Beautiful Creatures + Giveaway!

Ethan lives in the sleepy southern town of Gatlin where nothing ever changes, until Lena shows up at school.  The niece of the town shut-in she is immediately shunned for being different, but Ethan is drawn to her anyway.  What mysteries lie at her uncle's house and what is the connection between Lena and Ethan?  As the weather rages in Gatlin, the two of them must figure out how to save Lena from her fate.

It had been a long dull day at Jackson without Hurricane Lena, and I was starting to wonder how I ever got through eight periods without all the trouble she caused me.  Without all the trouble she made me want to cause myself. p.132 ARC

After suffering from some slow starters, Beautiful Creatures sucked me right in and all I wanted to do was read it.  It was a real page turner.  It was interesting that it was told from the boy's point of view so there is a lot he is not privy too since he is not the one dealing with the magic.  Ethan is such a 16 year old boy and the emotion you get from him isn't how you expect a boy to feel.  But it was funny because he would have these intense emotions and on the outside just act chill, like it was no big deal.  If I was reading from Lena's POV I doubt I would have loved Ethan as much as I do.  Of course, I might have liked Lena more if it was her POV.  But she grew on me and, at the last, I understood more about her.  Oddly enough, it was her cousin that I found the most interesting even though she is just a bit part.  But I wish there had been more explanation about Ethan's abilities.

In ways, this book was the perfect book for me.  Magic, romance, crazy relatives, a dog like creature wolf thing, the creepy South; all of this spells Andrea.  But there was so much book involved that I kept losing details and wondering are they important and, yes they are, no they aren't, WTF, what just happened.  WHY won't anyone answer a damn question?  WHY!!?  Everyone is so cryptic and they are all just running around not answering questions and then it is the big OMG moment at the end and I'm going well, if you had just answered one freaking question then we'd all be in a better place.

Despite that, it was well worth my time and a good read.  It really moves at a great pace and makes you want to find out what happens next. And the emotion is so real.  I got a little teary at the end.  The visuals I got from the prose were great and I could see the entire thing.  I could even hear the soundtrack. It was nice to read a good book that wasn't a series for a change.  I miss standalones and this was definitely a good one.

ETA: I'm using this for the R.I.P. Challenge


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So I'm giving away my (gently read) ARC* copy of Beautiful Creatures.  If you are interested, please leave a comment below with your e-mail or Twitter name if you have one and don't want to give out your e-mail.  Contest open to US and Canada and ends on October 31, 2009.  Winner will be chosen at random.

*an ARC I received from The Tome Traveller's Weblog