Beastly (Kendra Chronicles #1)

Reader reviewed by Anthonely



Kyle Kingsbury is one of the privileged. His mother may have left when he was young, but he was left with his father, a wealthy news anchor. Kyle doesn't want for a thing. In addition to his very comfortable lifestyle, Kyle is blessed with good looks, or as the girls in his exculsive high school would probably say, "He's hot!" Unfortunately, Kyle is not a particularly kind individual. There aren't many people that he considers worth his while, and he is not afraid to let the rest of the world know how inferior he thinks they are.
Things open in an online chatroom. The group is rather unusual a beast (Kyle), an unhappy mermaid, a pouting frog, and someone calling himself Grizzlyguy. It's not your average chatroom crowd. All of them have had run-ins with witches and been the victims of evil spells. Kyle became a beast when he played a nasty trick by he cruelly inviting an unpopular girl to a special school dance knowing he was actually going with his current hot girlfriend. Once there, he and his girlfriend humiliate the other girl only to discover she is actually a witch with the power to change his life forever.

Reader reviewed by Lauren

Beastly is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast taking place in modern New York City. Kevin is a spoiled rich boy with a huge ego. It takes a somewhat unattractive goth girl to give him a hint. When she tests him to see how nice he is, she reveals herself as a witch, who curses him, making his appearance reflect his personality: beastly. If he cannot get someone to love him in two years, he will remain beastly forever.

Kevin's father tries to help, but eventually gives up and moves him to a house for him to live in exile with only a foreign housekeeper and a blind tutor. Embarrassed by his past of being a jerk, Kevin changes his name to Adrian and concentrates on schoolwork and his rose garden. When someone breaks into his rose gardenhouse, the man offers his daughter in exchange for sparing his life. Adrian obliges.

Lindy is a girl from Adrian's old school, both smart and kind. She hates her new home at first, but eventually grows used to the beast and becomes friends with him. When things are just getting close and Adrian's curse may end soon, Lindy has to leave to save her father, who's helpless without her.

Following the basic storyline of the original story, Alex Flinn's retelling creates a fresh and new story making it enjoyable to teens. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves popular fairy-tales.

Reader reviewed by Megan Howell

     This book was so gripping.  I couldn't put this book down for a minute.  Flinn did an awesome re-creation of Beauty and the Beast.  This time around, Kyle was the kid you love to hate.  Then he snubs the wrong witch and he wakes up a hairy monster.  If he doesn't fall in love in two years... well, he'll never be a human again.  I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone!

Reader reviewed by Em

This book took me on a rollercoaster of feelings. It's a modern day telling of Beauty and the Beast through the beast's point of view. First I hated the character, he was annoying and pompous and grated heavily on my nerves. Although this is to be expected from a boy soon to become Beast right? Once he was Beast he quickly became a sad and pathetic guy who I pitied but still was annoyed by. And finally Lindy enters the picture and things pick up. Count on the woman to add flavor, interest, and something to perk up and pay attention to. The characters were interesting and it was well written. It was cheesy at times but I thoroughly enjoyed how Alex Flinn twisted the old story into something fresh and new. I will gladly get her other retellings now that I see how beautifully done they are.

Reader reviewed by gonkat93

I absolutely give this book two thumbs up. If you are a fan of the original Beauty and The Beast, then you will loove Beastly.
This book is set in modern time New York City and from the "Beasts" point of view. This teenage boy finds himself to be revolved around looks and money to get what he wants. This witch casts a spell on him and makes him ugly in the outside. The only way for him to go back to normal is to make someone fall in love with his inner self dispite his outer flaws.
You must read this book to see the twists added to this version of the story.
Also, this book is being turned into a movie. Dont miss it!!

Reader reviewed by meg

Its a curse to prove his true heart, a curse on a boy who never saw the true meaning of beauty. until now.

The story of beauty and the beast has been told million times over to many of us as children we watched an read as bell and the beast fell in love . But this my friends is new twist on a classic Beastly is the new generation of the classic story  fi you love a romantic eye consuming sotry then im am more then sure this book will consume you as it  did for me . Good for all teens everywhere read and fall in love with the new Beast.

Reader reviewed by Arianna

This book was AMAZING!! It's a great twist on the classic fairy-tale version of Beauty and the Beast, and it has great plot and action. A modern day story based in NYC, a teenage boy becomes "beastly" after he stood-up a witch (which he didn't know) at the school dance. As the story goes, he lives in isolation due to the way he now looks, and must find a girl who is willing to love him despite the way he looks within 2 years. The main character goes through some serious attitude changes with the help of the few friends/mentors he has left, and of course the girl he begins to fall in love with... A must read if you love fairy tales! (ME! lol) The way the book is written within a modern setting is very well-done, and the story is interesting throughout the whole book, one that you never want to put down until it's finished. An EXCELLENT read, and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Yeay! I finished the book! I have to admit, I decided to read this book again because of all the hype for the new live-action of Beauty and the Beast. and after years of reading it again, I still love this book. and i fell in love with it all over again.

Beastly is actually one of the books that actually changed my life. It is because of this book why I gained a reading buddy. And after reading this, both my reading buddy and I started firing off books at one another. It was also this book that even one of our friends decided to read it too.

you probably might think i'm biased when reviewing this, but this book is just so good! i cannot help but love the characters, the story itself, and just the whole plot because this is still different from the fairy tale. it has it's own flavor and twists. I have to admit though, Adrian was becoming someone too good to be true, and there are parts where it was beginning to be really sappy. but then again, that's what happens when you fall in love.

this book will always have a place in my heart. and i will love this forever. I do owe Alex Flinn this story that I will love forever even though I will cringe at the mention of 'My Space' and 'IM'.

"Beastly" is a beautiful and amazing story of second chances, the importance of who you are within, and love. A retelling of Beauty and Beast, Kyle is a shallow teenager who rules his high school with a cruel and iron fist. After witnessing his cruelty, a witch named Kendra, curses him to look like a beast unless he can find someone to love, who loves him, and seal it with a kiss- with a deadline of 2 years. His mother is gone and his father is even more shallow, kicking him out of his house and making him into a recluse with only a maid and blind tutor for company. It's really a stunning and believable transformation that occurs for him throughout the book. It follows the Disney version pretty closely, but I loved every second of it. I can't wait to continue with this series!!

In this modern retelling of the well-known fairy-tale called The Beauty and the Beast, Flinn takes use to New York City, in the present. The book itself is amazing. While reading the book, I was so concentrated on it; only thinking about when I could read it next.

I've seen the movie before the book *slaps herself because should have read the book first* and so the book was spoiled. At least, they were really different except for the 'I turn in a beast, fall in love, then happily ever after'.

Here's something I haven't yet talked about in my book reviews: the cover of the book. The cover when looked at closely, can sometimes tell the reader some little thing about the book; which is now the case. In the book, Kyle (Adrian) gives Linda a white rose (See cover) ; which saves him from being a beast until he dies.

The writing is fun, and dark; which seems to be my favorite combination.

Kyle (Adrian) and Linda seemed to me as an amazing combination for a couple.

Alex Flinn's writing got me wanting for more, and so Cloaked, another book of hers, is in my To-Read List (TRL).