I don't know if this counts as instalove but it certainly counts as instaweirdobsession, full of laughable musings like "there's just something about her that makes me know it's meant to be" hopefully, it's obvious that this is not a direct quote.
I thought that this book might be a little more original because of the uncommon choice to have a male protagonist, but everything is still exactly the same.
Now, though, instead of a girl-next-door type, you have a boy-next-door type who sails along in his faultlessness, constantly comparing himself to the less intelligent and morally-questionable beings he must interact with every day. Ethan even treats us to a rare bout of what I can only call male slut-shaming; he criticises his male peers for having one-track minds and wanting to get off with girls when he is looking for something more meaningful He is actually an exact male version of many paranormal YA protagonists who criticise the popular girls for being more relaxed with their sexuality.
Not only that, but he also insults the other members of his Southern US town. The novel plays heavily on Southern stereotypes and portrays almost everyone but Ethan as being incredibly stupid. Ethan sneers at everyone. He is obviously smarter, has his morals in the right place, and is just downright awesome in comparison. He makes it no secret from the very first chapter that he considers himself above them. He even goes so far as to announce that he doesn't have an accent because he was raised by intelligent people.
And it was predictable. We don't even need to meet Lena or even hear her name to realise that she is the one Ethan will end up with. As soon as one of Ethan's classmates asks "have you seen the new girl?
Sometimes, I'll admit, there's some fun to be had watching a couple angst it out together, even though you know they'll be together eventually, but before we even knew her name? I can't even say that I stopped caring because, truthfully, I never even started. This whole book was just Oct 21, Cara rated it it was amazing Shelves: male-protagonist , paranormal , fantasy , , awesome-covers , series , books-made-into-movies. I envy you. You think you can change things.
Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures. I doubt that they are people who will read this and not have a big impression. What am I saying?! I mean a HUGE impression. You know when you read a book and just immerse yourself in it? I'm sure most of you know the feeling. I kept reading into the night having no semblance of sleep,and "Mortals. I kept reading into the night having no semblance of sleep,and staying awake on interest alone.
I could not believe my eyes when I looked at the window when I finished the book to see light peeking out. Suffice to say I'm hooked. This book is told through our male protagonist Ethan Wate, which was refreshing.
There isn't any real good way to describe him other than devoted I think. Ethan lives in the boring southern town of Gatlin, where nothing changes and the Civil War is called the war of Northern Aggression. Nothing of note happens and there aren't really any secrets but really nothing can be further from the truth.
This town is hopping with secrets, really really juicy ones. Ethan doesn't come to realize this until a new girl, Lena, comes into town. Now this is where our story begins Gosh there is so much to say but I doubt I could get it all done.
This book has mystery a lot of it , Southern culture a character in itself , magic like you have never seen before , and one of the best romances I've seen lately no joke. Can you tell I like parentheses a tad too much? Don't answer that. Any who I have to commend the authors of telling a story that I could no way tell it was written by two people. The writing is seamless and draws you in no matter what is happening.
Reading this is a bit of an undertaking because it is a some odd pages and has a lot of back story, but it's totally worth it. My favorite character would have to be Amma Ethan's no nonsense fill in parent since his mother died. What makes this story work is that there is such rich descriptions of the characters, their lives, the surroundings, and even the minor characters jump out at you.
One little teeny irk: I doubt Ethan would notice way too much about what everybody was wearing, but I guess how else were we suppose to know? I kept trying to guess how to solve it, but I didn't get it till the end. Some things I could see coming because you know it really could never end another way.
Basically this is a story of a boy who loves a girl but it's with the extra touch of magic. Later note: Found out there is a sequel! Check out Beautiful Darkness. It looks like the first one is being made into a movie! And on another later note here is a link to the trailer.
Looks smashing! View all 81 comments. Apr 16, Miranda Reads rated it it was ok Shelves: audiobook , finer-books-club-reading-chall , literally-painful-to-read , mary-sue-i-will-kill-you. Everything is so apocalyptic.
Truer words have never been spoken. Ethan lives in Gatlin and which is just about the most boring town in existence.
Things suddenly got a lot more interesting. There's just something so The way she moves, the way she talks, her hopes and fears and loves - Ethan knows right away: Lena wasn't just some girl you took to the l Teenagers. She was more than that. Well, hot damn. Isn't that a stunning endorsement. Okay, okay. Sarcasm aside, I was actually really taken with this story.
Within a few days Ethan finds himself falling hopelessly and helplessly in love. I never loved you any more than I do, right this second. And I'll never love you any less than I do, right this second. But this isn't solely a love story. Lena is a caster - belonging to a magic race - and there's a horrible fate looming over her. On her sixteenth birthday, Lena will be claimed as either the light or the dark.
