Kyle’s on the ballot for Prom King – no surprise since he’s the best-looking guy at school. But someone looks past the handsome surface to see his shallow, uncaring soul, and is going to make him pay for every insult.
When Kendra (that new girl with crooked teeth and the ugly non-designer clothes) protests about electing “royalty” just based on appearances and calls him a beast, Kyle tunes her out. Why should he worry about that loser when he’s taking the hottest girl at Tuttle to the prom? His dad, the television news star, says that no one should have to look at ugly people anyway.
Just for laughs, Kyle pretends to ask Kendra to the prom, knowing that he’ll dump her at the door as his friends mock her. Limo for his real date? On dad’s credit card, like the orchid corsage that the maid will get for him. But it’s a white rose waiting when Kyle’s ready to pick up Sloane, and she throws a fit about it, as he knew she would. The scholarship girl taking tickets admires the rose so he gives it to her – easier than walking over to the trashcan. As he and Sloane are crowned Prom King and Queen, Kendra arrives in her outdated dress and is snubbed by the popular crowd. Prom night, Sloane’s parents are away, Kyle gets home just before sunrise – to find Kendra in his room!
She puts a spell on him – his outside appearance will mirror his beastly inner nature, unless he finds someone who’ll kiss him for love of his true self. If he doesn’t find true love in two years, he’ll be a beast forever.
After medical experts can’t cure him, Kyle is dumped by his dad in a house on the other side of New York City, given a tutor and the maid to stay with him. He tries to find answers online, in books, anywhere but in his own heart.
Will Kyle ever find a girl who will even look at him, let alone love him? Is he doomed to live alone with the rose garden that he and his tutor create? A clever retelling of Beauty and the Beast with modern twists, be sure to read it before you see the movie!
Recommended by: Katy Manck, Librarian-at-Large (retired academic/corporate/school librarian), Gilmer, Texas, USA
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What happens when you lose everything that you value the most: your looks and your popularity? Beastly is a modern and edgy story that reflects the tale of Beauty and the Beast. Kyle had it all: looks, money, popularity, and he ruthlessly ruled his ritzy school. His easy existence is interrupted when a fellow student places a curse upon him that turns him into a beast. The only chance he has of getting his old face and body back is if he can find someone who can see beyond his hideous exterior and fall in love with him. Will he find a way to change who he is, and will anyone ever be able to love someone so beastly? (An IM message stream between the Beast and other fairy-tale characters offers a fun, engaging tie-in to current teen technology also.)
*Movie version being released in Feb. 2011
Recommended by Brandy S. Huffman, Librarian
