the next book in the series, Beastly: Lindy’s Diary, which was released in 2012.

I just finished reading this book. I wish I borrowed it from the library instead of buying it because I can't see myself reading it over and over again. I thought the different ways the author made this version more modern were interesting, like the Beast and Lindy being in high school, her father being a sleazy druggie who offers her to the Beast, chat rooms, etc. I found that the dialogue could be quite cheesy at times, and it wasn't a very challenging novel, but I think it will hold the attention of teenage girls who maybe aren't very enthusiastic about reading.

What would happen if the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast" lived in modern-day New York? Kyle Kingsbury is about to find out. Pretentious and self-involved, he insults the wrong girl in his English class, and she decides to exact punishment.

The girl is a witch. And now, Kyle is cursed to remain a beast forever ' unless he can find true love in the next two years. Does this modern fairy tale end happily ever after? Find out in Alex Flinn's "Beastly."

This book doesn't do anything particularly new or interesting to the traditional Beauty and the Beast tale, but it's bound to gain popularity when the movie version is released. "Beastly" wasn't fascinating, but it held my attention all the way through. A good retelling of a classic fairy tale.