Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
ISBN: 9780316042673
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Page #: 563
Source: From My Library

Summary:
"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."
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First Lines:

"There were only two kinds of people in our town. 'The stupid and the suck,' my father had affectionately classified our neighbors. 'The ones who are bound to stay or too dumb to go. Everyone else finds a way out.'"
Page 1
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Review:

The one thing that comes to mind when I think about this book is how big it is and how long it took me to read. Seriously, it took me quite a while to finish this one. I don't think it has anything to do with the story - the story is good and full of action... but it just took ages to get there. So don't start this one unless you're ready for a marathon.

I was surprised to realize that this book was written from the guy's perspective. The summary made it seem like it would be the girl - since it was listed first. So I was a little confused at first about who we were meeting. Not to mention, how many romance books do you have from a guys perspective?? Not that many, I'd wager.

All the elements are here for a great novel - a believable romance, magic, crazy characters, voodoo, high school drama, good guys, bad guys, and so on. It has everything! But I really didn't get hooked until pretty far in (we're talking halfway or more - which is a lot when there are 563 pages). I do appreciate the care the authors took with the romance. It seemed to build like a legit romance... not just "we met yesterday and it's going to last forever!" and all that.

I think one of the reasons I was sort of trudging through the beginning was the constant references to To Kill a Mockingbird. It always throws me off when authors do this - they compare several things in the book to a classic they assume everyone has read. I read To Kill a Mockingbird ages ago... it was in school and I don't recall liking it (because I rarely liked books after they were dissected to death). So for there to be comparisons, I have to stop and think about the classic and remember what a character was like. It's something I've noticed more and more of lately. I kinda wish that wasn't the case.

Now, I really can't fault a book for having a really kick ass Librarian character. I mean, Marian the Librarian - wonderful! I loved that she was one of the seriously rational characters in the story. She sounds like someone I'd love to hang out with :).

This story was more dark and scary than I was anticipating. I mean, I'm glad it was, we can always use a good horror now and again. I just wasn't expecting to be spooked while I read it. But it was well done, the spook factor. And everything seemed to be tied up really well in the end. You weren't left wondering too much about what had happened. Which I appreciate knowing there is another book on the way. Not too much of a cliffhanger.

I'm definitely going to be recommending this book to my paranormal romance lovers. I know a lot of other reviews are out there that rave about this book, so I'm sure my teens will love it too. The authors have a website that you should check out. There's lots of good stuff about the books on there.
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