Book Review: Beastly: Lindy's Diary by Alex Flinn

Beastly: Lindy's Diary
by Alex Flinn
Release Date: January 31st, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
ebook, 144 pages
Get a Copy:
      Barnes and Nobles
      Amazon

Goodreads Summary: See the #1 New York Times bestselling story Beastly through Lindy's eyes! This is her diary, kept while living in captivity with the beast.Lindy's Diary captures all the romance and edgy mystery of the original!

Diary,

I am locked away . . . with no one to confide in but you . . . and him. His fur, those claws—they caught me off guard at first, but now I'm noticing something else about him—something deeper. It's the look in his eye. It tells me he's got a secret to keep. That's okay—I've got one, too. I think I'm falling in love with him. . . .

Lindy

Cindy's Review: 
At a Glance:
Well, I knew what this book was about when I first saw it. I mean, it was pretty obvious. ;D I was first attracted to the Beastly part of the title. For those who haven't read Beastly by Alex Flinn and is a fan of fairy tale retelling, YA romance, etc, the book is all yours!! 

And I suggest you read Beastly before you read Beastly: Lindy's Diary, because this book left some scenes out and added some scenes in. This book is basically Lindy's point of view of Beastly. And Beastly was Kyle's point of view. He's the monster, btw...

The Characters/My Thoughts:
Lindy - Okay. Don't really blame me for forgetting how these characters acted in Beastly, because I read Beastly two years ago...for the CYRM contest. Explains it? LOL. Add my memory = whiteboard. I guess I can start off by saying Lindy is kind of shy.....? Or maybe I just don't know what I'm saying... Okay. In Beastly, from Kyle's POV, Lindy seems like she hates Kyle. In Lindy's version, she hates him, but not as long as he thought she hated him. If that makes sense. Lindy started becoming curious and then finds out this beast isn't as bad as she thought he was..

Kyle - Kyle the ultra popular boy at school that turned into a beast because he was being an ass. Short summary of Kyle's history. ;D  What can I say? Kyle became a cool guy after he became a beast. Lindy starts to give up her bearings and actually like him and all. Yeah. I think it's just better to look at my Beastly review even though it's from way back then when I don't know what's wrong with my horrific reviews. LOL. 

Okayy. Can't even find my review for Beastly because I read that book before I even had this blog. x) Ummm. I guess you can go read other reviews of Beastly then.

Liked:
- I liked how Lindy's Diary showed the Lindy side of the story. What she thought of everything. What she's thinking. Not just what Kyle thought. Lindy's Diary sort of gave out more answers than necessary. We officially know why Lindsy would start liking Kyle or why she talked to him in the first place. 
- Lindy's Diary still has Alex Flinn's magical writing skills. All her attention-catching, amazing descriptions of fairy tale retelling were still there. ;D 
- Well. It's nice to, in a way, rereading Beastly without really rereading it.

Disliked:
- I kind of want Lindy to be more lovable, I guess. I mean, it's really hard to like female protagonist because they're either annoying, bossy, stuck-up, self-centered, or depressing. I mean, it's really easy to like the guys though. ;/ Maybe because I'm a girl in the first place. But either way, Lindy was just not my favorite female character. 
- I expected more things to happen. Like I really want to have those extra secret scenes. For example, because this just came to my head, Requiem by Lauren Oliver. The whole series had been Lena's point of view, but at the end of book 3, Lauren gave an Alex short story. A short scene that had already passed with Alex's point of view. I died there. #Tooexcited. LOL. So I think it'll be great if I had that excitement for this book too. 

Final Thoughts:
This book was a refreshing read, since I wanted to reread Beastly a lot before I found this book. That's why I was searching for it in the first place. ;D Beastly lovers....I know you're out there. ;D Here's a book for you! Of course, if you haven't found it and read it already. #EveryoneknowsImslowandall. 

The Rating: (1-10): 8.5~

Happy Reading~ 

Book Review: Bewitching by Alex Flinn

Bewitching: The Kendra Chronicles
by Alex Flinn
Release Date: February 14th, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: ebook, 336 pages
Source: ePubBud
ISBN: 978-0-0620-2415-2
Get a Copy: B&N | Amazon 

Goodreads Summary: Bewitching can be a beast. . . .

Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn't.

I go to a new school now--one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I'm not still here because I'm stupid; I just don't age.

You see, I'm immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years--except for when to take my powers and butt out.

I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the Titanic lifeboat? I don't even want to think about it.

Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn't get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl--and it isn't an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching.

Cindy's Review: 

I really love Alex Flinn's retellings. The first book I read of hers was Beastly and that was really entertaining. Beastly was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I didn't realize it was part of a series, The Kendra Chronicles. 

So Bewitching is the second book in this series. The first book was about Beauty and the Beast. This second one is mainly about Cinderella. But there are two stories in between, like a memory from Kendra, about Greta and Hansel um yeah. I think I forgot their names. Omg. I forgot a fairy tale name. What did I tell you about my memory. and The Little Mermaid. Greta and Hansel was about Kendra herself. She is Greta and her younger brother is Hansel. And there was also a retelling of The Pea and the Princess, or something like that. I think that's what it's called. Yeah. I may love retellings of fairy tales, but I'm not too good with fairy tales itself. There were too many versions and I get all confused. 

The Little Mermaid and The Princess and The Pea retelling both had a bad ending. Not necessarily a bad ending, but not a very successful one, according to Kendra.  Bewitching is basically Kendra telling a story. It started with Greta and Hansel retelling with Kendra as the narrator. Then, Kendra introduces about Emma from the Cinderella retelling. In the middle, Kendra cuts in with a retelling of The Princess and The Pea. The Princess and The Pea is told in the prince's POV. Then, Kendra continues on with the Cinderella retelling. The Cinderella retelling is told in Emma's POV. Next, Kendra cuts in with The Little Mermaid retelling with the mermaid as the narrator. At last, it the Cinderella one again. And Kendra speaks in between all the transitions.

Since the main retelling of this story is Cinderella, I'll tell you Emma's story. Basically, Emma is the step-sister. Not a evil step-sister. Lisette is the Cinderella. I think I haven't gotten this wrong. But Lisette is evil. Emma's mother had married Lisette's father. He is a very nice guy and he loves Emma like his own until Lisette came in. At first, Emma thought Lisette really just deserves some father-daughter time since they had been separated for so long, but then Lisette started stealing Emma's stuff, making friends with the snotty popularity queens and claims all of their dad's attention. Emma's mom had warned her, 'Watch out for Lisette.' but Emma had always thought Lisette was just trying to fit in. 

But then later on, when Emma realized Lisette isn't as innocent as she is, Lisette pulled the 'My mom just died card' on her, making her a bad person. Taking her dad, her clothes, and her life apparently isn't bad enough, Lisette even had to take Emma's boyfriend, Warner. Yep. Lisette's basically the evil Cinderella. And the main character of the story is the step-sister. 

In the end, Emma finally confronted Lisette. Emma had met Kendra and all, but according to Kendra, Emma had outwitted Lisette all by herself. With no help from Kendra's magic.

Alex Flinn writes really entertaining retellings. So if you love those fairy tale retellings, I must say, Alex Flinn is the author for you! ;D

The Rating: (1-10): 8~9

Happy Reading~