Beastly by Alex Flinn

Author: Alex Flinn

Reading level: Young Adult

Publisher: HarperTeen

Rated 9/10

                                                                                    

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 urn 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.

MY REVIEW
Awesome book, I really liked this book and the meaning behind the story. This is a modern Beauty and the Beast Story told through the beast. It teaches that looks aren't everything in life and that it only matters how you treat people in the end if you want to find true friends and love. The story starts out with Kyle being excited for being on the ballad for prince at his private school. He is confronted in front of students by Kendra, a girl he thinks is ugly and not even up to his standards, about how stupid it is to base anything on looks. She calls him beastly and it gets to him. He comes up with a plan to embarass Kendra by asking her to the dance and to diss her there in front of everyone,while he's with his real date Sloane. After the dance Kendra,who is really a witch,confronts Kyles and tells him that beauty doesn't matter and she turns him into a beast. Kyle has two years to find someone whom he loves and whom loves him back and kiss her. Kyle looks at it as impossible because of the way he looks. His father goes to every doctor to get him help and there is nothing they can do. His father finally dumps him in his own house and leaves the housekeeper in charge of his well being. Kyle gets a tutor named Will soon after,who happens to be blind. All hope seems lost to Kyle. Then one night a man tries to break into his house. Kyle confronts the man and tells him he has caught it all on tape. The man scared for his own well being and not wanting to go to jail offers Alex his daughter in exchange for his freedom. Soon the man's daughter Lindy is living there with with Kyle. They quickly become good friends but Kyle fears she will never love him and he will never break the curse.

I'm super excited to see the movie now!!!!!

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Reading level: Young Adult

Publisher: Clarion Books

Rated 8/10

Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search—and the stranger—will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant.

MY REVIEW
This is a fairly good read.Not one of those in your face wow books but still a good book nonetheless.Tamsin Greene comes from a family of really talented witches and on the day of her birth her grandmothers announces she would be the most talented of them all. But it seems that day never seemed to come on her 8th birthday(that's when talents seem to happen in her family) when it was supposed to now Tamsin is seventeen and living in the shadows of her older sister and the rest of the others with talent(even a toddler cousin of hers seems to have a talent).One day while working in her grandmother's book store Tamsin meets a professor looking for a lost family artifact that went missing 100 years ago and has asked Tamsin to help him(he seems to think she's her older sister) Things go bad and he isn't who he seems to be at first.