Beastly by Alex Flinn

 We all know the tale, arrogant boy meets innocent girl, and she changes him in more ways than one, and they live happily ever after. Tale as old as time, and if that phrase didn’t give you the tip the title will certainly help. “Beastly” is a book with a story told many times and yet is something us readers can’t get enough of, a beauty and the beast retelling, with a modern twist.

This was a soft read and unfortunately, I must admit my guilt, I saw the movie before I read the book, but in my defense I did not of its existence until I saw it in the shop, and I simply had to read the actual story. It was unfortunate that I saw the movie before because then that did give me the characters a visual and I did struggle to imagine the original look instead of the movie look. Some of the differences were easy to deal with and change, for example the chat room or how Kendra looks and acts, but the hardest one was the change of the beast.

It starts off with the life of Kyle and how his perfect life is predictably perfect, father who is absent so he showers him with spoiled riches, a face and body who everyone likes and admires so his popularity is always sky high and a charm which no girl can resist. The golden boy. However, the looks don’t translate the inside, and his arrogant personality is his demise when Kendra is bewitches him to look like he is on the inside a beast. In this modern setting the way the isolation comes to happen and how Kyle in himself becomes a new person is very well written in my opinion because I got to see him with no defenses.

Kyle became a new persona and even changed his name to adapt this new idea of himself. The more time he spent caring for something other than himself the more I emphasized with the character, he now became Adrian, a loving and caring person. Linda is the girl who loves to read and is always there to help her father out even if this is not the best example of a parent. She is the one who Adrian falls in love with and although one could presume, he was using her to break the curse, no. He lets her go, he doesn’t expect her love and knows that although she said his appearance was nothing to be ashamed of, it was still a big concerning point.

I truly felt sorry for him during this part of the book because it felt like the last strings of hope were playing a last tune, he had simply hours before his fate was sealed. I know we all know the story but one can’t help to be captivated each time.

In the last few pages, probably less then 30, everything occurs, from the saving of his loved one to his almost near end. I was hooked to the end.

“Beastly” is a book with a tale everyone knows and yet I can’t help but add this one to the recommendations because it is still as strong as it can be.