Young adult author Alex Flinn explores the Beast’s side of the story in “Beastly,” a modernized fairytale for teens. The hero is Kyle Kingsbury, a teenage boy with perfect looks and not much else.

He is adored* by all the girls in school, and likes the Barbie-doll, airhead types.

Kingsbury decides to play a prank* on an overweight, green-haired Goth girl named Kendra. She stood up to him in English class, and now it’s his turn to have revenge*. He invites her to the school dance as his date to humiliate* her, secretly inviting his bimbo* girlfriend as his real date. When Kingsbury arrives home that evening, Kendra is waiting in his room. She’s not a high school student at all — she’s a witch! She casts a spell upon him and turns him into a beast. Kingsbury will only return to his human form if he finds someone he truly loves who loves him back within two years. And to break the spell, they must share a kiss.

Kingsbury’s father ships him away to a big house, where he hides from the world. As time passes, Kingsbury expands his horizons, building his own greenhouse to grow roses, and reading classics.

One day, a junkie* breaks into his backyard. Kingsbury catches him and makes the man promise to bring his daughter to the house in exchange for not going to the police. Will she ever learn to trust a beast? Could she ever love him?(

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