The Best Reader + weekend

Beastly — Alex Flinn

"Every free moment I found myself drawn to this book! My planning period, my study hall, my lunch — all I wanted was to read this book." — Miss Remmers

From Amazon.com...

"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."

Oh. My. Goodness! This was an absolutely fantastic novel! It's been on my list for a while, but it wasn't until this weekend that I saw the movie trailer (released in June) that I decided I had to read it NOW! I drove all over town (so I basically went to Walmart and Target) and was so bummed that I couldn't find it. But everything happens for a reason; the next day this book came in the mail! Turns out I had purchased it from Bookcloseouts.com! (Whoops!) I started reading it the next day and could not put it down!

I finished this book on the second day of reading it while at school. Every free moment I found myself drawn to this book! My planning period, my study hall, my lunch — all I wanted was to read! I finished a few minutes before school was out with this huge sigh. A sigh filled with happiness and with regret that it was over.

The only thing that bothered me about this book were the predictability and obvious cliches. I knew going into this novel it was going to be predictable and full of cliches, but Flinn laid them on pretty hard. Throughout the novel there these online chat dialogues. I thought these could have been left out completely. The other chatters depicted other famous fairy tales such as "The Little Mermaid" and "The Frog Prince." The story was already a cliche that everyone is familiar with, why add these minute ones? They didn't add anything to the story; they just seemed silly. Other than that, I think Flinn did a okay job of making the story as "un-cliche" and predictable as possible when retelling a fairy tale. There were only a few lines that were awkward and "sappy"
(p.282), for instance. These small annoyances were noticeable when reading, but when looking at the novel as a whole these are small, minute details that don't distract from the wonderful, modern, retelling of "Beauty and the Beast."

This book is fast paced and is a real "hook, line, and sinker." I'm so excited to add this book to my classroom shelves. I think all readers would love this book, but it is aimed more towards middle school or early high school.

Originality: 6/10
Ending: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 10/10
Theme: 10/10
Imagery: 10/10
Setting: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Style: 5/5
Tone: 5/5
Cover: 10/10
Overall: 95/100 A

To the FTC, with love: Bought

beauty, book, fairy tale, fantastic, LIFE, love story, movie, novel, release, review, TIME, and more:

Beastly — Alex Flinn + weekend