Review - Beastly by Alex Flinn

Beastly by Alex Flinn


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Overall Rating: 4 Stars

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.

     This novel was cute. It had deep undertones, but mainly, it was a light read full of cute moments. Of course, said cute moments wait to take place until the end of the novel, but the overall novel had an airy feel to it. It was after all, based on a fairy tale.
     It was a compelling book, nonetheless. I'll admit, after I bought the book, it sat on my shelf for a while because I wasn't entirely thrilled with reading from the point of view of a guy who was stuck up and pretty much a jerk. But once I opened it and finally gave it a fair chance, it wasn't that bad at all. Kyle was stuck up, but I learned that it wasn't entirely because he had that sort of thought process, but because he had been raised that way. He sincerely thought that ugly people were a nuisance because he was brought up in a world where his father had to be beautiful to support his life, and that really rubbed off on Kyle.
    Kyle's father is scum. Perhaps not on the outside, but definitely on the inside. He's just despicable. Honestly, there wasn't that big of a surprise when his dad just stopped coming to see him. It was a bit predictable.
    Kendra ended up being one of my favorite characters, despite what she did to Kyle. After a while, you can see that she knows that Kyle has changed and that she genuinely wants him to find love, because he deserves it. I liked her for that. In stories, the witch is always the bad guy who everyone hates. Not that they shouldn't hate them in that case, but in this one, I think she becomes a likable character.
    I really liked Lindy, as well. I liked that she was unique, with her red hair and her love for her father, despite the fact that he's abusive and gave her away to a stranger. She was caring and a good example of a modern Belle.
    Will and Magda made me smile, too. They were supportive and neither of them seemed to fear Kyle because of his curse, though Will was blind and you'll find out about Magda later. I even loved Pilot, who seems like an awesome dog. Just saying.
    The things that I didn't like about this book are small things that just added up. The chats were cute, but I feel like they took a bit away from the story, because I kept wanting to know about them instead of Kyle. It's not that Kyle's story wasn't interesting, just that these other stories that weren't really being expanded and it drove me crazy. I also really hated Sloane from the beginning, but that was probably an intentional part of the book. Either way.

But you guys should read this book. Don't just go watch the movie and skip reading the book if you didn't like it, because, even though I haven't seen the film, it looks as if they are very different things and I'm not sure how they really play on the same story.

Music I listened to while reading this book:
I'm not sure if I'll keep adding this to reviews, but tell me if you guys like this idea and whether or not you want me to keep doing it.