Beautiful Creatures

Gosh, I spent some of this afternoon looking at some of the Kiwi Mum Bloggers and I have to say there are some incredibly talented people on our fair shores! I wish I had been blessed with some of the creative abilities that so many of you have been.

I've also decided to start saving for one of A Little Vintage's custom made dolls. I love the image of having something made out of the kidlets old clothes. What a fabulous idea, an heirloom that can be kept for many years to come. I'm afraid all I have to offer are my opinions on books and hope that somehow, somewhere it will help somebody out : ).

This latest blog may alienate a whole lot of people, but I have never been one to shy away from my beliefs. I love great books, books that beckon you in with the possibility of a great story and then wraps it's pages around you, building up great characters and an interesting plot. That's why I never really got in to the Twilight series. It had the beckoning part down, but the characters were awful, I couldn't stand whiny Bella with her "me me me" attitude and the fact she was nothing without Edward, and Edward was such an enabler. I felt for poor Jacob, mind you he was a sucker (no pun intended) for punishment. I felt nothing for the rest of the characters, if Bella had been savaged by a rogue werewolf I probably would have felt some form of relief that her sad little life was over.

Character development is in fact a really hard thing to do well. In fact, for the last month or so I have been longing for a good book where I felt a connection with the characters and finally I have found one. Beautiful Creatures is a wonderfully written debut novel. The two authors have obviously studied the craft of writing and the story carries me along with them on their story telling journey. I care about these characters and what is going to happen to them, they have strength, determination and hope. All qualities I would like to foster in my children, yes they hit rocky patches but the message is that if you support each other you CAN get through. It is a story of true friendship and love, with a fair bit of kissing for good measure.


Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate always knew that he was going to get out of Gatlin, a small Southern town in the U.S. , even if nobody else ever had. He had a map pinned to his bedroom wall with all the different places he had read about in his sixteen years and planned to visit once he graduated. Little did he know that his future is tied to his families past.

When Lena Duchannes, the town recluse's niece comes to stay Ethan discovers a Gatlin he never knew existed. One full of curses, magic and the answer to the accidental death of his mother one year before.

Where I found the character of Bella whiny, wishy washy and down right painful, I find Lena strong and thoughtful. Yes, she bears the weight of the world on her shoulders, just like Bella, but she handles it in a more believable manner. She wants to take charge of her destiny and takes steps towards doing so, rather than whining about the fact that she isn't getting her own way and stamping her foot like a three year old.

The narrator is Ethan (surprise!) and he too has a lot of issues that he needs to deal with such as his father withdrawing from the real world after the death of Ethan's mother, instead choosing to lock himself in the downstairs study supposedly working on the next big American novel.

Once again I admit to some bias towards this book as they do use "To Kill a Mockingbird" one of my favourite books ever, as a spring board, comparing the Gaitlin town recluse to Boo Radley. So this clever choice had me hooked almost from the get go.

If you have often fantasized about living a life full of mystery and witch craft then this book is for you. I love the Southern flavour, the plot is well developed and relatively fast paced and the characters are 3 dimensional.

A few questions the reader has may remain unanswered such as "why was Ethan's mother killed?" But at least we discover who was responsible.

Although the two main characters in this book do become a couple and they are very physical, it is still quite innocent, with as noted earlier, a great deal of kissing. I would happily let my child read this at around about the age of 11 years, but as it is 563 pages long, they would have to be quite the avid or advanced reader.

So, for the average reader I would lean closer to 14 years plus.

It's also in the process of being made into a movie, so if your teenager hasn't read it already, let them know how with it you are and introduce it!


If you've already read the book, then you'll know the song "Sixteen Moons". I found someones version of it on Youtube (what can't you find on youtube these days?). Have a listen and tell me what you think.

Sixteen Moons