Beastly

Beastly by Alex Flinn
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright: 2007
Number of pages:300
Age: 14+
Genre: Fairytale/Fantasy

Summary:
This is not the typical story of Beauty and the Beast. This is a story of the Beast, in his perspective, taking place in New York. There was a stuck up kid named Kyle Kingsbury. He was on top of the world with his hot girlfriend, with his daddys credit card and a full school behind him. However, Kyle was not a very kind soul. He would mock others and found joy in seeing others be sad. A witch saw this and made him become a Beast. He was given two years to find a girl, make her love him, and his him. Kyle knew that that would be impossible because his whole life was based on looks. His father was also a man who only looked on the outwardly appearance. The father sent Kyle to stay in a different home in Brooklyn that was 5 stories. Kyle eventually grew to becoming a better person. While he was in the "castle" he developed friendships with his maid, Magda, and his tutor, Will. Kyle grew to love the little things around him. His favorite was roses. He wanted to see them all year round so he built himself a greenhouse. One night a man came and broke into the greenhouse. Kyle caught him and told him that he was going to kill him. The man said take my daughter she is beautiful and you can have her. Kyle agreed to that and sent the man away to return in a week with his daughter. While Kyle waited he wanted to make everything perfect for when the girl came. He thought maybe she could be the one. The man returned with his daughter. She came but she was very unhappy. Through time the girl, Lindy, came to love her home. One night after months with the Beast she wished she could see her father again to make sure he was OK even though he was a horrible man to her. She saw her father in the magic mirror and saw that he was laying on the streets sick. The Beast knew he had to let her go to her father. So he sent her away. She was hesitant at first but knew she had to go. So she found her father and tried to take care of him. Beast was unhappy and he thought that if he can't talk to her at least he can look at her through the mirror. Finally there was only one day left and the Beast would become a Beast forever. He grew with sorrow because she hadn't returned. On that night he screamed her name "Lindy!" hoping that she could hear him. He said to the mirror that he wanted to see Lindy. She came up and she was being dragged by a man into a building. She was yelling "Adrian please help me!" (Kyle changed his name to Adrian, because he felt he was no longer Kyle). Adrian bolted out the door without grabbing a disguise. Many faces watched him, some even tried to kill him. But he got to the building and was able to save Adrian. However, in the attempt to save Lindy, Adrian was shot. He was laying there and he felt different. He thought he was dead. As he lay there his feelings came out that he loved Lindy. She said she loved him too and that he can't leave her. Adrian said kiss me so that I can leave with that. She went and kissed him. Right then Adrian changed back into his normal self. Lindy looked confused. She saw Kyle Kingsbury. She said she had to find Adrian. Adrian tried to convince her that it was him. She saw soon that it was. After that they went back to the castle and they found that Magda was the witch that cast the spell. The spell was broken and they lived happily ever after.
Who would benefit from this book?
I think anyone would thats old enough. Its great for those that are in high school because it reminds them that looks aren't the most important thing.
What problems might this book cause?
The parts where Kyle is with his girlfriend. People that read this might think that its OK to do those things and get away with it.
My reaction
I enjoyed this book. I liked that it was different from other stories of Beauty and the Beast. Because it was more modern I enjoyed it because I didn't know what was going to happen.