Sunday, February 17, 2013

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

(Caster Chronicles, book 1)
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.

I have to admit, there was only one reason why I found myself reading this book – the movie trailer. I heard of the series for the first time about a year or so ago, but I steered clear of it. Why? I heard soooo many people compare it to Twilight; I am not a Twilight fan. The books were just okay, and the movies were horrendous – but that’s another rant for another day. Back to Beautiful Creatures; I saw the movie trailer and immediately bought the book…and holy smacks, I am so glad I did. I fell in love with Lena and Ethan (and Link), and became enthralled with the Caster world in a completely unexpected way.

Just to clarify: this book is nothing like Twilight. The only reason why I can even assume people are making a comparison is strictly because it is a paranormal romance. Lena is a Caster (which is basically just a badass name for a witch) and Ethan is a mortal...well…sort of.  After realizing that Lena is the girl he has been dreaming about (literally), he makes every attempt to spend more time with her. There’s only one problem: Lena’s sixteenth birthday is approaching and with her life as a good or bad Caster hanging in the balance, she’s afraid to let Ethan get too close. Little does she know, having him close just might be what saves her.

I love that this is written from Ethan’s POV, not Lena’s. It’s super rare to read a romance that is solely from the male’s POV; it was a welcome change and not at all expected. While it does start off a little slow, and take a little while to really delve into the story line, I really enjoyed this novel. The unexpected plot twists made my jaw drop, and kept me on my toes right up until the very end. The strong character traits in Lena and Ethan are admirable and make you root for them even more – and while obstacles are thrown at them left and right, it kind of breaks your heart a little, too. 

My best friend and I went to see the movie after we both read the book, but unfortunately, I can’t give you feedback on that yet…because we only saw about 2 minutes. The stupid fire alarm went off and they herded everybody out like freaking cattle. I’ll definitely give y’all feedback on it when I have time to go see it again, but until then, if you haven’t read the book yet I highly recommend it. If you enjoy paranormal/sci-fi, romance, and little dashes of comedy, this is a perfect read for you. I can’t wait to start the second book in the series, and see where it takes Lena and Ethan. 







No comments:

Post a Comment