"Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Series: Casters #1
Publication: December 1, 2009 by Little Brown
Format: Paperback; 563 pages
Cover Rating: 4/5 Stars

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.

With all the hype from the movie coming out, I finally decided to pick up my dusty copy of Beautiful Creatures and read it. At first, I was disappointed. It just wasn't keeping my attention, and honestly, it took me FOREVER to read it. However, I eventually found myself being sucked into the story.

Some of my problems with BC:

• It was too long. I know, I know. Books can never be too long! Well, sometimes they just get too in depth and it takes away from the story's potential. I felt like Beautiful Creatures could have been amazing had they cut out some of the unimportant parts.
• It was cliche. To the point where I wanted to punch someone. I live in a small town in the south. And when I say small, I mean it takes me 25 minutes just to reach a small grocery store- and 40 to reach a Wal-Mart. So, needless to say, I know that small southern towns have a rep for being... narrow minded. But Gatlin (the setting for Beautiful Creatures) was just over the top ridiculous! I get what the authors were trying to put out, but I felt like they went too far. 
• It was ALMOST so original! I think what really aggravated me the most was the POTENTIAL of the story. The idea behind it was just fantastic. However, there was a certain scene/ chapter that was completely un-original. I was so disappointed when I read this particular part- all I kept thinking was "Haven't we seen this OVER and OVER again since like 1970?" 

BUT I have to say, when it was all said and done with, I actually ended up loving the story itself. In fact, I went straight to Amazon when I finished it and bought the rest of the series. Why? Well because like I said, it   had all this potential. I think that as the series goes on, these issues that I have will be fixed (or at least, I hope so). 

My Rating: