Book Review: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (no spoilers)

Book: Beautiful Creatures

Authors: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

Series: Caster Chronicles #1

Publication: December 1st, 2009

Source: Local Library

Rating: 4/5 stars

My Summary:

Beautiful Creatures is about Lena Duchannes who is a caster. A caster is like a witch, but they don't like to be called that. Lena will be "claimed" for the light or the dark on her sixteen birthday. Lena has just moved to a new town and she meets Ethan Wate. Ethan can't wait to get out of Gatlin, a town that has barely changed since the civil war. Ethan has had dreams since his mother died of a girl he has never met. Ethan is drawn to Lena when she moves into the town's oldest plantation, Ravenwood. Ethan begins to discover what the connection between them is. 

Book's 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:

Beautiful Creatures is an amazing novel I have fell in love with every part of this novel. This novel is written in Ethan's point of view  and at the beginning it was hard to keep up with who Ethan was, but as you got further into the novel it wasn't an issue at all. It just depends how fast you adjust to writing style. The first part of the book is really slow. It took me about 60 pages to get out of the introduction and get into the actual story. It starts getting interesting when Ethan learns more about Lena. I was intrigued about Lena from the beginning. Of course I already know she was a caster, but I didn't fully understand what that meant to be a caster and what was so important about Lena's sixteen birthday. She was different and that is something Gatlin Country wasn't familiar with and they didn't like. I can totally identify with her in that way because I have always been teased because I was different. Ethan on the other hand he had it all. He was on the basketball team and he had a good group of friends, but Ethan was willing to throw that all away for a girl. It is the whole theme of love conquers all. It was more like Ethan didn't have a choice he recognized Lena as the girl from his unexplained dreams and he needed to find out what connection they had. The characters are the main reason I love this novel so much. Each character has a distinct personality so you know who is who. Ridley is my favorite character. She is Lena's cousin. I also really like Ethan's three old aunts because they are really funny and forgetful.  There is a distinct change in the novel towards the end. There was just a shift that you could feel as the novel started to wind down to the ending. It was totally a great way to make me stay up super late to continue reading so I could find out what happened to  Lena and Ethan. I don't want to give anything away about the ending, but I will say that the ending didn't disappoint and there is a big cliff hanger to set the book up for the next book in the series Beautiful Darkness.


I must say I'm super excited to see the movie February 14th, 2013. 

Memorable Quotes:
I don't usually pay too much attention to quotes, but this book has literally quotes I couldn't get out of my head. Quotes I love and quotes I never want to forget. 

I have to say it makes me pretty mad that on Goodreads all the quotes from the novels are by just Kami Garcia. Margaret Stohl had a hand in writing this book too so she also deserves the credit, but Kami Garcia is getting sole credit for these quotes and even my own library is give her almost sole credit because you can only look the book up by her name. 

• “Until then, you can do what everyone else your age does. Listen to music. Watch the television. Just keep your nose away from those books.” (Amma)
• “I'm just the librarian. I can only give you the books. I can't give you the answers.” (Marian) pg 420 in my copy
• “Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures.” (Macon) pg 446 in my copy

I'm sure there are more great quotes, but these are the ones I was drawn too.

Please do yourself a favor and pick up this novel. I will be recommending this novel to everybody I know. It was amazing.

Thanks for reading

Rachael