Rating: 4/5 StarsGenre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: December 1. 2009
About the Book: Ethan Wate lives in a small Southern town where everyone knows everyone's business. When Lena Duchannes, niece of the town recluse Macon Ravenwood, arrives, she is immediately an outcast. Ethan is drawn to Lena and realizes she's the girl that has been haunting his dreams. Lena wants Ethan to stay away-she's a caster and on her 16th birthday she will be claimed-either light or dark. Together they fight for their fate in a battle against light and dark, good and evil and past and present.
GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Beautiful Creatures is a welcome addition to the paranormal romance genre. This is a beautiful Gothic supernatural romance and a epic southern tale. The setting of Gatlin is so richly described you come away from Beautiful Creatures feeling as though you've visited the South. Gatlin is so detailed in the book the setting is practically a character in itself.
I can't say I found Ethan's voice completely believable as a teenage male protagonist, but at the end of the audiobook I listened to, the authors mentioned that Ethan is the perfect high school boyfriend we never had. That I can believe-Ethan is a perfect high school boyfriend. The romance between Ethan and Lena is very sweet yet also dangerous and I loved that dynamic.
The strongest aspect of this book aren't the main characters, but the supporting cast. Ethan's housekeeper Amma is a vibrant woman who I would love to have dinner with. She's larger than life and she comes to life and I left the book feeling as though I really knew her. There's also Ethan's aunt's, the sisters, who were hilarious and always good for some great comedic scenes. And of course, Lena's family were who I found the most interesting. Their stories, background and caster abilities and magic are all things I can't wait to read more about.
I also have to give a huge librarian hug to the author's for making a library and a librarian (named Marian-made me think of The Music Man every time I read it!) an integral part of the story. There were many lines about libraries that I want to find in my print copy of the book and underline and paste in my office. Thank you Kami and Margaret for a cool kick butt librarian character who totally rocks!
I liked how this was a paranormal romance but with a twist-the girl had the powers not the boy, and there wasn't any vampire or werewolf romance. It did take me a bit to get really pulled into this one, and there were a few times it dragged a little-the length of this one comes in at almost 600 pages. But I found the story original and the characters made me want to know more.
Side note about the audiobook-While I really enjoyed the audibook of Beautiful Creatures, I have one gripe about the narrator. The narrator would only use a Southern accent for Ethan when Ethan was speaking, even though the book was told from Ethan's point of view. This threw me off several times when I heard Ethan speak because his point of view voice had no accent. I did however like that the audiobook had original music for the "Sixteen Moons" song and used many sound effects.
Full Disclosure: Reviewed from audiobook I purchased and downloaded from Audible
Glad you liked this book. I loved it. Amma was one of my fav characters. Sisters too LOL..Loved ur review
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked this. A book club I belonged to picked this as their February read, now I can go into it a bit more ready. I do love Southern Gothic tales!
ReplyDeleteThe audiobook sounds neat. I loved this book.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to read this one. Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! Maybe this is one I need to pick up in audiobook. I started it it, but my reading schedule didn't allow me to finish yet because of the length!
ReplyDeleteShewta-Yep, the sisters are so much fun-love them!
ReplyDeleteJana-This would be a great book club read-I think you could have a great discussion about it.
Andrea-I really liked the audiobook and I love when they do special effects. :)
Jami-I hope you enjoy it!
Aubrey-I started to read it too, but it was just so long. I'm glad I got the audiobook-it made it easier to fit in my TBR pile!
I didn't much care for this one, but I did get giddy when the story would venture into the library. Not sure how I felt about Marian the Librarian though - Marian, really? The name irritates me a bit, but she was definitely one of my favorite characters. I should have definitely jotted down some library quotes while I was reading...
ReplyDeleteNatalie-The parts of the book that featured the library or Marian were my favorite:)
ReplyDeleteI'd really like to read this book.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this one, too - and hurrah for great librarian characters in books!
ReplyDeleteThis was absolutely one of my favorite books read in 2009. I may have to listen to the audiobook for comparison!
ReplyDelete