Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1) (US Ed) ~ Paperback ~ Kami Garcia

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything. Reviews “This richly imagined series has all the elements of a successful Southern gothic supernatural romance…The ambiguity of good and evil adds appealing complexity…Genre fans will love it.” (VOYA) “Gorgeously crafted, atmospheric, and original. I devoured it.” – Melissa Marr, NYT bestselling author of Wicked Lovely ""A hauntingly delicious dark fantasy." – Cassandra Clare, NYT bestselling author of City of Bones “Ethan Wate, a high school sophomore, plans to escape his small Southern town as soon as he can. Life has been difficult since his mother died; his father, a writer, has withdrawn into his study. Then Lena Duchannes arrives, and this strange new girl is the very one who has been occupying his dreams. She and her kin are Casters, beings who have supernatural powers. Getting to know her exposes Ethan to time travel, mortal danger, and love. The teens can hardly bear to be apart, but Lena's 16th birthday, when she will be Claimed for dark or light, is only 6 months away. To save her, they fight supernatural powers and the prejudice of closed-minded people. Yet, good and evil are not clearly delineated, nor are they necessarily at odds. In the Gothic tradition of Anne Rice, the authors evoke a dark, supernatural world in a seemingly simple town obsessed with Civil War reenactments and deeply loyal to its Confederate past. The intensity of Ethan and Lena's need to be together is palpable, the detailed descriptions create a vivid, authentic world, and the allure of this story is the power of love. The satisfying conclusion is sure to lead directly into a sequel. Give this to fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight or HBO's "True Blood” series and they will devour all 600-plus pages of this teen Gothic romance." Grade 7 & up. School Library Journal “Exquisitely told and impossible to forget.” – Michelle Zink, author of Prophecy of the Sisters Author Biography Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl live in Los Angeles, California, with their families. They are the authors of Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, and Beautiful Redemption. Kami Garcia was 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.