And if she goes dark, she's powerless to stop it. And we are blessed with lines such as: You're so full of crap, you could pass for a toilet. Utter brilliance. Where do I even begin? The rating is so low because it took me three tries to get through this novel and I'm not going to go attempt it again. Ethan felt so over-the-top mellow dramatic that he actually turned a rather cool concept into something that needed to be slogged through.
There was so much emphasis on the will-they-won't-they aspect of Ethan and Lena's relationship that I honestly completely detached and didn't care one whit whether they would ever get together. The only thing that kept me going was Lincoln - Ethan's deeply southern best friend.
Lincoln made the entire book worth it - and if he would've starred in this novel, I would've five-starred it in a heartbeat. He's off-the-cuff hilarious and provides a much-needed break from Ethan's lovesick musings.
Audiobook Comments The reader had the slowest southern accent I've ever had the displeasure of listening to.
I've stopped listening to this book twice now solely cause it was just draggggging. I had just about given up hope of ever finishing Another note: The song "Sixteen Moons" floats in and out of this book several times and the audiobook went above and beyond. I absolutely motherfreaking love it when I listen to audiobooks that takes lyrics and creates songs for us. Now, every time I read the lyrics, the melody goes through my head.
View all 34 comments. May 01, Heather rated it did not like it Shelves: It has taken me a small eternity to write this review. I was down a hand for I had to use my left index finger to clamp down on my left eyelid in order to stop the twitching that began around page 65 of Beautiful Creatures.
Meet the culprit. Who knew that 16 year old boys had so much in common with my great grandmother? Big granny could tell you everything there was to know about Southern style architecture, felt the world would end if she ran a few minutes late, and loved Gone With the Wind.
Coincidentally, she and Ethan could have been soul mates. Even more amazing, Ethan is popular. Had he gone to my school which was in a small southern town I might add he would have been beat, both before and after school, and mocked mercilessly during class. She must have fallen out of the crazy tree and hit every branch on the way down.
But as a character, she sucked arse. This was truly driven home when another granny in the book stated that she wanted to be buried with her Bible so that she would have something to read once she passed.
Any southerner worth their salt knows that statement would never be uttered south of the Mason Dixon line for two reasons. Beautiful Creatures was blogged, blurbbed, and podcasted for at least 6 mos. I have pulled a Garcia and Stohl and have gone on too long. I bid you my blurb. View all 51 comments. Apr 09, Kristi rated it it was amazing Shelves: signed-arcs , signed-books , own-arc , books-i-own. I mean really, wow. I have no words. I really have no words. It's so much more easier for me to give reasons why I don't like something, rather than try to explain why I do.
I mean, I don't know why I like something. I just do! But let's see if I can explain this coherently. It took awhile for me to get into the story. Initially you get a lot of information, and I wasn't exactly sure where it all was headed. However, you needed that back story. You needed to understand the history of the town the history of Ethan, otherwise the vibrancy of the story would be lost.
The history completely compliments and enhances the rest of the story, when you get to the end, you'll get it. The atmosphere of these book was incredible. I had this insatiable craving for grits and sweet tea It really was like you were there, Garcia and Stohl cover even the smallest of details.
Characterization was phenomenal. These characters were fantastically portrayed, three dimensional, I had very strong feelings toward each and every one of them and that's something that doesn't happen often. Something that's not evident a lot in YA fiction, is family involvement. The parents or guardians are always in the back ground, there, but not there. Beautiful Creatures has a lot of family involvement, which I loved.
Maybe I do know why I liked it! Writing was outstanding, pacing was right on, I could not get through the pages fast enough! The whole story was just fascinating, I just loved it, every small aspect. It just worked. I can not wait to read more.
I demand a sequel! Which I'm happy to report View all 24 comments. Mar 08, Corey Edward rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites , southern-gothic. This is an emotionally charged, moody, and atmospheric novel that is very reminiscent of how YA fiction was in the 90's and early 00's, before Twilight came along.
By that, I mean it is full of quirky, average, outcast-type characters who drive the plot line along through their unique and easily pictured personalities. I've heard people complain that Ethan is unrealistic. That makes me upset because I relate more to Ethan than I ever have with any other male character in history.
He tries his ha This is an emotionally charged, moody, and atmospheric novel that is very reminiscent of how YA fiction was in the 90's and early 00's, before Twilight came along. He tries his hardest to treat others with dignity and respect, doesn't use women for sex gasp! You don't say! You can almost call him an "old soul", in a way.
