Falling in love with the Beast

Beastly by Alex Flinn


Ever wonder what it was like for the beast?

My review:

Okay, don’t ask me what took so long to read this one, blame it on the backburner, as in, this book has always been sitting on my backburner. Part of it was the name, Beastly, I hate when people say “It’s Beast!” so right off I’m really not feeling it and because you have to read the book to really appreciate the thorned rose I’m still not there to read it. Even after reading Diva, which I adore, having written a song about Sean who is the biggest waste, why does he have to be gay! Sorry, wrong book, off topic, but come on, Sean! Alright, I’m back. So even knowing Alex Flinn is amazing and that I want to read A Kiss in Time I’m still not going after the book.

What changed me? They slapped the “read it before you see it” button on the cover and I dove for a copy! I hate knowing that the book is going to be good, but that once I see the movie I’ll never read the book. Plus, as I mentioned, I really, really love Alex Flinn, not to mention fairy tale retellings. A lovely angel (I’m always running into them) over on Swap.com sent me my copy, thank you!

So, my verdict- I fell in love with a Beast! I really hated him, really, really hated him, and then I pitied him and then I fell head over heals in love with a man so beastly! The plot balanced the real world and fairytale land aspects perfectly, usually this is where I find the author will trip themselves up. Trying to give a “teenage expierience” to the characters who are living untypical lives, but the chat room only added to the plot.

The characters, the witch (who from the movie Beauty and the Beast, I always loved anyway) was even great! William was by far my favorite, I mean, yeah, I fell in love with Kyle/Adrian, but I would have taken Will in a heartbeat; his blindness was a great metaphor!

I loved the fact that he grew to love roses and watching him with Lindy was wonderful! I was praying Flinn wouldn’t do something stupid and make them have a blow-up fight and, as always, she came through, their romance was lovely, in keeping with the Beauty story, while still being authentically Kyle and Lindy.

I can’t wait to read the final installment in the series, out in 2011, Cloaked.

Notes on the names: Kyle and Adrian were both awesome choices! Kyle seems like too easy of a choice, while Adrian feels brooding, without being sinister. I was sort of disappointed that Flinn didn’t use Belinda (a personal favorite) which would have been a subtle nod to Belle from the Beauty and the Beast story, while still having the Lindy nickname which means pretty. Kendra is witchy, but didn’t feel ancient enough, I think Aurelia would have been such a bold choice! Magda and Will served their purposes, but I don’t think much of either name.