This summer I went to France and Gatlin, SC. OK, so I literally went to France, but mentally spent my five weeks there in Gatlin, the small southern town setting of the Beautiful Creatures series.
Reading each one of these 500-page volumes was like being sucked into another world and I found it hard to tear myself away from Ethan and Lena each time my mother-in-law called me down for yet more food.
One of the best things about this series is its narrator: Ethan Wate. That’s right: two women wrote a book with a male narrator. Sometimes I get sick of being inside the mind of teenage girls - ugh - so reading a story from a male point-of-view was a change very likely to keep me awake.
Ethan is, above all things, a nice guy, which is pretty cool. He is also bored - and who hasn’t been there? Spending the summer in a town that doesn’t even have a post office, I can relate. Anyway, Ethan’s family has lived in the same town for generations, so there isn’t much he doesn’t know or doesn’t expect - that is until Lena Duchannes comes along.
Dark and mysterious, Lena is the complete opposite of the fake blonds populating Gatlin; that isn’t why Ethan is first drawn to her, however. Lena and her scent of lemons and rosemary, he soon realizes, is the same girl he has been dreaming about - literally - over and over again.
As is often the case, even with true love, things don’t get off to a smooth start. Lena seems less than enthusiastic about Ethan and the situation doesn’t get much better when she blows out a window in their English classroom - very cool.
Lena and Ethan seem to be fated for one another, however, by ties way older than themselves, so they manage to get over their issues. Well, most of their issues, and Ethan might actually find himself wishing he were bored again. Lena, it seems, is a Caster, a sort of powerful witch-like girl from a long line of people with supernatural powers. That would be cool if Lena’s abilities were limited to awesomeness like blowing out windows to scare snotty girls, but it also involves things like being “claimed” - finding out if she will spend her life as a light (good) or dark (not so good) Caster.
In addition to likeable characters and an interesting plot, the setting of Beautiful Creatures is extremely engaging. I’ve always been interested in the South, especially the spooky and superstitious aspects. Beautiful Creatures definitely provided me with my fill of spookiness and superstition.
Happily, having finished the sequel, Beautiful Darkness and now half way through Beautiful Chaos, I just discovered there is another one coming out soon. That is definitely a good thing because, to be honest, I’ve already read the end of the Beautiful Chaos and I want answers.
LAME FACTOR: A big ‘ole 0 of 5 for lameness, y’all.
YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: For technical reasons that you will discover, Ethan and Lena are very well-behaved, so there is nothing to worry about - unless, of course, your parents have a thing about the paranormal.
BRAIN POWER: Beautiful Creatures is well-written and easy enough for a fairly good reader. No excuses.
