Book Review - Beautiful Creatures

SPOILER ALERT Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is about a small town highschool boy named Ethan Wate. When Old Man Ravenwood's niece, Lena, comes to town and starts going to the highschool, she's seen as a loner. She doesn't wear the right clothes, doesn't have a tan and she's the niece of Old Man Ravenwood. Mr. Ravenwood has a big, old house and of course, it is referred to as the "Haunted House." Right before Lena arrives in town, Ethan began to have strange dreams. In the dreams, he's falling and trying to hold on to the girl's hand who is falling with him too. But, he doesn't know who the girl is. When he meets Lena, she's not exactly open to him, but eventually he earns her trust and they become friends. Gradually, their friendship turns into something more and they begin to have feelings for eachother. Lena then tells Ethan a secret she has never told any Mortal before. She's a Caster, and so is the rest of her family. Ethan is very understanding about who Lena is and actually helps her find the Book of Moons. The Book of Moons had been lost and was filled with powerful spells. But, there is something that Lena is dreading. Her sixteenth birthday. That is the day that she will be Claimed. Light or Dark. Lena is convinced that she will go Dark, because her mother, Sarafine, is the most powerful Dark Caster of all time. Once it's finally her birthday, her mother pays her a visit. When Sasrafine stabs Ethan, he begins to slowly die. Then, Lena does a spell to bring him back, forgetting that you must give something in return for a life. In the end, though, she is not Claimed. Yet.

I thought that Beautiful Creatures was an amazing book! The whole story is just so creative and I liked how during the story, the authors put in parts from the past. I think that the History of Gatlin is really interesting too. My favorite character in Beautiful Creatures is Ethan. He doesn't judge Lena for who she is and he sticks by Lena even when he doesn't want to. He always does his best to protect Lena as a Mortal. I absolutely loved the book and all of the characters. I also really like the names chosen for the characters! I think that the authors did a great job of creating this story and they left me wanting to read more! I would recommend Beautiful Creatures to anyone over the age of ten. This book is really interesting and I think that anyone who reads it will like it.

My Rating: ✯✯✯✯

Book Review - The Lovely Bones

SPOILER ALERT A book I recently read was The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. This book was about a fourteen year-old girl named Susie Salmon who was murdered in a cornfield, by one of her neighbors. The story is told from Susie's perspective in Heaven. In Susie's afterlife, everything is perfect. But, on earth, her killer– Mr. Harvey –still hasn't been caught. Mr. Harvey had killed many other young girls and women before, never being caught. While Susie is in Heaven, over the years, she watches her family fall apart. Her father becomes suspicious of Mr. Harvey, getting injured in the process of finding evidence. Her mother leaves the family for a while and Susie's sister, Lindsey, helps their father to raise their brother Buckley. After their mother left them, their Grandma Lynn came to take care of them. In the end Lindsey was the one to break into Mr. Harvey's house, to find any trace of evidence. Mr. Harvey comes home to realize someone had been there, and he left town. More years passed and the Salmon family slowly started to heal and Susie began to feel at peace. Still, Mr. Harvey was not caught. In an attempt to get a teenager into his car, he slipped and fell. Mr. Harvey then died, and Susie could finally spend her afterlife in peace, family members eventually joining her.

In my opinion, The Lovely Bones was an amazing and heart wrenching book. I did cry a few times while reading the book and seeing the movie. The book was just so sad! I love any books that can make me cry, though. The Lovely Bones was a book that I just COULD'NT put down, with the exception of school. I would reccomend this book to tweens and above. I have to say though, this book was a bit too grown up for me probably. Still, this book really opened my eyes to what really happens around us each day. And I'm really grateful for the people who try to make young people realize this situation.

My Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