Beastly the Movie

When I go to the movies I hate to be late because I love the previews. Seeing the previews is a must and I'm glad I caught this one when I went to the show on Sunday. As the preview came on I sat there thinking I know this story. It seems very familiar and then it hit me. I've read the book. The book was Beastly by Alex Flinn. Beastly was actually the first book I blogged about on this blog a little over two years ago. First off I can't believe I've been doing this blog for over two years. Time really does fly. Second I'm so excited that they made this book into a movie. Beastly is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast and if you want to read the review click on the link: http://hobartlibrarybooknook.blogspot.com/2008/02/beastly-by-alex-flinn.html.

In the movie Alex Pettyfer plays Kyle Kinsbury the incredibly good looking self centered boy that gets turned into a beast by a witch.

The witch who's name is Kendra is played by Mary Kate Olsen.

And Lindy, Kyle's love interest and savior, is played by Vanessa Hudgens.

Will, Kyle's tutor, is played by Neil Patrick Harris whom I love.

The movie comes out July 30 and I hope it's as good as the book.

Godmother, The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon

“Godmother, The Secret Cinderella Story” written by Carolyn Turgeon and published in 2009 is one of our new adult fiction titles. The novel flips back and forth between the fairy world and the present-day world of New York City. The main character, an older woman named Lil, lives in New York City and works at a bookstore in Manhattan. Lil’s secret, which she will let no one in the human world know, is that she was Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother and that she, instead of Cinderella, fell in love with the Prince. Thus, three hundred years ago, she was banished from the fairy kingdom and forced to live in the human world. Lil loved her life in the fairy world. There she was beautiful with red hair and green eyes, and could fly over the fairy lake with her three beloved fairy sisters, Maybeth, Lucibell, and Gladys. In the human world, she likes her job at the bookstore and working for the owner of the bookstore, a handsome, bookish, and kind man named George. With pure white hair, she is told she holds an aura of glamour and that she must have been quite beautiful when she was younger. Now her skin is quite wrinkled, and her after-work life is rather lonely – spent in her apartment alone each night where she reads books and watches television. Additionally, Lil has to hide the remnants of her fairy world, like the large feathery white wings across her back which she has to bind when she goes out and all of the white feathers floating in her apartment which she has to burn every morning. However, one day, upon befriending a fairy like woman named Veronica, Lil decides she will redeem her past mistake in the fairy world by acting as Veronica’s Fairy Godmother, sending her to an elegant ball, and thus giving Veronica a chance at true love. This, she is hoping, will be enough for her to be allowed to return to the fairy world she so misses. The writing is lyrical, pulling the reader into a feeling of the world of the fairies versus the New York City environment. You might want to check out the author’s lively blog featuring her writing and road trip adventures. Interestingly, this book has been optioned for a movie. It will be neat to see how it turns out.

Submitted by Karin Olsen

Beastly by Alex Flinn

(4 out of 5)

Reading Level: Young Adult

Kyle Kingsbury has it all money, good looks, and a gorgeous girlfriend. He thinks the world should be full of good looking people and the rest should just fade away. When a not so pretty girl in his English class calls him “ugly” he decides to get back at her. The joke ends up on him. She turns him into a beast.

Excerpt from Beastly:

“I was a beast. I stared into the mirror. I was an animal, not quite wolf or bear or gorilla or dog, but some horrible species that walked upright, that was almost human, yet not. Fangs grew from my mouth, my fingers were claws, and hair grew from every pore. I, who’d looked down on people with zits or halitosis, was a monster (pg 47, Flinn).”

Kyle is given two years to find someone who will love him for what he is. Her love and kiss will break the curse and set him free.

This is a modern day version of Beauty and the Beast. The book is partially told in a chat room format. I thought it was a fun change of pace, but I’m glad the whole book wasn’t written like that. The abbreviations would have driven me crazy in the long run.