My Thoughts: Beastly by Alex Flinn

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 the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.


A while ago I went to the movies and saw the movie trailer for Beastly. The trailer was good and the movie looks exciting, but I found myself saying-Oh man, that would make a really good book-Ha, I didn't realize that is was indeed a book written by Alex Flinn. I posted about the trailer and the trailer itself which can be found here. I was really excited about the whole story and I really wanted to read the book. I mean, how could I not be; a modern day tale of Beauty and the Beast, that is just way cool.

I finally got my hands on this little novel and read it in about 2 days. I really liked it. It was cute and well written. In the beginning I hated the protagonist Kyle, he was so rude and selfish and I was often caught saying "are you serious?" with him. He was a brat, totally. He got what he deserved. Let me just say what he did to Kendra was horrible. Just horrible, horrible. The kid got what he deserved.

Flinn does a wonderful job in making you dislike Kyle, and then gradually allowing you to like him. As the plot moves on you start to find him sweet, awkward but sweet. I really enjoyed reading this story from the males perspective. It was refreshing. Kyle's love interest, Lindy was fairly bland and not very exciting. I found that she did nothing really to move Kyle along in his path to discovering himself, and making him a better person. Will and Magda however were my two favourite characters. They were funny and they put up with Bratty Kyle, in a way that only true affection can. Something Kyle had been missing from his life.

This was not a masterpiece when it comes to literature. But it was a delightful story and I really enjoyed reading it. There are things about it that I am hoping the movie has, and things that are in the movie that I wish they hadn't changed (I haven't seen the movie, I'm just going by the trailer), which is why I am glad that I've read the book. It's a pretty easy read and I'd encourage everyone to read it.

Happy Reading Everyone.