I’ve been keeping up with all my reading, honest…just not the blogging portion.  I finished Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1), by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, about a month ago, so really this review will be short because I should’ve probably written it right away…woe is me.

If you like supernatural, southern, high school romance, young adult, paranormal fiction (yes, really ALL those descriptors are needed) than this one is for you. Ethan Wate is a high school basketball player in a small southern town where he feels his life wasting away, even more so after the death of his mother and with his father eternally locked in his study. All of that changes when Lena Duchannes moves into town. The niece of the town recluse, she is odd, in all the wrong ways for small town life but all the right ways for Ethan. The pair quickly bonds despite the entire town fighting to keep them apart. Of course it helps that they pair have been dreaming of each other since before they ever met, and they can has each other’s thoughts.

However, Lena is not mortal. She is a Caster (basically magical/witch/spellcaster/powerful/generic supernatural being), and on her 16th birthday, she will be turned either good or evil…. Light or Dark.

From there, you can guess where the story goes: young love, lots of obstacles, a mystery, a family curse, attempting to control one’s own destiny, etc. Basically, Beautiful Creatures is your typical YA supernatural romance including some of my least favorite YA stereotypes such as the girl in need of rescuing, the mean girl, and the secretly smart jock. However, it does have a few things that make it stand apart. For instance, Ethan is the narrator. Having the male lead narrate is rare in the female driven supernatural YA world. Garcia and Stohl make him a credible voice in their universe. In fact, most of their characters, the main ones at least, are well written and believable. The story, while not entirely unique, is still interesting with a few fun twists.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I wasn’t overwhelmed with excitement. I also don’t have an urgent desire to read the rest of the series. I might pick them up one day….