Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - Book Review

Beautiful Creaturesby Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre(s): Paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Pages: 563
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2009
My Rating: 4/5

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:
I thought Beautiful Creatures was a great read. I enjoyed the plot and characters. When I first bought this book I thought it was going to be just like Twilight and have not so great writing. I was wrong. I thought the writing was excellent. I enjoyed the plot and the whole idea of this book.
It's cool how they intertwined Southern history throughout the book too.
I do kind of wish I had read To Kill a Mockingbird before delving into this, seeing as there are a lot of references to that novel. I'd recommend maybe you should read To Kill a Mockingbird first, just because, like I said, it's referenced quite a lot throughout here.
As for the characters, I liked Lena a lot, I thought she was a really cool, different character. Ethan was cool too, although I do think he was a little too.. feminine, I guess, for my taste. His love for Lena was adorable though, honestly. Throughout this book I became a fan of Ridley, which I probably shouldn't like because she's a Dark Caster. I just thought she was a cool person, I suppose.
As for the ending, I didn't like it that much, which is why I rated this book 4/5 stars. It just keeps you wondering. At least Beautiful Darkness is out now so I'm not wondering for too long.
Definitely read this book, I don't think you'll be disappointed; I wasn't.