Beastly by Alex Flinn--A+

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 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 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 a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.

I just finished this book and found it to be fabulous! I had already read A Kiss in Time by Flinn and loved it, so I had high expectations from the author. But she me them all. The voice was well written, the characters where likable, and the story was great. It followed the plot of the traditional story line of Beauty and the Beast (as seen in the Disney version), which makes it seem that it should be predictable. Somehow, it wasn't. It had the witch that turned him, the magic mirror, the trapped servants, the girl being forced to live with him, the mob... everything. But I didn't see a single one of them coming and was excited when I realized the connection. This is a book I would love to read again.

It is also going to be made into a movie. At first I was excited about it, but then realized that it was going to star Mary Kate Olsen as the witch and one of the Disney actresses from High School Musical as the nerdy/homely girl...not pleased. Not pleased at all. But then I was ever so slightly comforted by the fact that Neil Patrick Harris (of Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog) was going to be in it. And the fact that the guy playing the Beast is hot.

Find out more about the author here.

Linger Give Away!

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.