Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

 Summary:( From book jacket) There were no surprises in Gatlin County. 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 town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that's 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 in to 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.

 Review: I absolutely loved this book. There have been so many beginnings of new series that I have read lately and many of them were just OK and not all that great( of course there were some that were and I will keep reading the ones that weren't). But, this book was so good. I was a little wary because of the fact that it's over five hundred pages i was afraid it might drag, but it didn't. I really enjoyed every minute of it.

One thing i really liked about it was that the traditional roles in these types of stories was reversed. First off, the entire book was told from Ethan's point of view. Another thing was neither one of them was described as being amazingly beautiful. It made them more relatable. They seemed more like average teens with beyond average problems. the whole thing was actually really refreshing.

  The characters in this story were all really enjoyable. They were all so well written and developed that you really get to know even the more minor characters. There were a lot of characters and they were all so different. I especially loved Lena. She is full of determination and power and fierceness, while also just wanting to be a teenager. She was really a coll character to get to know throughout the story.

  The ending was really amazing. Even in the middle of the climax of the story Garcia and Stohl are still throwing out major lot twists that change the story so much and add that much more intensity and excitement.

Even though, the plot does move kind of slowly in some parts it is never boring. You should pick this up if you are looking for the start to an awesome fantasy series. I can't wait for the sequel Beautiful Darkness  which comes out this October.