Beautiful Darkness

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. Sometimes life-ending. Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems. - Amazon.

 

My Review

Beautiful Darkness was a very detailed and layered sequel that didn't disappoint me. I loved this one just as much as Beautiful Creatures. It pretty much picks up where Beautiful Creatures leaves off, the book covers a good amount of time as Lena and Ethan struggle with conflicting feelings about the night of Lena's birthday, the consequences, and the grief each are experiencing. I really didn't like Lena much throughout the book. In fact, I enjoyed the parts she wasn't in quite a bit more. She was pulling the same tricks as last time and her attitude was quite annoying. I liked Ethan pretty well, but I just wanted to scream at him "Hello! Can you please stop letting Lena treat you like garbage?!" I like Ethan as a main character. It is always fun to read a book in a male's point of view because it doesn't happen too often. I can say that I really liked Link's character and we got to see quite a bit more of him this time. I was also quite interested in the new twist in his story. I was also introduced to a few new characters that add new tension between the main characters and show surprising secrets about Caster powers and the battle of Light vs. Dark. All the twists, secrets, and surprises climax in a journey through the Caster tunnels and a suspenseful showdown between family members that will leave some dead, and some very much alive. There might be some confusion as to who is left standing at the end, but one thing is for certain: this story is not over, and I can't wait for the next one.