The unique story and supernatural suspense
How is the storyline?
I had seen a few advance reviews for "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, all of which raved about the novel, so I went into it with pretty high expectations. On top of that, it's one of the few books ever to be selected as a "Heather's Pick" at Chapters/Indigo (Canadian Barnes & Noble basically). This discovery, again, amped up my hopes. And I was not disappointed!The main character of "Beautiful Creatures" is Ethan Wate - 16-year-old basketball stud from Gatlin, a town in the deep South. A year before the novel begins, Ethan's mother passes away and since then, his life has changed immensely. His father writes all night and sleeps all day, so Ethan sees him about once a week, which leaves Amma, their housekeeper, to care for him. Along with the changes in his home life, Ethan has begun to have strange dreams, ones with a mysterious girl in the rain and when he wakes up, he is usually soaking wet, his hands caked with mud.Then one day, the girl from his dreams shows up at school. Her name is Lena Duchannes and she is the niece of Macon Ravenwood, the town shut-in, automatically making her a social outcast. However, despite the best efforts of Ethan and his popular friends, he cannot deny that he is drawn to her. Eventually, Ethan gives in and when he does, he and Lena begin a magical journey that he could have never predicted. I don't want to give too much of the plot away since the suspense about what is happening is one of the best parts! However, I will say that you won't expect the "supernatural" twist in this novel.Despite the fact that the main characters are even younger than my youngest sibling, I still really enjoyed and connected to the story. The characters don't seem 16, which makes this way easier for 20-somethings to read. "Beautiful Creatures" is also very well-written - just enough description to give you a good idea of the setting and lush, Southern atmosphere. There is nothing that I hate more than over description in a book (you know - a whole page describing a blade of grass). There is none of that here. Actually, I think one of the reasons that I like teen books in general is that they tend to stay away from tons of adjectives and just get to the grit of the story.Another problem I've had with supernatural teen fiction lately has been the "Twilight"-syndrome. There are SO many books out there that have taken the basic bones of the Twilight novel and then slotted in another supernatural being (werewolves, angels, etc). I HATE THAT! "Beautiful Creatures" DOES NOT do that, thankfully. It has a unique story, which, unfortunately, is a rarity in teen fiction these days.I'm going to recommend "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl to any fan of teen fiction or supernatural fiction, OR people who are fans of a combination of the two, such as Twilight, Shiver, etc. The unique story and supernatural suspense will keep anyone interested and reading away hours at a time. Enjoy! 