I fail to see what's so unrealistic about him. Plenty of guys are like this! Everyone is different. You can't categorize people into little boxes because of their gender. I'm a 19 year old male and I found their portrayal of an insightful boy with good morals who was raised to be polite and courteous to be refreshing and realistic. Meanwhile, if I would dare to say that Katniss was unrealistic because girls aren't that tough and don't usually enjoy hunting, I would be called a sexist.
But saying Ethan is "not a guy" because he likes reading and acts chivalrous isn't? Talk about a double standard! Lena is another intriguing character, as are her family. They're Casters, and many of them are full of life and zing. The story itself is steeped in Southern decadence and eeriness. At times, the story was slightly biased in its attitude towards Southerners and Christians, but I understand why the authors wrote the town in this way: they were trying to tell a story of what it is like to be an outcast, to be hated and feared for what you are.
The only pet peeve I had was the way the authors sort of "threw in" Sarafine near the end without much of a warning as to what was going to happen. I would've appreciated if we were given more of a feel for her character. If you want to get lost in a story with vivid characters and powerful imagery with meaning, then I would strong suggest reading this novel and its sequels. Can't wait for Beautiful Redemption and the movie!!
View all 13 comments. Jul 25, Marie Lu rated it it was amazing. Gorgeous, dark, lush, and gothic. It's so refreshing to read a paranormal romance told from the point of view of the guy, and Ethan is a fantastic narrator. Through his eyes, Gatlin comes alive in all its small town glory, full of whispers and secrets and prejudices the Civil War tidbits are so interesting. Amma, Ethan's no-nonsense grandmother, is an awesome character.
And this line gives me goosebumps every time I read it: "Mortals. View all 6 comments. Nov 24, Haleema rated it did not like it Shelves: half-wit-characters , cheese , not-again , hate. This was one of the worst books I have ever read. Even with two authors it failed to satisfy me.
The story is overloaded with cliches. The characters are all I wish Goodreads had a "Hated it so much that a part of me just died" star. A "Didn't like it" star ridicules my feelings towards this Utter nonsense. View all 9 comments. The book was published on December 1, Ethan dreams of escaping after high school to the farthest college away he can get to.
Though Ethan does have the company of his housekeeper Amma, who had been there to raise his dad when he was growing up. Amma has the gift of foresight, and she is in some ways the town considers her the modern day witch.
Ethan had repeatedly had a dream about this girl falling, and he tries to catch her but is always just slightly out of reach. Later that day at school Ethan meets a girl named Lena Duchannes, the new girl who is the niece of the infamous Macon Ravenwood.
Macon is a reclusive, mysterious owner of the Ravenwood Manor, an grand old plantation house from the times of the civil war, maybe even before then. He recognizes her as the girl he has dreamt about saving and is shocked to smell rosemary and lemon. She denies knowing about anything, when Ethan tries to point out the scratches on her hand coinciding with the dream.
They end up getting close and making a real connection, even so close that they start to develop the ability to communicate telepathically, no joke. Lena later tells Ethan that her whole family, including her, have special powers, referring to them as casters, originated from their ability to cast spells. Lena knows Ridley speaks the truth. The worst part of it all is that she will not have any say over if she will be claimed by the dark or the light.
I thought the magic system was incredibly intricate and exciting, but I did have a few issues with other parts. Ethan has lived in Gatlin his entire life, a small South Carolina town full of small minded people. After the death of h 3. After the death of his mother, Ethan's father shuts himself away, and Ethan can think of nothing but leaving Gatlin and never returning. Niece to the mysterious Macon Ravenwood, of Ravenwood manor - the local 'haunted house'.
Ethan and Lena are drawn together right from the beginning, we soon find out that Lena is a 'caster', and on her 16th birthday she will find out whether she is 'dark' or 'light'. I didn't like the way Ethan would talk about the other people in his town though.
Fat shaming, slut shaming and just generally looking down on them all, I didn't appreciate at all. I liked seeing the differences between the book and the film version. Her cousin Larkin is also a dark caster in the book, and there are some extra family members we meet, such as her Gramma, and other cousins Reece and Ryan. View all 3 comments. Jul 10, Annalisa rated it it was ok Recommended to Annalisa by: Annie. Maybe the U. I didn't like the movie at all I was shaking my head the entire film.
Why did they make Emma Marian? That makes no sense. I bet cha if Marian was in the movie , it would have made a few more million. So far most I seen a lot of people talking about Marian on movies forums.
Marian was a character that ever body who read the novel liked. They made a lot of stupid changes that made the fans not care. They should make this series as a anime series or make more graphic novels for it. If you watched the movie and liked it but never read the book Adnan Feb 18, PM 0 votes. I hope another production house buys the rights from the makers of the film and they remake it just to put in the details they lacked in the film.
