Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Book Description:

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.

The Trailer:



My Thoughts:

I have one word: WOW.

Beautiful Creatures is a wonderfully written original story. While I was reading, I felt like I was really there. Gatlin is a place that I could easily see in my head, it was as if Gatlin really existed. There was never a time that I got tired of reading. This one kept me thinking. While I was in school, in my Spanish major class, I would think 'I wonder what will happen next.' Since I brought my book to me everyday to school, my hand kept itching toward my bag and I had to fight so hard to listen to my prof. That is how Beautiful Creatures captivated me.

I loved that for once, the guy is telling the whole story. Ethan Wate and Lena Ducchanes are one of the most real characters I've ever met. Yeah, I know, this is fiction. But where I'm from witches do exist. And no, I'm not kidding. It just so happens that I live in the city and they live in the provinces.

I never got tired of reading Ethan and Lena's adventures with the locket, their poring over The Book of Moons, their silent mind conversations and their dreams. And this time, the guy is the normal one. It's great to be able to get inside a guy's mind and see what he thinks and what he feels. Plus, I loved the moments when Ethan would wake up from a dream-turned-nightmare and find himself covered in mud or water or whatever it was that was in his dream. Lena is a very unique girl, apart from her gifts, she isn't like the other girls in Gatlin and frankly, I can't imagine her as one of them. Her being suits her personality. Even though she's going through a lot of pressure and agony, she makes sure that the people she care about are okay. In the times that she does hurt or worry the people she care about, she makes sure that she makes it up to them. She's an unordinary girl wanting to be ordinary in a society with fixed assumptions.The other characters are equally distinct and mesmerizing.

Beautiful Creatures is a story about a gifted girl's struggles with her destiny, her nature, and her social problems. In this novel, we get to see that in every place, there is bound to be an error, an unfairness in how the members of the society might respond to change - it could be cultural change or anything that will affect them. Honestly, I've seen it happen not just in Beautiful Creatures, but also here in my country. I guess there are just things that can't be entirely accepted by the people who like consistencies. Above all, this is a story of how love can be the ultimate source of strength, hope, and inspiration in times of problems.

Oh, and I CAN'T wait for the next one!!

To Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl: You guys rock! :)

Rating: