Little Brown and Company. Paperback edition 2010.
ISBN 9780316077033
$9.99. Paperback. 563 pages.
Readers Annotation
Ethan Wate is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever 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.
Plot Summary
Ethan Wate is a young man who intends to leave the small Southern town he grew up in as soon as he graduates from high school. His father, deeply depressed by the unexpected death of his wife keeps himself locked away from life in the study they once shared. Ethan is looked after by Amma, who once cared for his father. Ethan's world is rocked by the arrival of Lena Duchannes, the dark haired, green-eyed niece of the town recluse Macon Ravenwood. Ethan is smitten by the girl he has dreamed about, yet he doesn't know about the danger their budding relationship carries. Danger and secrets surround the pair as they try to discover the truth about their connection to each other and Greenbriar plantation.
Critical Evaluation
The paranormal genre is full of books like this, but none are done as well as Beautiful Creatures. Authors Garcia and Stohl have taken the genre and flipped it on it's side to create an original work of paranormal fiction. The Southern setting is not unique (The Southern Vampire series), yet they have taken the best of my imagined South and imbued it with wit, tenderness, and the joy of first love against the backdrop of magic, curses and family feuds. The friendships, relationships and love shared between two teens are genuine and the characters are believable. Although I had predicted that the book would be more gothic and scary, I was pleasantly surprised by the tone and pacing of the story. It was exciting and different from many novels in the same genre. It is an excellent read. The second novel in the series Beautiful Darkness is to be released on October 2010.
Genre
Young adult paranormal romance.
Challenge Issues
Teen sexuality, witchcraft, magic.
