Beastly by Alex Finn

BEASTLY
Author: Alex Finn
Source: Personal Purchase

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen; Revised edition (February 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061963283
ISBN-13: 978-0061963285

SUMMARY:

Love is never ugly 

Now a major motion picture starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer 

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 THOUGHTS:

I love books that retell my childhood fairy tale reads and movies.  In Beastly, we get a modern day story of Beauty and the Beast.

This book starts out strong and kept me very interested in the story.  While Kyle was a typical pretty boy jerk, you still get to see glimpse’s of his good side that is hidden beneath. He has the perfect look that has gotten him almost anything along with Daddy’s money.  When he meets Kendra, a witch, he makes fun of her and even stoops to humiliating her at the dance.  She puts a curse on him that night and by morning he wakes up as The Beast.  He only has 2 years to find true love to break the spell.

While I enjoyed this book from beginning to end, I did have one problem with it.  While we start off with a strong modern day fairy tale, at times I felt the author reverted back in time with it.  Just some of the things the characters would say, or the way Lindy would act made it feel too Disney themed at times.  Other than that, this book was an enjoyable read and kept me interested from page one up until the last word of the book.

This was a great story that I think not only teens will enjoy, but adults who love the fairy tale romance with a happily ever after that is guaranteed with the old fables we grew up on.  I can’t wait to read the other books by this author!

MY RATING:

Very Good! I would recommend this book! 4 STARS

ABOUT THE MOVIE:

According to IMDB .com, Beastly will be in theaters on March 4th, 2011 (USA).  While I can’t wait to see the movie, especially with the perfect casting of Alex Pettyfer as Kyle/Adrian, but it is just a great modern day adaptation of the book.  While they didn’t do a great job at casting Lindy, I am willing to overlook that.  They also didn’t portray the Beast like they did in the book.  If you remember Beast from the Disney movie, that is how the book describes him.  In the movie preview below, you can definitely see that they changed the look of The Beast for the big screen. They also cast Mary Kate Olsen as the witch.  PERFECT! She fits that part and plays it perfectly.  The one other thing that bugs me about the preview/movie is they change the time line.  In the movie he has only one year, but in the book Kyle has two years. I still can’t wait to watch it though!