Book Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Release date: November 2012

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 592

Genre: Young Adult/Romance/Fantasy

For starters, I’ll admit it: I've never been much of a paranormalish-romance fanatic. I've heard Beautiful Creatures compared to big name titles like Twilight and The Hunger Games (? to why THG is compared to it remains a mystery to me...) In other words, I was a little on the bias side to picking up Beautiful Creatures, because my initial thoughts were I wasn't going to like it. I mean, witches? Magic? C'mon! Not to mention there's a literal infinite amount of para-romance already published, and with books being pushed out like hot potatoes these days I didn't see much reason for it to stand out to me either. But-- because of all the hype surrounding the recent movie adaptation of Beautiful Creatures, I decided to give in... and finally give this book a try.

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We are introduced to a young Ethan Wate who's been living in the small southern town of Gatlin all his life. He’s been counting the days when he’s finally able to leave... that is, until he’s haunted in his dreams by a beautiful girl he’s never even met. Then there’s the new girl Lena Duchannes who’s struggling to hide her magical abilities and the curse which never left her family for generations. Weirdly enough, Ethan feels a pull towards Lena and thus, becomes determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

I can tell you that Beautiful Creatures isn’t the next Harry Potter no matter how magically captivating this book can seem at times-- because, for crying out loud, it’s Harry-freakin’-Potter and that’s not just something you can replicate the success of. And some of the more upbeat reviews on this book had me a little worried... largely franchised YA books set the bar so high in the market, and when you have something compared to so highly regarded you let yourself expect so much. And no one-- and I mean no one-- likes a let down.

Beautiful Creatures is a collaborative effort between Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl which, from experience, trying writing collabs can be super tough so I offer them my kudos for that. The thing about writing story collabs is that sometimes it can be hard trying to balance between the tones because, after all, it’s two totally different people with two totally different literary styles. And the way they blended them together in Beautiful Creatures was a bit, say, unbalanced? Not saying it was bad because they’re both individually talented in their own ways of course, but how they even out their writing together was clearly, well... was uneven. Sometimes, I even found myself going “Wait, what the huh?” because I was just little confused at some scenes and had to re-read at some parts, too.

Again, I have to say that Beautiful Creatures is set in a fictional Southern town called Gatlin. I’m not from the South but the ideas and opinions of some of its people are a little outdated, especially considering that Beautiful Creatures is set in this modern day and age. At times, I thought some of the events happening around Gatlin just seem way too old-fashioned to even happen in the 21st century. Could it? I mean, I had gotten this total old South vibe from the book and just felt like a super different portrayal of what it’s like in modern day, and more like the 20th (and more past) century ideals.

And in addition to this, maybe I probably should’ve been expecting it, but YES-- there is a bit of instalove. The romance feels flat-out rushed to me from the start. Okay, don’t get me wrong the romance between the two main leads kept my interest-- and if it probably weren’t for my own curiosity for finding out why the two were so connected, I would’ve put the book down to begin with because for a greater half of the book (and that’s a almost three-hundred paged half) it was slow moving and I became bored. There wasn’t much happening to start, and while it had tender moments, it just wasn’t doing it for me. The action and best scenes probably don’t come to the very end of the book, and if you’re a moderate-paced reader like myself, then that’s reaaally a long time to wait.

There is a MAJOR plot twist and you have no idea how badly I’m trying to hold back from running my mouth with spoilers but you really have to keep yourself on your toes if you want to find out!!

Here’s the bottom line: I liked it. Just liked it. I can’t say that I uberly-enjoyed it because some parts I felt as if the plot wasn’t really going anywhere, and this just made it really hard for me to feel as good about it. Okay, yeah, it does have its “awww” moments and just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the action too, and the mystery behind all the characters are just that interesting enough to keep me reading. If you’re a reader in a fast lane and just love fast-paced novels, then I can’t say this will be a big hit-- because, as I mentioned before, it kind of begins on the--meeeeh--slowish side. I liked it enough to recommend it at least, but only to those who truly, truly like the genre and if you’re that willing to tread through a nearly 600-paged novel.

So from one bibliophile to another, keep on reading! ♥

With love,

Bee

What does Divergent, TFioS, and the Maze Runner all have in common? + The word on Shailene Woodley's hair!

Between upcoming book-to-movie film adaptations The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent, Shailene Woodley definitely has her hands tied! I totally can’t wait for the movies to released in 2014, because I loved both books TFioS and Divergent (two books DEFINITELY worth the read!!) If you haven’t heard the buzz already, Woodley is set to play TFioS’s Hazel Grace Lancaster and Divergent’s Beatrice Prior. She recently cut her hair short for her role as cancer-patient Hazel and even donated her long locks to nonprofit group Children With Hair Loss which provides replacement hair to children with medical hair loss, like some of The Fault in Our Stars characters. The Fault in Our Stars began filming August 26th in Pittsburgh, with a planned release in 2014. -squee-

Shailene Woodley sporting her new do  ♥

And recently, a Divergent teaser was shown at MTV’s VMAs and even if it was a short peek at the upcoming movie, it was a few seconds well-spent and left me hyped. Ugh, can you believe it comes out in March 2014? :( Feels like forevers from now but it’ll all be worthwhile when March 21st comes!

And in addition to TFioS and Divergent films, James Dashner’s The Maze Runner is also coming to the big screen in 2014. Holy crap, this is going to be a big year for movies. Dylan O’Brian was recently cast as the starring role in the YA dystopian. I absolutely love him as Stiles in Teen Wolf, so I have high hopes in O’Brian’s performance as Thomas, too!

