Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ [5]
Release date: Dec. 1, 2009
Publisher: Little, Brown
Format: hardback
Source:  library
Pages: 563
Series: Caster Chronicles (#1)
Challenge: --
Summary: 

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.

First of all, I loved how Beautiful Creatures was written from Ethan's POV. Nowadays, I don't really see too many books written from a guy's view, especially one that involved so much romance. It was a really great change of pace, and unlike what some other people say, I don't think he sounded girly or feminine at all.

I also really enjoyed the idea of the story. It was really unique, probably one of the most unique things I've read recently. I had no idea what was going on most of the time, mostly because I had never read anything like it before, so there wasn't much to compare it to. It wasn't like reading a romance book about vampires, where you know that eventually a human is going to fall in love with a vampire, and the vampire wants to drink their blood, blah blah blah. For the most part, in books like that, you can usually tell what's going to happen. Beautiful Creatures isn't like that at all; it really left me wondering what was going to happen.

Unfortunately, this book is rather lengthy and it took me a little longer to finish. Not to mention that it does have a few slow parts. For example, in the beginning not much happens, but it's still very important because it creates the premise of the actual plot. Also, in the middle section of the book, I was getting extremely impatient because I wanted to reach the end already and find out what happens to Lena and Ethan.

Oh! Speaking of the ending, it didn't leave me too satisfied. I don't know..There was a lot of action and that was great, yet I felt the problem was solved somewhat abruptly. I guess it was a little too deus ex machina for me, who knows. I know that I'll still be reading the next book for sure, though! If you haven't read this, I highly suggest that you do!