A modern twist on the timeless story of Beauty and the Beast, featuring a young New York City boy named Kyle, or Beast, as he goes by later in the book. It has an unusual element, adding in six MSN conversations between different fairytale characters including Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid', the Frog from 'The Princess and the Pea', and a Bear from 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'.
The blurb reads -
I am a beast.
A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright - a creature with fangs ang claws and hair springing up from everyo pore. I am a monster. You thinking 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 turn 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.
The blurb might not be so appetising to some people, but the book is brilliatly written. It even briefly touches on the delicate subject of drugs, for maybe a page, but still. The main character undergoes a brilliantly-chorographed journey of emotional maturity, which we follow closely. The characters undergo some strong characterisation throughout the book, which is so flawlessly written into the plot that you don't notice it's happening as you read it, until you look back on the characters. At the end of the book they are completly different people from when we first met them.
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