Title: Beastly
Author: Alex Finn
Pages: 300
Rating: 4.5/5
I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. 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 a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly (alexfinn.com).
I loved this book. I was actually surprised by how much I loved this book, considering the fact that it's simply a play on Beauty and the Beast, but I found it so well written and fast paced that I could not put it down. I picked it up from the library on my way home from work Thursday, and finished it Friday at lunch. I just couldn't put it down.
Beastly tells the story of Kyle Kingsbury, an arrogant, selfish highschooler who gets great pleasure out of making others miserable. However, he went a bit two far when he manages to royally tick off the new goth girl at the school. Kendra turns out to be a witch, who places an evil spell on Kyle, making him as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside.
When I first started reading about Kyle, I couldn't get over what a jerk he was. He was just down right mean...he thought he was so hot to trot. And then when he was turned into this beast I began to feel kind of bad for him. And by the end of the book, I was in love. It was amazing to read about his transformation, and to what him change from someone truly ugly to a beautiful person.
Beastly has been made into a movie starring Vanessa Hudgens (who I loved in all the HSM movies). This is actually how I first found out about the book. I saw the trailer on another blog, and fell in love with it and just had to read the book. The movie is going to be released on July 30th. Here's a sneak peek at the trailer:
4 comments:
Great review! I am glad you enjoyed Beastly. I loved it too. I am not sure how much I will like the movie but it is good that the movie will probably get more people to read the book. Alex Flinn also wrote a modern take on Sleeping Beauty called A Kiss in Time which was pretty good (but not as good as Beastly).
I'm going to look for A Kiss in Time next time I'm at the library. Thanks for the rec. The movie looks good, but I've definitely been disappointed in book to movie adaptations lately so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!!
I'll definitely be checking out these books!!! You always have such great reviews and I find myself always agreeing with you :)
Oh, and I'll be seeing that movie for sure! What can I say? I'm a sucker for those sappy teenage romance movies ;)
Have a great day!
i totally picked this book up Because of the trailer for the movie and LOVED the book. I am prepared for the movie to differ from the book (obviously), but still want to see it so very badly. Of course the main actor doesn't hurt the movie's case at all, either. :-O
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