“Every free moment I found myself drawn to this book! My planning period, my study hall, my lunch – all I wanted was to read this book.” – Miss Remmers
From Amazon.com …
“I am a beast.
A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.“
Oh. My. Goodness! This was an absolutely fantastic novel! It’s been on my list for a while, but it wasn’t until this weekend that I saw the movie trailer (released in June) that I decided I had to read it NOW! I drove all over town (so I basically went to Walmart and Target) and was so bummed that I couldn’t find it. But everything happens for a reason; the next day this book came in the mail! Turns out I had purchased it from Bookcloseouts.com! (Whoops!) I started reading it the next day and could not put it down!
I finished this book on the second day of reading it while at school. Every free moment I found myself drawn to this book! My planning period, my study hall, my lunch – all I wanted was to read! I finished a few minutes before school was out with this huge sigh. A sigh filled with happiness and with regret that it was over.
The only thing that bothered me about this book were the predictability and obvious cliches. I knew going into this novel it was going to be predictable and full of cliches, but Flinn laid them on pretty hard. Throughout the novel there these online chat dialogues. I thought these could have been left out completely. The other chatters depicted other famous fairy tales such as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Frog Prince.” The story was already a cliche that everyone is familiar with, why add these minute ones? They didn’t add anything to the story; they just seemed silly. Other than that, I think Flinn did a okay job of making the story as “un-cliche” and predictable as possible when retelling a fairy tale. There were only a few lines that were awkward and “sappy”
(p.282), for instance. These small annoyances were noticeable when reading, but when looking at the novel as a whole these are small, minute details that don’t distract from the wonderful, modern, retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.”
This book is fast paced and is a real “hook, line, and sinker.” I’m so excited to add this book to my classroom shelves. I think all readers would love this book, but it is aimed more towards middle school or early high school.
Originality: 6/10
Ending: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 10/10
Theme: 10/10
Imagery: 10/10
Setting: 5/5
Voice: 5/5
Style: 5/5
Tone: 5/5
Cover: 10/10
Overall: 95/100 A
To the FTC, with love: Bought
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Miss Remmers is 24 years old and an educator. She currently teaches English 10 and 12 in Bismarck, ND. Miss Remmers is working on her masters in Library Information and Media Technology and will graduate in December 2013. When not blogging, Miss Remmers could most likely be found on Twitter, reading, or watching reality television.
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