Retrospective Wednesday: Beautiful Creatures

It is time for another Retrospective Wednesday book review.  Here I highlight books published in previous years that deserve a second look, or a first look, as the case may be.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, published in 2009 has never really gone out of popularity in my library, especially because there have been three other books added to the Caster Chronicles series since that time. Just about the time that the popularity of the first started to wane, the second book came out.  Clever marketing!

The book begins with this very compelling and intriguing first few lines:

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.

Not being a huge fan of the paranormal romance genre I was a little hesitant to pick up this book until I saw that a movie was coming out and it looked good so I determined to read the book first. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't the normal werewolf/vampire/fairy paranormal book. The main characters Lena and Ethan seem to be related to some past lives and loves back to Civil War days, and Lena's family are all Casters which means they all have different magical skills. They reminded me a little of the Addams Family without the humor but definitely with the quirky.

I listened to the audiobook version of Beautiful Creatures narrated by Kevin T. Collins. When Ethan would enter into his dream sequence the listener was treated to some eerie music which was helpful on one hand but a little off-putting on the other. Otherwise, I found the audio version very enjoyable. My eldest daughter is the one who recommended that I listen to this book after she found it a most compelling and engaging story.  She is going on and listening to the other three books in the series. I haven't decided if I will read on or not. At this point I feel pretty satisfied with the story and where it ended in this book.

After completing the book I checked the movie listings in my area and found that Beautiful Creatures was no longer in the theaters so I still haven't seen it and don't know if it is any good. If you have seen it, could you leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of it?  Thanks.

30 books this Summer Reading Challenge

2 / 30 books. 6% done!