Review Detail

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

~ From Goodreads

All our favorites from Beautiful Creatures are back in this sequel from Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Ethan's just as heroic and gentlemanly as ever, making him the sort of boy you want your sons to become. Amma's baking closes in on Olympic sport status, and I swear I gained five pounds just reading about her Coca-cola cake and fried chicken. Then there's Lena, whose path to self discovery may very well break your heart. (There are a few new characters, too, but I'll let you meet them for yourself between the pages.)

I've been waiting for this sequel for what felt like centuries, and I'm proud to say I wasn't disappointed.

Like Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness isn't a book you can devour in one sitting. It isn't dessert -- it's a main course, doused in thick gravy. Or as Amma would say, "A.S.S.I.M.I.L.A.T.E. Ten down. You've got to absorb and digest those words, Ethan Wate. Don't just gobble 'em down like one a Wesley Jefferson Lincoln's Slim Jims."

Kami and Margi's characters are deeply real, and their writing is beautifully wrought. It seeps inside, burrowing under your skin until it becomes a part of you. What readers have with this series isn't just a one night stand, it's a relationship.

And I'm head-over-heals in love.