A review by se_wigget
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

3.0

 
This is a young adult supernatural romance, the same subgenre as Twilight, but it is better than Twilight. The writing is lively, the characters are sparkling with life, the love interest Lena is a strong female character who, unlike Bella, is a strong individual and doesn’t fit in with creepy patriarchal values. The book is from the first-person perspective of Ethan, a high school boy who is anxious to escape his boring, small-minded small town in the Deep South. The town becomes much more interesting when Lena, a teen with magic powers, moves in with her uncle the town recluse and shows up for class. She quickly stirs things up in the closed-minded community. 
 
My only complaint, besides a couple of dangling modifiers, is that the book includes a few fatphobic comments directed at one female student, something teens most emphatically do not need to read and that furthermore indicates that the authors should read body positive books. 
 
Overall, the book is full of rich detail, magic, and suspense. The characters are complex and sympathetic and come vividly to life. Since the book has two authors, no doubt they gave each other feedback. This is for anyone who enjoys dark fantasy. 
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