A Book Review: Beastly

Title: Beastly
Author: Alex Flinn
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 300

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: PG-13

I'm going to confess something here. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie, by a landslide. So when I saw the movie trailer for Beastly--a retelling of Beauty and the Beast in New York City which happens to have Neil Patrick Harris in it (though not as the Beast), I knew I had to read the book it was based on. I wasn't disappointed. Beastly is a retelling of the story from the Beast's perspective, starting with the curse. Our Beast is a shallow, popular high school student, who has gotten everything he has ever wanted because he's handsome. When the inevitable happens (if you know the story) he is shunned by everyone--including his father. He's left with only his maid and a blind tutor. I really enjoyed this look into the Beast's psyche, the depression, the angst, the agony. Anyone who enjoys the story of Beauty and the Beast will enjoy this modern retelling.

Though there are some intense romantic feelings, there is no actual sex in this book. There is very little violence, except a mugging. However, I felt a PG-13 tag was necessary because the idea of a father willing to give up his daughter to save his own skin is pretty scary and drugs do come up. However, I would be willing to say this book should be like PG-12.