Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures is the debut novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  I was SO excited to get my hands on this before its release date!  Many of the blogs I follow had been raving about how wonderful this book was and I just HAD to have it!  When  it arrived at my door and I ripped the package open, I was mesmerized by two things: (1) The cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! (2) It is really thick... finally a great young adult book that I won't read in a day! I love to have a book that is long enough to savor and delve into for a few days!  YEAH FOR BIG, FAT BOOKS!!!!

From The Book Jacket:
"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." 
 
My Thoughts:
I have to say one thing first- for a debut novel, the authors wrote a phenomemal book!  It is one of the best I've ever read!  I feel that the length of the book allowed the authors to properly develop, not only the characters, but the story.  The story required a lot of "history" to work.   I believe that the reader was given the history, but not in sacrifice to the pace of the book.  The history was relevant and interesting and layed the path for *fingers crossed* a sequel.  The characters had a lot of depth.  I really enjoyed the relationship between Lena and Ethan.  It was a typical "first-love" teenage relationship in some ways( the insecurities, nerves and vunerability). But I really enjoyed the supernatural aspects because it made it exciting and intriguing!  I enjoyed the link the two of them shared to the past, and I think that the authors did an awesome job tying the past with the present.  The other characters (Macon, Amma, Marian, Ridley and  Link- to name a few) were interesting and well-developed.  They all had more to them than it appeared on the surface.  I was excited to find out the reality of each character.
This was definitely one of those books that I didn't want to end.  You know- the kind that when you turn the last page you feel 'sad'.  I enjoyed this book from cover to cover!   I REALLY hope we see a sequel to this wonderful book!