Book Review: Beastly

TITLE: Beastly
AUTHOR: Alex Flinn
PUBLISHED: 2007
GENRE: young adult, fantasy, fairy tale retelling, romance
PREMISE: The Beast tells his side of the story in a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
MY REVIEW: Honest? I don't get the big fuss that has been made online about this book. I mean, it was enjoyable to some extent but really, it wasn't completely unique. It was like every other retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The only unique things were a) It was from the Beast's point of view, b) it was set in today's time, and c) the witch who cast a spell stuck around to see what happened. Other then that, if you've read Beauty and the Beast and other retellings...don't expect anything different. It is still essentially the same story. So you pretty much know how it's going to end.
But again, this doesn't mean it's horrible. I did enjoy it to some extent. I loved Kendra the witch and Kyle was adorable when he was trying to figure out how to make Lindy like him, and the romance is sweet. It was a decent retelling. I'm just saying, I don't get everyone saying it's phenomenal because it's actually a pretty average retelling (fairy tale retellings are weakness of mine so I've read a lot of them and I can vouch for this). But other then that confusion, it's a good book that I reccomend to people like me who love fairy tale retellings.
Also, evidently there's going to be a movie version of this coming out this summer. After reading it I have to say, I don't get the casting. Vanessa Hudgens looks NOTHING like Lindy who is um yeah, plain? With RED hair, freckles, and crooked teeth? Plus, as much as I adore Neil Patrick Harris, who is he playing? None of these characters look remotely like him. I will reserve judgement until we see a trailer but I have a feeling this movie is going to be an epic fail in the books to movies department.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Beauty and the Beast, fairy tale retelling lovers, anyone who likes sweet romances
RATING: three and a half out of five roses

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