Mini Review: Beautiful Creatures

Title: Beautiful Creatures
Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

This is going to be very quick because I know so many of you know this book and have already read/reviewed/ it or read reviews on it.  I picked it up to read because I was seeing all the posts about the movie, so I wanted to read it before the movie came out.

I liked it.  Did I LOVE it? No, but I did enjoy it.  I liked the characters a lot especially Lena.  I just thought she was a very strong girl, and I liked that.  The plot was good - lots of secrets that started to be opened up, so that held my interests.  I liked that people weren't all that they seemed.  There was so much under the surface of the town of Gatlin that sometimes it was hard to keep up! But I'd rather have that than be really bored :)

One thing I didn't like - the way the town including the adults treated Lena from day one.  I just found myself very frustrated by it.  I think it comes from being a teacher.  I can't stand bullying at all, so having it so prevalent in this book was hard at times. In all I enjoyed the book but I did have to let go of my annoyance over this one part!

Final thought:  I'll definitely see the movie now!!