Beautiful Creatures

Ethan Wate, a high school sophomore, plans to escape his small Southern town as soon as he can. Life has been difficult since his mother died; his father, a writer, has withdrawn into his study. Then Lena Duchannes arrives, and this strange new girl is the very one who has been occupying his dreams. She and her kin are Casters, beings who have supernatural powers. Getting to know her exposes Ethan to time travel, mortal danger, and love. The teens can hardly bear to be apart, but Lena's 16th birthday, when she will be Claimed for dark or light, is only 6 months away. To save her, they fight supernatural powers and the prejudice of closed-minded people. Yet, good and evil are not clearly delineated, nor are they necessarily at odds. In the Gothic tradition of Anne Rice, the authors evoke a dark, supernatural world in a seemingly simple town obsessed with Civil War reenactments and deeply loyal to its Confederate past. The intensity of Ethan and Lena's need to be together is palpable, the detailed descriptions create a vivid, authentic world, and the allure of this story is the power of love. - Amazon

My Review

"Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures."
Great read, kept you guessing. I loved Lena. She was my favourite character. Besides Ridley, I loved her too. I was super excited and eager to read the second one seeing as this one was so good. Most young adult books these days are way too rushed. Even if it is long, and it doesn't seem all developed and things were missing. But Beautiful Creatures has everything and for once I wasn't saying, "I wish it had more to it." Also, the most important thing to me - was the love story, which was beautifully done. The authors made great choices. For one thing, it's first person which I like a lot and little time is wasted on the crush-developing stages. It just happens, rather than dragging the reader on for a long time. I do NOT like when the relationship just *happens* but it wasn't like that in this and I liked that. So thanks to you both. Their relationship feels genuine. And that the 'fantasy elements' actually serve a legitimate purpose in the story, and they make Ethan and Lena's relationship stronger and better. In the end, I enjoyed it vey much. I didn't roll my eyes like I usually do at romance 'stuff'. It wasn't cliche or corny. I didn't want to gag. Very satisfying. The authors did a great job and I loved it.