Robots and Vamps

Reviewed by Christel

Disclosure: This novel was purchased by the reviewer’s own hard earned cash.

Beautiful Creatures is a twist on the young adult, boy meets girl, supernatural love story. This time the boy is the “normal” one and the girl is the supernatural, angsty, attractive new kid at school.

Ethan Wate is just your normal kid at Jackson High in his small town of Gatlin, South Carolina. He plays on the basketball team, he dates the popular girls, he’s pretty much living a normal teenage life. The only thing that makes Ethan different is the fact that his mother died a year ago. Leaving him with a shut-in of a father, 3 old and kinda crazy aunts and a woman named Amma to raise him. Everything is sort-of normal, considering what he is about to face when he meets Lena Duchannes.

Lena, who comes from a rather strange family is staying with her rather strange uncle Uncle at Ravenwood.  In general, the people of the town of Gatlin are not too fond of the local recluse, Macon Ravenwood. He never leaves his home and is rarely seen by the towns people. Only his dog/wolf wanders around the town, following Lena to and from school. Since Lena is new to Gatlin,  the town folk aren’t really fond of her either. But something about Lena draws Ethan to her.  Something that makes him walk away from everything he knew. His friends, his teammates, his life as he knew it.   Lena is counting down the days to her 16th birthday. The day when she will be claimed for the side of darkness or light. She comes from a cursed family of Casters (sort of like witches).  They cannot choose to be a light caster or a dark caster, the choice is made for them.  Until her birthday arrives, Lena is just trying to live out as normal of a life as she can.

Before Ethan and Lena ever met, they were connected. They both had very realistic dreams where Ethan was always saving Lena from tragedy. Now that they have met, their bond goes even further, the can speak to one another telepathically. And they have visions. Visions of one Ethan Carter Wate, soldier in the civil war and great, great, great, great uncle to Ethan Wate and his love Genevieve, great, great, great,great grandmother of Lena Duchannes.   These visions occur via the talisman (a locket) that Ethan and Lena discovered on the grounds of the neighboring plantation, Greenbrier.  Throughout the visions they learn the history of the curse that has plagued Lena’s family for so long.

Beautiful Creatures is a refreshing entry into the young adult supernatural genre.  The authors stepped outside of the norm making the young man the head-over-heels in love mortal.  And it was nice to read something from a male point of view. So often we get caught up in the mind of a young girl, we don’t think about what the young man might be thinking.  The story is steeped in the tradition of the deep south, adding a sort of down home charm. It is wonderfully written and the characters seem as though they could come to life right off of the pages.

Macon Ravenwood is a wonderful and mysterious character that you don’t really get to know until the second half of the book.  He is mysterious and charming as a southern gentleman and I can almost hear his thick, slow drawl.  No one is really sure who or what Macon is, and the authors keep you guessing until they are ready for you to know.   When you finally find out what is so special about Macon Ravenwood, it probably isn’t what you expected.

I really enjoyed reading along with Lena and Ethan on their adventure into the magical world of the Casters.  This book definitely had a dark angle to it, which I loved.  I hope to be able to read more of Ethan and Lena’s story in the near future.   The authors have taken me on a thrilling journey though time to visit my southern roots and now I’ve gotta tell y’all, I think my accent is comin’ back and I’ve got a cravin’ for some sweet tea!

Author’s website: Beautiful Creatures