Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Release Date: December 1, 2009
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 563
Source: Publisher
Interest: debut author
Buy the Book/Associate Links:Amazon
/Indiebound
There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.
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.
Three words; unique, epic & addictive
Wow. I mean really, wow. I have no words. I really have no words. It's so much more easier for me to give reasons why I don't like something, rather than try to explain why I do. I mean, I don't know why I like something. I just do!
But let's see if I can explain this coherently. It took awhile for me to get into the story. Initially you get a lot of information, and I wasn't exactly sure where it all was headed. However, you needed that back story. You needed to understand the history of the town the history of Ethan, otherwise the vibrancy of the story would be lost. The history completely compliments and enhances the rest of the story, when you get to the end, you'll get it.
The atmosphere of these book was incredible. I had this insatiable craving for grits and sweet tea... It really was like you were there, Garcia and Stohl cover even the smallest of details. Characterization was phenomenal. These characters were fantastically portrayed, three dimensional, I had very strong feelings toward each and every one of them and that's something that doesn't happen often. Something that's not evident a lot in YA fiction, is family involvement. The parents or guardians are always in the back ground, there, but not there. Beautiful Creatures has a lot of family involvement, which I loved.
Maybe I do know why I liked it! Writing was outstanding, pacing was right on, I could not get through the pages fast enough! The whole story was just fascinating, I just loved it, every small aspect. It just worked.
I can not wait to read more. I demand a sequel! Which I'm happy to report... is coming!
(Even though the official release date of this one is Decmeber 1, BC has been spotted on bookstore shelves already!)