Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Genre: Fiction (Paranormal/Romance)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Coping with his mother’s recent death, Ethan Carter Wate is sick of the small town life in Gaitlin and dreams of escaping into the world. On the surface, Ethan lives a normal life but he is troubled by terrible nightmares of a girl he has never met before in his life... until of course he meets newbie Lena Ducheness who moves into town to live with her reclusive uncle.
Beautiful Creatures is written from Ethan’s point of view which is out-of the ordinary as most romance novels I’ve read are from the female’s point of view. The mysterious attraction between Lena and Ethan made the book a more interesting read but I can’t help feeling annoyed with Ethan sometimes. At times he comes across as the male version of Bella from Twilight, not the clingy part but the “I’m obsessed with the love of my life” part kinda made my eyes roll more than once. (My thoughts on Bella here by the way)
I absolutely loved the paranormal aspects of the book. It had a unique storyline and I found the characters especially the ‘Casters’ who each carry different powers or abilities quite intriguing to read about. Overall, the book had a slightly slow build-up but the unique paranormal premise was enough to substitute that.
I enjoyed reading Beautiful Creatures but I wouldn’t say that I absolutely head over heels loved it. It started off well but kinda moved slow after that. I do love the unique paranormal storyline and hope to read more about it in the second book, Beautiful Darkness.
Note: If you have a copy of today’s Star newspaper, check out the Stuff@school section which featured a review on Beautiful Creatures. There is also a 25% discount voucher in that section from MPH if you would like to purchase either Beautiful Creatures or Fallen (three guesses what my next purchase would be?).
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge
