Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Beautiful Creatures is one of the more refreshing takes on the barrage of vampire/supernatural romance novels that saturated the market in the 2010ā²s. What sets it apart is its mixture of the vampire love story genre with a strong southern gothic. Reading this when I was younger, I remember it having a much stronger effect on me than most of the other vampire novels I had read because of its lush descriptions and complex characters.
The novel follows Ethan, a mortal, normal boy who lives in Gatlin, South Carolina. He keeps seeing a girl in his dreams, he meets said girl, her name is Lena, they fall in love, they canāt be together because of magical witch angst. Itās better than Iām selling it as, I promise. The best thing about Lena and Ethanās relationship is that, in the moments they get to just be two normal teenagers, they seem genuinely happy and functional, and it does give the impression they would have been happy together if circumstances had been different.Ā
My favorite character is Ridley. Sheās Lenaās cousin who was taken to the dark side, but as the novel progresses it becomes clearer she regrets her choices, which is very interesting. The whole narrative of LenaāsĀ family falling to the dark side actually plays very well into the setting- the world thatās been built is so lush and grand that these concepts of large-scale feel right at home within them. That, to me, is a hallmark of strong writing and world building. Overall, the world and lore is one of the strongest components of the novel.
I would recommend this book to anybody who likes their supernatural romance novels with a little extra spice. I truly do think this stands apart from other novels cut from a similar cloth, especially with the rich developments that happen in later novels in the series. This novel really is a fantastic escape, with strong characters, rich settings, and a compelling story that genuinely feels surprising and fresh.
-Julia











