Beast by Brie Spangler

Beast by Brie Spangler

My Rating: ★★★

Dylan is a lonely, tall, strong, and extremely hairy teenager, which makes him a moving target wherever he goes. Just when he thinks he's stop growing, he grows yet again and wishes he wasn't always the tallest person he's ever known. After his school bans hats and his best friend sets him up with a bad haircut, he finds himself sitting on the roof and decides to jump, thinking he'll only get a bad sprain, and wakes up with a cast on his leg. Forced to attend group therapy, he meets Jamie, and she takes his breath away. She's pretty, funny, artsy, and isn't afraid say what's on her mind. The best part? She treats Dylan like a regular person rather than the beast people view him as.

This is a loose Beauty and the Beast retelling that takes place in a modern high school setting. There's no magic or curses, but Dylan does think he's cursed whenever he's throwing himself  a pity party. Told in the first person perspective, we follow Dylan as he struggles with his peers who view him as a big beast rather than a person. He's extremely shallow himself for majority of the book, so it was interesting to see him grow as a person even though he kept devolving into a selfish guy who was blind to how his actions affected others. However, I found it difficult to get behind him for a good portion of the book because of how angry and cruel he was many times. He's always yelling, "Me! Me! Me!"

Jamie is such a great character and I wish that there were at least some chapters from her perspective. We only see what Dylan sees, and there's so much more to her character than being a seemingly carefree teen. It's not her responsibility to hold Dylan's hand and guide him through his hardships while he lashes out at her. However, she is the Belle to his Beast, so this was something that I was expecting. She's also the only one who consistently calls Dylan out on his crap, which forces him to realize that part of his problems are coming from within.

Many of the characters are presented with realistic flaws. For example, Dylan's best friend is shady and manipulative as well as superficial and viscous. However, no matter how many good and bad points these characters have, they're demonstrated in layers, making them more realistic. It's a wonderful read even though you may want to jump in the story and share some of your wisdom with these characters at times.