Beastly by Alex Flinn

The guy who used to be Kyle Kingsbury has been transformed by… well… a witch, after standing up the wrong girl for prom.  But he gave a rose to the girl taking the tickets, and for that he gets a chance to redeem himself.  His father is a news anchor and never home anyway, but when he thinks Kyle’s new appearance could jeopardize his job (or his ratings!), Kyle gets a house to himself (and his housekeeper, and his tutor) to do with what he likes, as long as he stays inside and out of sights and has, you know, no contact at all with the outside world.  He has two years to be kissed by someone who truly loves him, someone he loves truly in return.  Will he find someone who can look beyond his appearance?

Beastly is scheduled to be made into a movie, with Neil Patrick Harris playing Kyle’s blind tutor, and Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen playing two of the girls in Kyle’s life.

Review by Kathleen from a library copy.

Evernight by Claudia Gray

Bianca Olivier seems like a pretty normal teenager.  Her parents are teachers and they’ve accepted positions at a reclusive boarding school called Evernight, so that’s where Bianca’s going to go too.  She’s spent all her life in the same small town, too shy to make any real friends.  She just wants to get away from Evernight.  So the morning of the beginning of the school year, she runs away.  In the woods by the school, she sees a guy following her.  It’s a meet-cute for Bianca and Lucas, who was trying to protect her from whomever was chasing after her (nonexistent though the threat was).  They have their ups and downs, especially when Bianca is seen talking to some of the “in” kids at Evernight.  But then, on the night of the Autumn Ball, Bianca gets a little too carried away when she’s kissing Lucas, and she bites his neck and drinks his blood.  Suddenly, her parents have been vampires for centuries, most of the students at the school are vampires, the rest of the teachers are vampires, and Bianca is an almost-vampire (she was born instead of turned, so she won’t be a full vampire until she kills a person).  The plot is slightly contrived, but for readers who want another vampire-human high school romance, Evernight is an interesting read.

You can visit Claudia Gray (aka Amy Vincent) online at http://www.claudiagray.com.  Book 2 (Stargazer) in the series is out now, and book 3 (Hourglass) is planned for a March 2010 release.

Review by Kathleen