Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

 Title: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)

Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: December 1, 2009

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

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.

Maybe I was living under a rock but I was unaware of all the hype surrounding Beautiful Creatures when I first picked it up at the bookstore. Now that I’ve read it, I can certainly see what it was all about. The book was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading it but any expectations I could have had would have been met. I truly enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, for more than one reason.

The book, set in the fictional town of Gatlin, South Carolina, tells the story of Ethan Wate, an average sixteen-year-old who wants nothing more than to get out of the small town he grew up in. With the start of a new school year came the arrival of Lena Duchannes and everything changed for Ethan. Though everyone stays as far away as possible from Lena, Ethan feels a strong connection to her, soon realizing she is the girl he has been dreaming about since his mother’s death.

I loved Ethan’s character; it was such a refreshing change to have a love story told from the boy’s point of view. Just having the whole story being told from his point of view was nice; so many times I have read this type of book and always have things told from the girl’s perspective. Ethan was a character I enjoyed getting to know. I’ll admit at times I did find him annoying, especially when he was complaining about how the people in his town were acting, but in doing so he was being just like them. But no one is perfect, and apparently that also goes for book characters.

Lena was also a great character and sometimes I wished I could have seen more of her. At first she didn’t really appeal to me, maybe it was because she was being so secretive but she grew on me. Her being so secretive made her mysterious and therefore made me want to know more about her. Funny how that can work out sometimes. Lena’s family also had me. Just to keep track of who could do what I would have needed a flow chart...and a dictionary to be able to understand it all.

I think the writing is the best part of the book. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl managed to take me on a journey to a small southern town, at some points it really felt like I was there with Ethan and Lena. The story they write is simply beautiful and it is beautifully written. Sure it’s a fantasy story and a love story but it’s also a whole lot more.

Beautiful Creatures had me captured from start to finish, putting it down was almost impossible but I had to sleep at some point. Definitely one of the best books I have read recently and definitely recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the fantasy genre. I can’t wait to read Beautiful Darkness, the next book in the series, and whatever comes next from these two authors.