Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Kami Garcia’s and Margaret Stohl’s Website
Age Group: Teen
Source: Purchased from Amazon
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Summary from GoodReads:

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.

My Thoughts:

Okay, so you can probably tell from the rating above that I was not in love with this book.  I don’t think it is terrible.  I did finish the whole thing, which is saying something for a 563-page novel.  Before I discuss the things I had a tough time with, let’s start with the good.

I liked the setting  (South Carolina) of this novel.  Being from the Northeast, it was interesting to read about someplace that seemed to have such a different culture.  I also loved the Sisters.  They were too funny.  I loved their cat Lucille Ball that they leashed up outside for exercise, and the whole baby squirrel fiasco – hilarious!!!!!

I loved Ethan’s relationship with his best friend, Link, too.  I thought Link was a great secondary character, and I really felt like Link and Ethan made great friends.  I could totally understand why they were friends.

Unfortunately I couldn’t really see why Ethan and Lena made such a good couple.  I mean, I get the whole dreaming about each other, and that the past connected them.  Garcia and Stohl tell us they like and care about each other, but why?  I wanted to see them talking about things they like and dislike, to see some kind of real connection.  To understand how their personalities would make them a good couple.

Another thing that frustrated me was near the end of the novel.  I don’t want to go into too much detail in case you decide to pick this one up, but there is a scene towards the end.  It is clear that it is totally dangerous for Lena to participate in this event, and yet she does.  Garcia and Stohl try to justify her desire to participate in this event, but it still felt wrong to me.

Anyway, overall, I don’t think this book is awful, but I think there are a lot of better choices out there.  I know a lot of other people enjoyed this one, so definitely check it out for yourself.

For those of you who’ve read this one, what did you think of it?