.jpg)
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 themReview:
In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.
A lot of questions dealing with different parts or situations were spinning in my head soon after I finished Beautiful Creatures. Though one of the biggest was, "Why on earth didn't I read this one sooner?" You see, Beautiful Creatures has to be one, if not the most, talented, orginal, and spellbinding novels I've read in a long, long time. One read that I'm now in dire need of reading the sequel to, but I digress, so instead lets get to the parts I loved about this one, which I have to admit were most.
Ethan has been counting down the days until he can finally leave Gatlin behind once and for all. That is until the beautiful and captivating Lena, niece to the town's recluse or as Ethan describes him "Boo Radly of Gatlin", shows up in town. Lena is different than most of the other teenagers in town not only because of the fact she hasn't lived there since birth and is related to the freak of Gatlin, but because she doesn't dress like most of the other teen girls, refuses to join cheer leading, and, worst of all, weird things tend to occur around her, especially when she's angry, leaving her to be blacklisted faster than you can say Gatlin two times fast.
Lena and Ethan were characters I had an easy time liking from the beginning, since both were original, strong, funny, and just all around great people to lead this story. One of the things I related to most with Ethan was the fact that he's counting down the days to leave his small town because I tend to do the same thing. Though I have to admit my town is not nearly as cut of from civilization as his is. With Lena, I always enjoyed seeing more about her crazy family, as well as the secret she kept deeply hidden away. Also, some of my favorite secondary characters included Link, who was sweet, loyal, and hilarious all at the same time, and Macon, Gatlin's recluse who was also quite the characters and who managed to remind me of Magnus Bane, one of my favorite characters from the Mortal Instruments series. Lastly, my favorite villian in this story was Ridley, who was always pretty fierce and funny in an evil kind of way.
One of my favorite parts of Beautiful Creatures was the world Garcia and Stohl managed to create in Gatlin. It was easy to picture it clearly because of the level of description put into it. Also, as most can probably tell from some of my reading choices, I love secrets, and Gatlin managed to always have an abundant quantity of them.
In addition, the plot of this was original and something that never ceased to have me completely intertwined in the story at hand. I loved all the different events that occurred that forever had me, as the reader, on my toes, eager to discover what would occur next. Also, Garcia and Stohl's writing was excellent, I have to say.
The only aspect I wasn't overly found of Beautiful Creatures was the length. I felt that some of dragged on a bit longer than it should of, but the funny thing is I also feel that without the ample length and some of those scenes I classified as "slightly boring" this novel would feel incomplete.
In all, I have only thing left to say. That thing? READ BEAUTIFUL CREATURES ASAP. I promise you won't regret it for one second!
Though, word of warning, the ending will have you dying for more, especially with the shocker that comes at the end.
Grade: A-
Beautiful Creatures is now out!
Source: Publicist at Little, Brown. Thanks, Alice!
Book Trailer:
Great review! I loved this book! It was so original and gripping! Beautiful Darkness is great also!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading it right now and really enjoying myself.
ReplyDeleteI have this book on my shelf...wow, will NEED to read it asap. :) That's a nice review of the book.
ReplyDeleteInteresting trailer. I liked the piano playing.
Fantastic review! I absolutely loved Beautiful Creatures and am eagerly awaiting the sequel. I agree with the setting being easy to picture. I was completely sucked in to this book. Even though it was long I managed to finish it in the same amount of time I would a regular sized book.
ReplyDeleteLove the sound of this book and with that great review I need to get myself a copy. I like that you can relate to the characters, that makes a book a hit or a miss somethimes. Looking forward reading this.
ReplyDeleteI've had this forever, can't wait to read it :)
ReplyDelete