Beautiful Creatures - Book Review

Beautiful Creatures (Beautiful Creatures #1)
by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

What is it about:
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.

What did I think of it:
This book is over 600 pages, so I kept skipping over it in favor of less large reads. But when I could get my trotters on the rest of the series for just 6 Euro total at a charity shop I decided the time had come to give this Orphan some attention.

And it's such a cool read.

I immediately liked Ethan. He feels trapped in the town he grew up in and wants to be different than the people who see no problem in staying in the same small town for the rest of their lives. Still, he might have big dreams, in reality he isn't much different from everyone else and keeps his head down. Until Lena shows up at his school.

This is as much a Paranormal story as it is a story about deciding where you stand. What's important to you? Where do you draw the line? I found the way Ethan struggles with these things as suspenseful as the Paranormal side of this story.

The worldbuilding was very well done, both the small Southern town as the paranormal aspects. I was drawn into the world and story quickly and even though the book was over 600 pages long I blew through it.

There was one moment near the end where I wanted to slap some sense in people, but overall this is a really entertaining and cool read, with an ending that made me curious what will be next.

You bet I'll be picking up the next book soon.

Why should you read it:
It's a very enjoyable Paranormal YA read.


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