I still have to go watch the movie, but after reading how everyone is upset at the fact that the film is not too closely related to the book I am not going with a high expectation!!
Kristin May 13, AM 0 votes. I must agree. Although I did sort of like the movie as a movie, I must disagree on the comment that this is the worst interpretation of a book ever. That award would go to Queen of the Damned. I refused to watch it for 10 years because it was an abomination. Now I like it as a movie, but not based on the genius that is Anne Rice.
Getting back to the point, I hate that there was no mention of the Incubus line. You couldn't get two minutes into a sequel without some explanation of an Incubus, including the fact that Macon was one.
John Breed? Then Link? But no, Ethan didn't date Savannah, he dated Emily. There's a line somewhere in Beautiful Creatures about the only reason that he dated Emily was because she was the second most popular girl in school. Macon was also never THAT mean. He discouraged the union, but understood that he was connected to Lena in ways a normal mortal wouldn't be and then stopped protesting and instead, encouraged them. They didn't talk about Macon feeding on Ethan's dreams, there was hardly any talk of how weird his dad was, Ridley never broke out a lollipop which I was completely enraged about , but the worst thing that didn't happen was completely disregarding Macon's dog, Boo.
Ugh, now I'm annoyed. Beautiful Chaos time. Kameron Apr 13, PM 0 votes. I think they'll probably make Beautiful Darkness as a movie. The directors and producers don't care about the critical response usually, only what they got for money, because they need to pay the actors and stuff like that. If it does well enough in the Box Office, they'll make another movie. They're making a movie out of The Sea of Monsters, even though they did a terrible job with the first one and making a second one still.
So it is very likely they'll make a Beautiful Darkness in the next year or two. I loved the movie anyway, though. I haven't read Beautiful Drakness yet but with the way they ended the movie I'm not sure they'll be able to do another one, they'll have to rack their brains and get headaches and everything ya know?
Kelsey Jul 01, PM 0 votes. But when I saw the movie I was so disapointed I really wish they would have thought it through before Did they even read the books??? They left out a character that is really important in the future books!!!!
They also put some things that were from the second book 'Beautiful Darkness' that really got everyone confused. My mother who was currently reading the book had to be explained to by me because she was confused as well. Super mad at them, and I wish they would have listened to the authors more and and would of read ALL the books like they should of been placed.
William Jul 07, AM 0 votes. Michael wrote: "I just saw the movie for Beautiful Creatures and i loved it so much,i am currently reading the book and i have bought the rest of the series,the movie companion,and am probably going to go see the And they're for a certain amount of time. A perfect example is about three years ago a studio bought a 10 year option for a City of Heroes movie.
That means that nobody else can buy the "rights" to make the movie and the studio can do whatever they want with the movie including not making it or even selling the rest of their option to another studio. So they may or may not make the other two movies and base the decision on how the first one did. Angela Feb 21, AM 0 votes. They will make another one.
I saw the result. Jenna Feb 21, PM 0 votes. For the first 20 or so minutes in the movie, i thought, "Wow, this might not be as good as i thought. I would go see all of them if they did and they hopefully will , and i think they did leave some room to make other movies, considering the very ending. Plus, they cut out quite a few characters but left Larkin in, which he would have been a pointless character since he didn't show his true colors in the movie, so that must mean that they plan on making a sequel and giving him a purpose for even including him in the movie since they cut out other important characters.
Iulia Feb 19, AM 0 votes. Rated PG for violence, scary images and some sexual material. Did you know Edit. Trivia Ethan's failure to recite the Charles Bukowski poem was actually Alden Ehrenreich having difficulty remembering the order of the lines and making Alice Englert laugh. He performed the poem perfectly in all other takes. The poem was published "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flames. Quotes Ethan Wate : Everybody has to deal with shit in their lives Lena. User reviews Review. Top review.
Nice fantasy movie. Im 33 years old and probably not in the main-group for this movie teengirls maybe. But me and my friend got a free ticket and went for this movie we would normally not had seen. But i was charmed. The young actors played well, was cute and had chemistry together. We smiled many times, and the effects was good. The story was OK, and i have never read the story this movie is build on.
This is a good movie i think, and probably they will make more movies so we see how the story will go. I found it fun with the southern small town fun of religious narrowness.
And the fight between good and evil is a fight in many of the fantasy-movies, and that was a red line in this movie and worked good. Fun also to see Emma Thompson, she did a awesome actor-work. Details Edit. Release date February 14, United States. United States. Official Facebook Official site.
Covington, Louisiana, USA. Box office Edit. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 2h 4min. Related news. Jan 29 WeAreMovieGeeks.
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