Since 2013 has truly been a year of reading and listening to whatever I want, I've felt a complete lift in the pressures of blogging daily. Not to mention that I have no commitment to read a book unless I want to read it, and that's left me time to walk the shelves of my local bookstore or library, picking whatever fits my mood. 2013 has been much better for me.
So when I decided to listen to an entire series on audio and not blog about each one upon completion, yet again, more burdens lifted, therefore making the experience of not rushing to finish, to simply enjoy the story was a result that I much prefer.
The Beautiful Creatures series is one I've eyed for a while, simply because I do like Young Adult fiction, and this one seemed like a nice step into more of that power/paranormal/spells kind of feeling that is certainly very popular lately. Book 1, Beautiful Creatures (now a movie) was available for sale on Audible.com, so I decided to download it.
I must admit, while there wasn't anything particularly groundbreaking or earth-shattering to this series, I enjoyed every second of it. There is definitely a lot of gooey romance between the two main characters, but I'm not the primary audience for this tale, so it's easy to shrug it off and just enjoy the entire journey of two kids who fall madly in love in the middle of South Carolina, who really shouldn't be together.
Lena Duchannes just moved to the tiny town of Gatlin, South Carolina and is trying her best to hide her powers. When Ethan Wate sees Lena, he realizes that she is the beautiful girl he's been dreaming of for months. As he searches for the reasons why he is drawn to her, a thrilling adventure begins as they partner to uncover Lena's family secrets and curses, with Lena learning more about her own powers. Ethan finds there is much more to the world than just the tiny town of Gatlin than he ever knew before., and with dark and surprising plot twists and character developments (loved Lena's Uncle Macon and Ethan's Ama, but I especially loved Ethan's best friend, Link), along with a labyrinth of surprising tunnels connecting towns to an underground of the paranormal, the Beautiful Creatures' series is fun to spend time with and get pulled into.
With Kevin T. Collins narrating, the story is even more engaging. He was perfect as Ethan and even though I love Khristine Hvam for her work in Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood and Starlight, it did throw me for a loop when her voice entered onto the scene in Book 3. Not a big deal at all, but after a while, you get used to one voice so having a new one in there is strange, at first. Sort of like having a friend around for hours on end, and then someone else gets dropped into the mix of it. Not bad, just different and you have to get used to the new voice.
A fun story all around, with some sad moments that came out of nowhere, but perfectly fit into the growth of the characters. A treat to listen to while doing errands around the house and driving.
Dream Dark
Book 2.5: A fun surprise, but not required for the entire series
Book 2.5: A fun surprise, but not required for the entire series
Not listening to this short installment won't have you wondering what's going on in Book 3, but it was nice to see things from Link's perspective and his own journey into another world.
About the Authors (from their website)
Kami Garcia is a teacher and reading specialist with an MA in education, and leads book groups for children and teenagers. Margaret Stohl has an MA in English and studied creative writing under poet George MacBeth at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. They both live in Los Angeles, California, with their families. Beautiful Creatures is their debut novel.
Visit the authors:
Kevin T. Collins is an acclaimed stage and screen actor, music composer, recording artist, and professional voice-over actor located in New York City. Click here to visit his website.
Khristine Hvam is a successful narrator with an established history of performances ranging from commercials for radio, TV, and film, documentaries, video games, audiobooks, and more. Click here to visit her website.
I've seen the trailer for the movie based on the first book...I always have to read the book first so I'm sure I'll add these to my list :)
ReplyDeleteThese authors spoke at a SIBA (Charleston I think) and I really liked them. They were just real, ordinary moms. I got one or two of the books in the series, and I'd thought maybe my daughter and I could read them together but we got distracted. Her by school reading and me by whatever. I'm thinking that I'd do well to just avoid the movie. It can't possibly live up to the book.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine read these and then bought them for her niece but I don't think they're for me.
ReplyDeleteI had intended to try this series but the movie sort of turned me off. I'm glad you enjoyed it--that gives me some hope. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the first book. It's been pretty good so far. :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this series, too.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about trying this series for a while after seeing the movie. Would you recommend it then?
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