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Beastly
by
Alex Flinn
paranormal romance in a hardcover edition that was published by HarperTeen on October 2, 2007 and has 336 pages.
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First in the Kendra Chronicles in the young adult, paranormal series. The couple focus here is on Kyle Kingsbury and Lindy Owens.
My Take
Oh, brother. This is a contemporary take-off on Beauty and the Beast in which a jerk of a guy has to find someone who will love the inner him even as he must love her back. For the most part, it’s actually a cute story. Except for the bits where Flinn just gets too dorky for words. The chat rooms really irritated me. The Little Mermaid??? The frog. Snow White and Rose Red…c’mon.
I did enjoy Kyle’s evolution over the months as he grasped the concept of inner beauty. I also enjoyed Kyle’s making such lavish use of his father’s credit card. That jerk deserved much worse. The bit where Kyle realizes he has to let her go . . . oh, I cried. But then the transformation scene could really use some work. Flesh it out, give it more depth.
I did like our opportunity to see Lindy and Kyle together at Tuttle throwing all the other snobs off track.
The Story
Kyle Kingsbury is the, well, king of the class at the private school he attends and doesn’t he know it. He’s a total jerk and is about to pay for his attitude. It’s only the gift of a white rose that gives him any chance at all. A chance he’s not interested in taking until his father sets him aside.
It takes the kindness of two strangers and a magic mirror for Kyle to begin to understand where true beauty lies.
The Characters
Kyle Kingsbury is a ninth-grade prince. Blond and blue-eyed, all the girls love him. With his dad’s money, he can afford anything . . . material-wise. His dad, Rob Kingsbury, is a well-known newscaster who has all the ladies interested in his single status and his paycheck. He’s more interested in appearances and his job than his son. Magda is the Kingsburys’ housekeeper.
Lindy Owens is a scholarship student at Tuttle and the recipient of that unwanted white rose.
Trey Parker and Graydon Hart are his best friends. Then Kyle finds out what they really think. Sloane Hagen is the class princess with all the negatives of her shallow little heart.
Kendra Hilferty has many roles to play in this story, but her chief one is that of witch. One who gives Kyle enough rope to hang himself. Will Fratalli is a blind guy his dad hires to tutor Kyle. In Kyle’s new house. The new house he lives in on his own with Magda and Will and his guide dog, Pilot.
The Cover and Title
The cover is all black with a white rose and the title in a thorny red. Very appropriate as roses are a recurring theme in this story.
The title is accurate enough as Kyle Kingsbury is perfectly Beastly.
