Beastly by Alex Flinn

With the movie already out in theaters, this may seem a bit late. . . however, I told myself I had to read and blog the book before I would allow myself to go see it in theaters. I wanted to use my own imagination before I had Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer's faces dominating my brain. I'm not sure how well that worked though. . .

Since I just finished the book, I figured I would go ahead and review it BEFORE I see the movie and then once I see the movie (sometime this weekend) I will discuss how I felt about both of them. I've already noticed a few discrepancies with the movie from the previews alone. . .

Kyle Kingsbury is a spoiled NYC prep boy. He lives in a fancy Manhattan apartment with his father-- a newsanchor who is rarely home and he's nominated for 9th grade prince for his school dance. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He has a girlfriend named Sloane who is just as self-absorbed and focused on popularity as he is and Kyle fails to respect those who are "below" him.

As a joke, Kyle asks Kendra-- an overweight goth girl-- to go with him to the dance, knowing he had no intentions of going with her. His girlfriend, Sloane demands an orchid for her corsage, but instead of getting the corsage, he sends his housekeeper, Magda. Magda finds the beauty in a white rose and gives it to Kyle to give to Sloane. Sloane has a hissey fit about the rose and Kyle ends up giving it to a girl who is taking tickets at the dance.

When Kendra shows up without a ticket, Kyle blows her off after insulting her, but its Kendra who has the final word. She leaves Kyle with a simple warning, "You'll see." and leaves the dance.

Kyle's world is turned upside down when he gets home from Sloane's after the dance. Kendra is there, but she's not just a high school girl. She transforms Kyle into what he was inside-- a horrible beast. She tells him that he has 2 years to find a girl to love and to be loved by her in return or he will be DOOMED to remain a beast forever. Kendra also bestows on him, a magic mirror to see the world with and warns him NOT to break the mirror.

Kyle only has 2 years to find a girl and once his father locks him away in a Brooklyn Brownstone with his housekeeper, Magda and a blind tutor named Will, he looses all hope. It isn't until a drug adict breaks into the greenhouse he built that hope begins to blossom again. . .
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This is probably one of my FAVORITE retellings of a classic tale. I never thought to think about things from the Beast's perspective, mainly because I'm a girl. However,  I LOVED how Alex Flinn was able to break into the Beast's mind, show us what lead to his becoming the creature we've grown to love through Disney and through him into 21st Century America. In the decade where we are obsessed with shows like Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, it's great to see something from a guys p.o.v. I found myself repulsed by Kyle in the beginning, but loving and rooting for him in the end. Even though I was pretty sure how the book would end, I was still facsinated and engrossed in the way Alex Flinn was able to make Kyle's journey from Beast to Man occur.

This book deserves 4 dragonflies: I love it, recommend it, and someone is getting Beastly as a gift sometime this year.

Page to Screen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I recently sat down to rewatch and reread The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares and as much as I enjoyed both the book and the movie, there were a few things that I really wished they had NOT changed in the movie.  I miss Lena's sister Effie-- mostly because she does a MAJOR thing in the 4th book, I miss Lena flying to California/Mexico to rescue Bridget from herself, I miss knowing Bridget has a twin brother!

Even though the movie had several flaws that made the book so wonderful, I loved it! I really thing Jenna Boyd completely stole the show as Bailey and like I did when I read the book, I bawled my eyes out when she left the story. I found myself connecting even more with Carmen as I watched the movie this time than the first time, but Lena will always be my favorite.

The one thing I wish was real-- those magic pants. How cool would it be to find pants that fit you and your best girlfriends?

Teen Movies based on Books that I Can't Get Enough Of

Two things that I really love are books and movies. ( I love music too, but that may be another blog post.) I wanted to make a list of teen movies I love to watch that also came from books. Sometimes, the book to movie transition is obvious, but sometimes, it's a little more discrete.

One of my absolute favorites is Ten Things I Hate about You  staring Julia Stiles and the late Heath  Ledger. Did you know that Ten Things I Hate about You is based on a play by William Shakespeare called The Taming of the Shrew? Although Taming of the Shrew is NOT my favorite Shakespeare play, I do enjoy the Merchant of Venice. . .

Clueless based loosely on Jane Austin's Emma. While it has been an EXTREMELY long time since I've read even a part of Emma, I do still have Clueless on DVD.

Another great book to movie adaptation is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Now I much prefer the movie version that came out just a few years ago. Anything with Alan Rickman either on screen or as a voice over is automatically wonderful for me. Both the book and movie make me laugh like crazy.

My current favorite movie adaptation is The Twilight Sage: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I love this saga and Eclipse has always been my favorite book in the saga because that is when Bella finally makes her decision between Edward and Jacob or as I like to refer to them sometimes, air conditioning and a space heater. (LOL)

These will probably be the first books to movies I read/watch for the really cool Page to screen challenge. Happy reading and viewing!