Review 2/22/10: Beautiful Creatures

Review: Beautiful Creatures
By: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl





Book Back:

IN A TOWN WITH NO SURPRISES, ONE SECRET COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
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.
Review:

First of all I would just like to point out, after reading the back of the book jacket, who wouldn't be intrigued, and want read this book?
I have to admit I struggled a bit when I first started this book. It's very intimidating upon looking at it, 600 pages is a pretty nice size book. And once I started reading it was a little hard to fall into the story right away. Reading from a character perspective of a young teenage male, with more family issues than the Osbourne's, only not famous, posed a difficulty for me to ease into the story. Once I got passed the first hundred or so pages, this book was nearly impossible to put down, let's just say is was well after 12 O'clock before I even thought of setting it on my night stand.
Ethan is such a strong character in this book, seeming completely average at first, until the story begins to unravel, and you realize there's so much more to him than just some boy from the South, on the basketball team, with a chip on his shoulder. There's a major tragedy that occurred in his life, and though horrible (you find out much later, on why) the writers have made it a positive, and a crucial key to solving this on going mystery. He's so curious, and determined, and it's those character traits that intensify the plot of this story.
This story had so many twist and turns, my head is still spinning and deciphering all at the same time. Lena is not at all what she seems to be, and just when you think you've grasped the truth about her and her unusual family, there's another fork in the road, and your left reeling, thinking "what just happened?" The unspoken words between her and Ethan only make the plot yummier, along with their undeniable attraction between one another.
While digging deeper and deeper into not only the town's, but both of their family's secrets, things begin to heat up, and soon they realize they're in over their heads, and have no choice but to entrust information with a few people. Time is not on their side, and it's a rush to find out what happens next, and obtain the information he needs to save the girl he loves, before it's too late. Aside from the obvious obstacles they have to overcome, it's the new one's that pose an issue. They find the people they most trust, are the one's burying the secret, and possibly the solution, even deeper.
This story grows only more intense the longer you read. Amma; Ethan's seemingly supersticious housekeeper, Macon Ravenwood; Lena's crazy ellusive uncle, along with his somewhat all-knowing dog Boo, and oh! my personal favorite, Lena's super seductive and super persuasive cousin Ridley, if evil had a cover girl, she would be it, cherry lollipop and all.
My expectations were completely exceeded by this book, and I can't recall lately reading a more tantalizing, hope filled, superstitious, tragic, loving, scrumptious, funny, mysterious, heart broken, edge of your seat, heart racing, soul searching, count down, fight to the finish kind of story in a long time. I'm sure you all will thoroughly enjoy it as much as I did.
5/5