Book Review: Beastly by Alex FlinnSynopsis:
I am a beast.
A beast!
Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright. I am a monster.
You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll, stay this way forever ruined unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly...beastly.
My Review: Beastly is a modern day version of The Beauty and the Beast. I usually am not a fan of fairytale remakes. I enjoy fiction books in which I do not have an idea as to what the ending may hold; I like to be surprised. But there was something about Beastly that I thoroughly enjoyed; many fairytales are seen through the eyes of the "princess", in Beastly though, a reader gets to understand what goes through mind of Adrian- formerly known as the conceited, Kyle Kingsbury- the Beast. For me, it was nice to get inside the Beasts mind; a reader can sense the drastic change in character that Adrian makes as he realizes what he needs to do.
Kyle is the immature high school guy with a huge ego that everybody wants to hate, but for some reason... they don't. Therefore, bringing more attention to him only makes his ego fly higher.To Kyle, looks matter most. To the point where he is cruel to those who may not be perfect. Sure enough, Kyle is confronted by a witch, Kendra who wants to teach him a lesson by turning him into a hairy beast. In the end, Kyle (Adrian) has to get past his looks and find someone who will do the same and love him back.
There are always underlying meanings in novels, but I felt that in this particular story, the message of "looking past outer beauty and loving someone for who they truly are on the inside" was magnified. And I really enjoyed that aspect.
There is always one character in a story whose sticks out to me. And in Beastly, it was Kendra the witch. Every time she made an entrance into the book, I had a different reaction. Sometimes she would seem harsh, other times she was rather sentimental or nice, and other times she would surprise me! I always enjoyed reading her responses to Adrian's comments and questions to her- you never know what you may get. All in all, her intentions to change Kyle into an ugly beast were good- to teach him a valuable life lesson.
I was a little disappointed that Lindy, the young lady that Adrian finds himself in love with, didn't come back to look for him. I had this huge scene planned in my head where she would come back right at the last second saying how much she loves him despite him being a beast...blah blah blah...
In the end, everything comes together to make this fairytale... Happily Ever After ;-)
Light, easy read... I would recommend Beastly for anyone who enjoys a good love story.
