Review: Beastly

Title: Beastly

Author: Alex Flinn

Date Released: October 1, 2007

Pages: 300

Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:

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 ...more 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.

Review:

I thought that Beastly was a cool intake of a modern Beauty & the Beast from the Beast's point of view, who is really a spoiled rich kid named Kyle Kingsbury who lives in New York City.  Alex Flinn adds modern touches by using a chat group and other modern brand names.  I think that perhaps she tried a little too much and made it sort of cheesy in a way, but other than that, I thought this was a pretty good book. 


This book kind of held me in suspense, even though it was predictable, since I wanted to know if he would turn back into a human again and gain the love of Linda.  And of course you don't figure it out till the end, but if you've at least seen the Disney movie version of Beauty & the Beast,  then you probably know what would happen to both characters.


I can't wait till the Beastly comes out in movie theaters on March 18, 2011 (which is a long time... it was supposed to come out in July of this year!!).  Even though the movie seems a bit different from the book (Kyle doesn't have any fur as the beast... he's bald and has tattoo's and cuts on him), I'm sure that it would be a pretty good movie.


Cover Review:
I love the cover!! I like how it's simple and depicts the white rose that Magda (the housekeeper) got Kyle as a corsage for the dance he was attending the night he turned into the beast.  The number of petals on the rose also represented the amount of time he had before he was a beast forever.  The font for title is also cool since it has thorns on the sides.  I think that it was the cover that attracted me to the book... who knows! :)


*Description from Goodreads.com


Alex Flinn's website
Beastly movie website