Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Caster Chronicles #1

There were no surprises in GatlinCounty.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

In a small southern town called Gatlin nothing interesting every happens, that is until the mysterious girl Ethan has been dreaming about for months starts coming to their school. He becomes instantly entranced by her and scrambles to find out more about her. The town, however, wants nothing to do with the new girl that is nothing like the rest of them, and will do anything they can to make her feel completely unwelcome. The closer Ethan gets to Lena the more he is committing social suicide, but compared to the secrets Lena is hiding, social suicide will be least of Ethan's worries.

I have to admit I was very hesitant to read this book. The biggest reason I kept pushing it down my to be read list was that I was doubtful I would care for a male first person narrator. Well, let me just say that I can't belive I didn't read it sooner. There was not a single thing wrong with Ethan being the narrator. I think it actually was nice to have a new perspective on things versus the usual girl narrators. I do have to say his voice did seem to be a little "censored" compared to what you would expect to be on a teenage boy's mind, but I didn't find that to be a problem at all.

The characters in this book are full of depth, even the ones you love to hate, and all of the different relationships between all them weave a very intricate web. Even though the main focus is really Ethan and Lena, the rest of the characters really add a lot of support to the story and are not just hollow characters used as "place holders." The nasty girls at school only make you root for Ethan and Lena even more. Lena's uncle only adds more mystery to the story. Ethan's best friend Link provides a great deal of comic relief. Amma's character is definitely the tough southern woman that you definitely do not cross, but can show immense love and caring as well. The list goes on and on.

I absolutely loved this book. There was a good deal of mystery in this book, but it progressed well and was not frustrating at all. The relationship between Lena and Ethan was very realistic and did not seem rushed at all. There was the perfect amount of twists and turns allowing the star crossed lovers theme to continue while still leaving the reader with a sense of satisfaction. I highly recommend this book if you are crazy like me and have hesitated to read it, you really will not be disappointed.

Rating:

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Beautiful Creatures