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Reflection of 'Beauty and the Bully' by Andy Behrens

"I thought this book was delightful. I found myself chuckling throughout. I always love those endings where things turn horribly wrong and somehow life rights itself and works out." - Jeepster on Goodreads Reviews

By Kristen BarenthalerPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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First, let’s just get the obvious part out of the way. The title is a reference to Beauty and the Beast. It is obvious from the title but still needs to be pointed out. The ugly duckling and the pretty princess have starring roles, but in the end, this story takes a bit of a different turn on who is Beauty, the Beast, and so on. Never judge a book by its cover, right? Same goes for titles; just because the title is a reference to the “tale as old as time” does not mean that the story itself plays parallel to the story we all know and love.

This story can be a little confusing to explain, so if you do not understand my explanation I suggest you read it yourself, if you are in the right age bracket to enjoy such a novel. There is a guy in high school that loves the popular girl, even though she does not know he exists. Then, one day his bandmate punches him and he gets a black eye. The popular girl feels bad for him and starts taking care of him, but he knows that as soon as he is better she will ditch him again. So, he hires a bully to beat him up so that the popular girl will keep talking to him. The bully agrees on the condition that his little sister is allowed to play in the bullied kid’s band. Both sides agree to the plan and for a few weeks, it seems to work. The lovesick puppy does something stupid (isn’t that always the way it is) and the popular girl starts hating him, which ends up being worse than when she did not even know he existed. However, only then does the bullied kid realize that he has been in love with his bully’s little sister the whole time and they start making out and become a couple themselves. A few other funny things happen in between, but nothing really important to the plot.

The book was funny and entertaining. It is certainly a young adult novel though. Adults and children might not understand some of the concepts, such as getting bullied so a girl will like you. They would think it was stupid or inappropriate or confusing, which are all true statements as well. I was a young adult when I first read this story and even I do not completely understand that part of the story still. I think that if someone does not like you for you, then they are not worth your time, but that can be hard to see in high school. The story is about finding your true self and realizing your worth, more than just the bullying and romance.

Anyway, the novel was well written and had no mistakes that I saw, but I cannot promise since I was too busy enjoying the story to notice much. If I enjoy a story, you can always tell because it is impossible to pull me away from the book. I read this novel in a day, less than that in all honesty. It is an intriguing read for any young adults in your life if they learn to take away the right moral from it. High school can be hard (who are we kidding, life can be hard), so giving young adults an outlet that they can understand the world through, is a gift that surprisingly few seem to have today. Books (like this one) can give them a looking glass into the world they are about to enter into, instead of just pushing them hurtling into the crazy, outside world.

literature
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About the Creator

Kristen Barenthaler

Curious adventurer. Crazed reader. Archery fanatic. Amateur author. Librarian.

Instagram: @kristenbarenthaler

Facebook: @kbarenthaler

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15101108.Kristen_Barenthaler

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