This review was originally posted on http://threecatsandabook.blogspot.com/With the theatrical release of the movie just around the corner I picked up Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl to read. A month ago. It took me over a month to finish this book, which is quite long for me as all I do is read. In the end I did like this book, but the beginning was just so slow. I think this book would have been just as good (or maybe even better) with at least a 100 pages less in size.
Beautiful Creatures is set in Gatlin, South Carolina and Ethan Wate’s goal in life is to move away from this small town as soon as possible. Until the girl of his dreams, literally, she’s in his dreams, moves to Gatlin. I don’t want to spoil too much for you, so I’ll just leave it at that Ethan is determined to understand their connection.
First of all, I liked that this story was told from a boy’s point of view. But considering the fact that this book was written by two women, I’m not entirely sure to what extent they got a teenage boy’s thoughts right. If you ask me Ethan is way more sensitive than most guys. But then again, how would I know, I’m not a boy either.
What I liked the most about this book was that it was set in Gatlin and all its Southern characters, like the four (or three?) sisters. Ethan has these great-grandmothers that he visits every Sunday and they were just hilarious. The plot itself was alright. Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to predict the storyline. Actually I had no clue what Lena was (was she a vampire? a werewolf?). But then again, this book would have been much better if some of the chapters were left out of it because it made the story so slow at times. In case you are thinking of reading this book, I wish you the best of luck with the first 200 pages or so. I promise you, once you’re past those it all gets better. And it’s even worth it in the end.
I am looking forward to reading the sequel Beautiful Darkness because I did like the story and I want to know what happens to Lena and Ethan. In fact, if Beautiful Creatures would have been more fast paced, I would have definitely given it 4 out of 5 stars. In stead, I gave it 3 stars.
But before I start with the sequel I am going to watch the movie! Unfortunately, it isn’t going to be released here in the Netherlands for at least another two weeks.