Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Summary from Goodreads

Is falling in love the beginning . . . or the end?

In Ethan Wate's hometown there lies the darkest of secrets . . .

There is a girl. Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head . . . Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.

There is a curse. On the Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it's been promised. And no one can stop it.

In the end, there is a grave.

Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided. Ethan never even saw it coming.

My Review

Beautiful Creatures is a gorgeous tale, set in a small town where nothing exciting ever happens - until Lena Duchannes that is....

Main character Ethan Wate, is blown away be the arrival of Lena, who he seems to recognise from his rather strange dreams. Lena doesn't fit into small town Gatlin life, where everything is ordinary and her quirky brand of weird sticks out like a sore thumb.

There is a really interesting mix of super colourful characters scattered throughout this story. I love the super fierce Amma, who's charm and wit will have you very easily loving her. Also Macon Ravenwood, who's very quirky and strange reclusive ways will intrigue readers and have them pondering him over in their minds.

The storyline churns along at a pacy rate. I found the fated love story achingly beautiful - Ethan and Lena's chemistry really is a thing of beauty. I really enjoyed all of the supernatural elements and I sat on the very edge, waiting to see which direction the storyline would eventually take. (shocked & surprised)

Beautiful Creatures is a really thrilling Gothic tale full of dark secrets and lots of big twists. The small town setting is suffocating but I think adds to the allure of the story. The characters are gloriously moreish and I just can't wait to go on the next big adventure.

4.5 / 5 stars

*Special thanks to Penguin for the review copy*

(I had read and adored Beautiful Creatures years ago but never reviewed the book. So when given the opportunity to read the series again to get readers excited for the upcoming release of Dangerous Creatures - how could I possibly refuse! One of my all time favourite series' - look out for the rest of my reviews in the coming weeks.)

Dangerous Creatures is available for preorder on Amazon here