Author: Alex Flinn
Series: (Kendra Chronicles 0)
Published: January 31st 2012 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published October 2nd 2007)
 

It’s not the movie that convinced me to read Beastly (and no, I haven’t seen it yet). It’s not also because it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, which I do like (though to some extent it was). Judge me, but I love the new cover. Saw it in the bookstore and I was just mesmerized. I was ‘I need to read it.’ So read I did.

I was planning to read The Girl in the Clockwork Collar first (and once again put it on hold, I’m currently reading Illuminate). As I was saying, something pulling me, telling me to read Beastly first. So I followed my gut instinct and yes, I loved it. I loved the retelling (a round of applause for Ms. Flinn). Although it’s a retelling and the element of surprise wasn’t there (except for Kendra’s side of the story, it still surprised me). ‘Cause if you know the fairytale (even if it’s the Disney’s version) then you already know the story. The refreshing twist I saw with this book was it was narrated by Beast (Kyle Kingsbusry). I admit, the only adaptation I know is the movie (the Disney one). But I find it nice to read the story in Beast’s perspective.

So Beauty and the Beast. You know the drill, he was cursed and it only be broken by a kiss—true love’s kiss as they say. It’s just the same, though the setting is in New York, and the main leads are teenagers. But unlike the movie, where we only got the glimpse of his former life. In this book we got the chance to see Kyle Kingsbury and why he deserved to be punished. Kyle cruises through high school with his looks, popularity and money. And he uses these to bully people (kung makapanglait wagas na wagas). One day, he plays a joke on a girl. Little did he know that girl is a witch; and he cursed him. Just like the fairytale he needs to find someone who will love him despite his looks (within two years), and he must love that person back. And of course, the kiss.

The book follows the story closely. So it wasn’t hard to follow. Among the retellings I read (or watch which definitely not that vast) this one is my favorite. It was cool. I really think, at first, that Kyle deserved his punishment. This pompous guy was really bad. But as he reflected on his action during the time he was curse, and almost about to give up, I kinda feel sorry for him. But this is a fairytale, so I can see HEA from the get-go. Though it was predictable, it didn’t discourage me. I even wonder why I didn’t read this one before, (and it took a cover make over (wow, it rhymes) for me to read it. But that’s a thing of the past, I have now read it and glad to say I really enjoyed it.