Beastly

Here is the book summary courtesy of commonsensemedia.org

In a contemporary retelling of the Beauty and the Beast, Kyle Kingsbury has the perfect life in NYC. He's rich, beautiful, and adored by everyone except his parents. He's also conceited, mean, and shallow, just like his father. So mean that a witch curses him by turning him into a beast, with only two years to find someone who will love him without his beauty. His father travels the globe to find a cure but fails, so he sets Kyle up with a blind tutor and a maid and hides him away.  Although Kyle finds solace in gardening and the friendship of his captive staff, when he encounters a thief willing to trade his daughter for freedom, he jumps at the chance to convince a girl he is lovable before his time runs out.


My Review

When I first picked up this book, my first perception was that Kyle could be called nothing but a jerk. He picks on the "uglies", drinks, and he spends most of his time thinking of how nice it would be to make out with his girlfriend, Sloan. That emphasis was the part I did not like about this book. He seemed to spend the first half thinking of how hot girl's body's are. There is also a lot of cursing, but I think this is because the story takes place in the inner city in New York. This is the reason why I usually don't read teen romance novels. However, when Kyle is turned into a beast we see him slowly change from the beast he was inside to a man in the body of a beast. Kyle's father tries to help his formerly handsome son become beautiful again, but eventually he gives up and abandons Kyle. His girlfriend, Sloan, leaves him for the same reason. Linda, on the other hand, is the perfect role model. She loves Kyle for who he really is and not because he is beautiful. These elements point to the theme of the book: don't judge others based on beauty. One thing that I though was neat about this book was the fact that it draws a lot of parallels not only to Beauty and the Beast, but to other fairy tales as well. Throughout the story, we see Kyle chatting with his online support group which helps people deal with transformations. The screen names are Silent Maid (The Little Mermaid), Froggie (The Frog Prince), and Grizzly Guy (Snow White and Rose Red). Overall, I think that I liked it more as I got further into it. If you do read it though, you should probably wait until you are over fifteen.


Stars: 2. 5 out of 5