Review Detail

My Thoughts:

Im not sure there are words to describe Beautiful Creatures. My jaw aches from how many times it hit the floor, my belly hurts from how many times I laughed, and my eyes sting from how many times I cried. There was nothing about this book that I did not love. 
Kami and Margie are the perfect team. The writing was flawless. There was no evidence of the fact that two writers had to weave each of their talents together, except for the fact that it was double the awesome! 
The characters, oh my, the characters. There were no weak spots in the character building of this story. Even minor characters, like Aunt Del, were so fully developed, you just knew that they had to be real. Ethan was completely swoon-worthy, though not in the cliche way that is common lately. I usually cannot get into a story when it is told through a guys point of view, but I had no problem with Beautiful Creatures (more evidence of the flawless writing). Lena was&wow. Talk about a dynamic character. It was refreshing to see the heroine not fall head-over-heels in love and lose her way. Though Lena was in love, she kept her own identity and did not let it get in the way. Amma and Macon, the authority figures. In a lot of YA books it is easy to lose the authority figure so that the characters do not have to justify their actions. That was not the case in this book. Amma and Macon were lovable and tough as nails, both of them. They were also present throughout the entire story, another refreshing element. The relationships that connected every character made the story jump off the page. Fully and completely enrapturing. 
The setting descriptions were so visual, I swear I heard the storm outside my window. Anytime Ethan described Gatlin, I felt like I was walking through town with him as he pointed everything out. Though I could always picture whatever Ethan was talking about, there was never just a huge info dump. The pertinent information is weaved seamlessly into the fabulous storytelling. 
The plot, I believe, was one-hundred percent original. You will find no mention of previous YA Paranormal Romances here. No siree. If the characters made the story POP, the plot was the driving force. I was constantly looking up any reference made by the characters. Ooh, a palimpsest? Whats that? Instant Wikipedia search. (Note, if you dont want minor spoilers, dont look up palimpsest on Wikipedia.) 
To sum up my squee-fest: Beautiful Creatures is flawless. I will be knocking down doors to get the next book.

The Verdict: Every element of this story jumps off the page. It demands to be read.