Beautiful Creatures (Beautiful Creatures #1)

What I Thought: So, if you are wanting to read something that\’s a little bit scary, a tid romantic, and undoubtedly interesting, Beautiful Creatures is for you! I know it\’s old, but give a girl some slack, I\’m new at this whole YA thing. To be honest, it only captured my interest because I shamefully loved the movie {you\’ll see why that\’s important if you read the book} but now I think it is a book everyone should read at some point in their life. It\’s full of twists, turns, and downright \”what in the world just happened\” moments, which I really liked! The characters are complex, but not so much they are hard to understand or like, and it is extremely well written. Its just a really good book! Lena Duchannes {pronounced \’Lee-Na Doo-Kane\’} is kind of a classic \”quiet, outcast, keeps to herself, typical high school weird girl\” character, but don\’t let that distract you. She\’s full of secrets and has more spunk then you could give her credit for. Cast out of her previous high school, Lena arrives in Gatlin, South Carolina in search of a normal life. Living with her hermit of an uncle, Lena has a hard time fitting in to the small community. However, when Ethan Wate, a boy in her English class, says he wants to befriend her, everything takes a drastic turn. The question we\’re all left with is \”what happens next?\” Ethan Wate is a pure, old-family, southern charm infused, boy. Raised by his Aunt Amma and house-stricken father, Ethan wants nothing more than to get out of Gatlin. Everyone is the same. The same people run the same businesses, the same people say the same things and Ethan is tired of it. Hoping to survive the last two years of high school that he has left with just his best friend Link, he\’s thrown into left field when Lena Duchannes becomes the talk of the town. Not knowing what he\’s actually getting himself into, Ethan just can\’t stay away from Lena. She\’s different; her clothes, the way she talks, her family, it\’s all enthralling. Little does he know how strange things will get by being her friend. Now, even though its labeled \”young adult\”, this novel is for +13. It has dark elements, as well as sensitive topics that you should have previous knowledge of before committing yourself. However, it\’s a must read! I\’m working on Book Two now, which I\’ll be sure to comment on as well. Happy Reading! Victoria ♥

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is set in the American South where Confederacy is still very important to its residents. Ethan lives in Gatlin, a small southern town where nothing changes. He hates it. He has been having dreams of saving a girl. Ethan cannot see her face and he doesn\’t know who she is. He wakes up with dirt under his fingernails and on his sheets. He has also started hearing a voice and the song, \”Sixteen Moons\”, plays randomly on his MP3 player and the radio, even though he\’s never heard of the song before. A new girl, Lena, moves into Gatlin and lives with her uncle who is known as the local recluse. Lena and Ethan get much more than they bargained for when they become friends. Both of their families are keeping secrets from Ethan and Lena and when they find a locket that gives them shared visions of the past, they start keeping secrets of their own. Their ancestors are entwined somehow and that might be the key to saving Lena from her possibly dark future. I enjoyed the southern setting and the intense differences of the characters – 5 stars for this fun and suspenseful supernatural read!

Didn’t any editor come along and tell them to trim out the unnecessary words weighing the story down? It was hard to force myself to read this book, because so much of it was unnecessary. But the most unnecessary? When Ethan’s batty old aunts are feeding chocolate to a dog. The authors had a dog painfully killed in a way that wasn’t at all necessary to the plot. Disgusting.

I think this book is fantastic. It grabs you from the beginning and carries you right through to the end with supernatural and crazy! This take on witches is one of the best I\’ve read in a lot time. There is a lot going on in this book and it kept me turning the pages. The plot stalls a little bit in the middle in my opinion. In the beginning you get a lot of information and background then it slows a little bit before the climatic ending. It wasn\’t enough to make me put this book down though. Ethan is one of my favorite male characters in a YA book in a long time. I haven\’t read many great dynamic male voices in a long time. Ethan is smart and he feels genuine which makes him easy to connect to. I think all of the characters in this book felt fleshed out and real. Even some of the supporting characters have clear motivations and backgrounds (like Link) that make their actions have meaning. This book maybe all about Casters and magic, but it hits on some tough issues like desiring to fit in and bullying. I thought that Ethan and Lena tackle these issues in great ways and their relationship grows even stronger because of these struggles. I can\’t wait to start the next book and see where these two go from here.

Lena Duschannes is a Caster who is living with her Uncle Macon Ravenwood in Gatlin, South Carolina, in the run up to her 16th birthday, the day she will be claimed either Light or Dark. Ethan Wate is just an normal teenager living in Gatlin with his author dad who has been hiding away in his office since his wife, Ethan\’s mum, died. They are both looked after by Amma the house keeper who is also a Seer. At the start of the book we find out that Ethan keeps on having a recurring dream in which there is a girl he has never met. Then Lena starts at the school Ethan attends and he is quickly drawn to her and realises that she is the girl from his dreams. Ethan wants to get to know Lena but Lena doesn\’t want to make any friends and pushes him away. Over the course of the first few chapters we feel Ethan\’s pain as he desperately tries to get Lena to trust him, as for him it was love at first sight and he wants Lena to feel the same. Lena however is convinced that on her 16th birthday she will turn to the dark side and tries to block Ethan from her life, along with Macon and Amma\’s approval as they want to keep the two apart as the two of them are old enemies. Ethan tries to convince Lena that she can choose what she will become and that it is her choice whether she is turns light or dark and that she is a good person. Two dark casters show up to try to push Lena to the dark side and cause as much trouble as they can. Ridley, a Siren and Lena\’s cousin who was banished from their home when she was chosen for the dark side and Sarafina, Lena\’s mum and Macon\’s Sister, who Lena was told had died years ago after she killed Lena\’s Father. The two of them will go to any lengths to make sure that Lena will be chosen for the dark side, even if it means interfering in both Lena and Ethan\’s lives. Lena is a mixed up young girl who pushes everyone away as she doesn\’t want anyone to get hurt by her as she is convinced she is going dark. She has a strong personality that shines off the pages but we also get to see a softer side to her and feel her pain. Ethan comes across as a bit of a love sick puppy who would follow Lena to the ends of the earth, but you find yourself rooting for the the two of them and enjoy the feeling that young love has to offer. Ridley, although a dark caster who can make anyone do anything with the lick of her lollipop, has a witty, fun personality that even though she is causing trouble you can\’t help liking her. There are a lot of strong characters in the book but they don\’t over power each other. They all have their own traits and are distinguished from one another with each playing a vital role in the story. Review The book is about self discovery for both Lena and Ethan and about learning to face your fears head on and to trust people especially those that love you. From Chapter One right to the end of the book, it was explosive and kept me gripped and absorbed in the life of Lena and a world where humans and casters live side by side. The story is captivating and immerses the reader into a world where magic is real. The plot takes hold quickly and the story is fast paced. It will take you away from reality and place you in a world where anything can happen. Although this is deemed more of a YA novel I was fully engrossed in it. The story does something most books aimed at adults don\’t do. It plays with your imagination and creates a world we know isn\’t real but can visualise it just as vividly. I was kept on my toes throughout the whole book and the ending, which I didn\’t see coming, had me downloading book two straight away as I needed to know what happened next.

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