" Beastly"

Beastly a lovely story or version of Beauty and the Beast. I loved how the author made this story contemporary thus setting in our modern day and time. At first, I was thinking this is probably a typical story of a young teen age boy who was probably given everything at birth; who treated everyone like crap and then he needs to get a girl to break the horrid spell. This was how the story went, but in the book Alex Flinn did a great job of describing how the main character was feeling and how he felt sorry for himself and how he longed for the warmth and company of anyone.

Kyle Kingsbury was born to parents who were more interested in themselves than in their only son. His mother left when he was young and his father was a newscast person who thought highly of his looks and everything on the news and people you saw had to have good looks. His upbringing was focused on having good looks and charm and with those characteristics you could talk your way out of anything.

Kyle was a freshman in high school and everyone and anyone knew who he was. The good looking, rich arrogant kid whose father bought him anything and spent little time with him. He was your typical spoiled brat to the fullest! His so called friends were not friends. They only hung around him because he was the rich kid in school that all the girls wanted to be with. Even the girls with no status took a fancy to Kyle..

As the story progresses he does the unthinkable and pisses off a witch and then he's turned into a Beast. His father takes him to specialist and tries to find a cure for his son turning into a beast, but to no avail noone could help him. His father hired a maid "Magda" and blind tutor "Will" to help him lead a life as an outcast only to come out of his customized house at night when noone could see him. He was a terrible, frightening looking monster. He couldn't believe the transformation. He had to find true love in 2 years and be kissed by a girl who truly loved him as a beast, then and only then would he be turned back into his lovely self.

Lindy comes into the story when her drug addicting father breaks into Kyle's house and is caught on surveillance tape breaking and entering and when he was caught by Kyle, he offered to bring his daughter as a bail in exchange for his freedom. Lindy is a smart girl in a rich school, Kyles school. She worked very hard studying and getting a scholarship to attend that rich school, but she too was an outcast and noone noticed her or even knew her by name. She was a nobody! She hated Kyle for making her stay at his house and leaving her life of reading and school. Lindy took care of her father when he got sick and she loved her father despite his selfish, drug addicted ways. Her father just offered his daughter to a total stranger so he wouldn't get turned into the police and go to jail, who does that, good gosh!

Kyle, later know as Adrian meaning darkness lived together with Lindy and they had a rough start, but they studied together, got to know each other and eventually enjoyed each others company. I think you know as well as I do that they take a fancy to each other. She finds out through his magic mirror that her dad was in trouble and sick again, so Adrian reluctantly tells her that she can leave. She can go and be with her father. Although she loves where she's at andhis happy being with Adrian, she knows she has to go back and help her father, so she leaves. Adrian is totally in love with her and realized that she is beautiful in her own way, smart, kind and most of all she liked him for who he was despite his beastly exterior. He actually loved her and wished with every fiber in his bones that she in return would love him back, but she never said it. He told her she could return to see him in the spring, but not as his prisoner, but as his friend. It was her choice! She referred to hims as friend and he wanted so much more than just to be her friend.

A fe of my parts in the book is wher Lindy left to care for her father and Adrian gave up on her coming back to see him and thus being a beast forever, he says," Without her, I have no hope, no life. I will live in misery and die alone. How loving were those words? Very loving if you ask me, what love he developed for Lindy a girl who if he were the old Kyle would have never even gave her the time of day.

I also loved the part where Lindy tells Adrian " I wanted to be with you. You told me to come back in the Spring. And I wanted to. My father was screwed up like always, and he promised to go into rehab, get a job. he idd for about a week. But then he quit. He said he didn't have to work just because I wanted him to. It was the same sort of thing he always said, but now it was different." "Why, Adian said"
Lindy replied, "Becuase I'd been with you. Before, I knew only what it was to be his daughter, to live day to day and wait for it to be over. But now I knew what it was to have someone talk to me, for me...be with me..and ..." "Love Me?"

Another fave part of mine was when it was midnite and Adrian knew it was over and too late but he says, "I love you, Lindy", "I love you too Adrian" He says. "Then kiss me. Let me have the memory of your kiss, even if I die." "It was too late. It was too late, but she leaned forward anyway, and kissed my eyes, my cheeks, and finally my lipless mouth. I was fading away, but I tasted her, felt her. This was all I wanted. Lindy. Now I could die happy."

What a wonderul love story! I love Adrian and how truly found love and became a changed individual. A most loving creature indeed!!