The Bookshelf Review: Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, # 1)

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Paperback, 592 pages

Published September 14th 2010 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Synopsis:

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

My Thoughts/Review:

I really do not know why I waited and haven't read this book a long time ago. It was so good right from the beginning. I couldn't stop reading once I started. I feel like I devoured it. When I had to stop reading it I was thinking about it constantly. I had to wait a full day after I read it just so I could digest it and take it all in. I wanted to read something magical after my last read and this book did not disappoint me at all.

I loved the characters, the world building and practically everything about it. The story is told in the south and you really get a good sense of the atmosphere that the authors were trying to portray. You feel like you have been transported to the deep south and that you are actually living in Gatlin. Something I really appreciated was that this book was entirely in the male perspective because you don't get that a lot in YA books these days. I really connected with Ethan Wate. I loved his secret love of reading and how he described things and didn't like the town he lived in entirely.

This book has so many themes and stuff going on that I loved every flip of the page. Each chapter brought new life to the story. The relationship between Ethan and Lena was so electrifying and powerful, I loved every second of it. It is like they were meant to be together and that when they met each other it was like two puzzle pieces fitting together. I liked how there love was slow in the beginning, it wasn't insta-love like you get in some books. All the tiny details and quarks of this book are really what made me love it even more; the different types of castors and magic they could do, the stuff on Lena's necklace, the atmosphere of the town, and the adventure they both had to go on to figure out the curse on the Duchannes family were the things that drew me deeper into this story.

When I wasn't reading this book I wanted to be. I am so glad I got through this book so fast, it was a very quick read for me especially for a 560 page book. The one thing I was just a tiny bit disappointed with was the ending. The ending just kept going until it met the climax but it didn't happen with a bang and as big as a surprise like I wanted it to. It still ended in a very surprising and worthwhile way but its not really what I was expecting. That is really my only small complaint but I can live with how it ended and I am sure it leads just perfectly into the next book.

Overall, this book was everything I wanted it to be and needed. I can't wait to see the movie adaption of this book that is coming out February 14th. I think it will be very good. I also can't wait to dive into the next books in this series. I can't wait to see what Garcia and Stohl have in store for Lena and Ethan to challenge them and to test their love even more than it already has been. I recommend this series to absolutely everyone. Everyone needs to read it to prepare to see the movie. If you love magic, fantasy, or YA you should definitely read this book. It was an amazing book that was well worth the wait. =]

Overall, I give this book: