'Beastly'

Looks aren't everything

Now we all know the famous tale of Beauty and the Beast. A beautiful young women name Belle gives up her freedom to save her father and is forced to live with a beast. Over time they begin to love each other, the beast turns into a handsome prince and they live Happily Ever After.

Beastly is basically the same thing but with a modern twist. The only difference is that Beastly captures more the emotion of the beast and less of the girl. The main character, Kyle Kingsbury, is the king of Tuttle—a preppy private school that's just as nauseatingly snobby as it sounds. Kyle is cruel and consumed with the idea that looks are everything and to him, they really are. His looks and his dad's money have gotten him everything he has ever had in life and to him, nothing could possibly go wrong. That is until Kendra shows up. Kendra is the witch that cursed Kyle to walk this earth as a beast forever unless he could break the curse in the span of two years. And I don't mean the dumb tattoed looking guy from the trailer above. He grows fur and fangs and claws like the beast from the animated film. In order to break the curse, he had to find true love and that person had to love him back and seal the whole thing kiss.

After Kyle is turned into a beast, he is exiled by his father and left to live his beastly days alone with his maid Magda. His only "window" to the outside world is a magic mirror left by Kendra (yes, the same one from The Beauty and the Beast). It's during this time that Kyle becomes enlightened. He starts reading more and even blackmails his dad into hiring him a tutor, who to his dad requests is blind. With the company of Magda and Will, Kyle changes. He changes his name to Adrien, develops an interest in roses and even builds a greenhouse for them.

Now I know what you guys are wondering. "When does the girl come in?" Adrien catches a man breaking into his greenhouse trying to steal stuff for drug money. When the man is caught, he offers up his daughter to save his own hyde. Adrien accepts and the girl (Lindy) moves in. Like any sensible person, Lindy hates Adrien for taking her, but with time she grows to like him. Adrien showers her with all the books she could ever want and roses, and eventually, they fall in love. Now we all know that fairy tales have happy endings so I won't disclose any details.

Long story short, this is a good book. It talks about true beauty and even brings in a little Willy Shakes (Sonnet 54 which is my favorite). I would definitely recommend this for teens to young adults.