What films you most excited for-- John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars or Veronica Roth’s Divergent or James Dashner’s The Maze Runner? Are you looking forward to seeing them in 2014? How do you feel about the casting for these films? Feel to share your thoughts in the comments!

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Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Release Date: January 2012

Publisher: Dutton Books

Pages: 318

Genre: Young Adult/Romance

With his awesomesauce Nerdfighting, I’ve been a fan of John Green for sometime. After hearing soooo many positively upbeat things about his past works, I kind of was half-expecting for Green to follow his old routine of quirky girls being chased after, etcetera and etcetera. But no-- Green’s ‘Faults’ was something unexpectedly different. And seriously, the critics aren’t joking that this book will make you laugh, it will make you cry. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my moments when I was in the middle of reading this book and I bursted out into a fit of giggles (only to evade the glares of annoyed librarians) and then there are the times when I bawled like a baby. And to tell the truth, at first I was really wary about picking up The Fault in Our Stars because of what I had known about some of the subject matter: cancer. So to add onto what I convinced myself would be expected from ‘Faults’, I thought there was going to be a lot of talk of death and dying; a sob-fest of heartbreak. Don’t let the mentioning of cancer deter you from reading this book, like it did for me at first. I’ve wore down my copy of ‘Faults’ so much since buying it in 2012, because I just enjoyed the story. That. Friggin. Much. Because ‘Faults’ isn’t about death or cancer or any of those sad things. In fact, it’s about living.

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Hazel Lancaster is a sixteen year old girl, clinically depressed and a survivor of terminal cancer. So, to help her cope with her depression, her doctor makes her attend to a Cancer Support Group and there, she meets the both equally fascinating and dare-I-say, gorgeous Augustus Waters. While they’re two totally different people at heart, they’re bounded together with their exceptional intelligence and wondering about what lies in the hereafter and easily develop a friendship.

Hazel is obsessed over the cliffhanger ending of Van Houten’s An Imperial Affliction (come on, like you never obsessed over the ending over a book before) and in hope of finally getting the an explained ending to Van Houten’s novel and then some, goes to Amsterdam to find the author... and love along the way.

I will tell you, it’s just ‘one of those books’; you’ll probably have a ton of questions to ask by the time you finish and just wish there was more story, too. I was now Hazel and I wanted to know what happened to her story this time. The Fault in Our Stars soon became my personal little An Imperial Affliction. And I LOVED IT... and both hated it too for making me cry. And honestly, no book has ever done that to me before. Ever. For serious, I am the most stone-faced person when I read so at that moment when I felt the tears coming and I was this emotional wreck by the time I finished, I knew that Green’s ‘Faults’ was something special.

How both Augustus and Hazel met was quick and brief, and it really didn’t take that long in the book for them to jump into a friendship and the abruptness of it all, well, as much as I hate to admit this almost reminds me of paranormal romance instalove (just minus the super ultra hurried romance). It was incredibly rushed. Though despite this, between Augustus’s metaphorical cigarettes and witty one-liners, I think I was smitten and both captivated by how Augustus and Hazel’s relationship really seemed to blossom throughout the novel. Their questioning between what makes a life worth living and what happens after death I believe is what really makes their relationship tick, and really sets them apart from other couples in YA lit.

With this being a book for young readers, I did think the vocabulary was a tad heavy especially from this being written in the perspective of a sixteen year old girl (and this is coming from the sixteen year old reader...) I was actually becoming convinced that John Green was using big words for the sake of them simply being there, even if they didn’t quite perfectly fit with the context. So in the matters of the perspective, I hate to say this, but I give it low marks. I’m sure I’m going to have a lot of angry Green fans come down my throat (AAAAAH, okay, I’m kidding!) but I just couldn’t find myself getting really into Hazel’s character like I did with the others in this book.

The conflict in this novel is vacant, because really, there wasn’t a huge conflict to begin with. There wasn’t that climactic moment you’re edging off your seat for, because I felt at moments that TFioS is more of a character-driven plotline than anything else. So don’t expect a World War Z or Ender’s Game plot. But what makes up the conflict, is this beautiful, beautiful love story. There’s Amsterdam, there’s poetry, humor, there’s Van Houten, there’s just... so much wonder and brilliance in TFioS that is just rarely found in modern-day books and exceptional in YA literature that it just stands out all it’s own.

If I had more thumbs up to give this novel I totally would, but sadly I only have two.  If you like adventure, if you like romance, if you like hot boys and metaphors then hell, I absolutely recommend it because ‘Faults’ may just be your cup of tea. I think if you like other things outside those lines then you can (and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you will) really enjoy it and come to love the characters, too.

From one bibliophile to another, keep on reading! Okay? Okay. (Sorry, just had to slip a TFioS reference in there somewhere, right?) ♥

Star count?

★★★★★

With much love,

Bee

Book Review: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

I know what you're thinking. The idea of summer romance have been done so many times before (think of Dessen, Colasanti, and plenty more...) But before you dismiss the book for the 'perfect' cliche, I'd definitely give Han's Pretty a chance. It's one of the first books I've read by author Jenny Han, and honestly, I was expecting it to be as predictable as a summer romance could be. And guys, I will not lie when I say: I really picked The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy for it's cover. I mean look at it! It’s gorgeous! But no matter what-- no matter how underlingly cliche a romance novel could be-- I am a sucker for them and well, you see that The Summer I Turned Pretty is no exception to my never ending book collection.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Release date: April 2010

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Pages: 304

Genre: Young Adult/Romance

   Sixteen year old Isabel "Belly" Conklin measures her life in summers. Every summer brings her back to Cousins Beach, and finally she can be back to the ocean and swimming, being with Susannah... and along with every summer, there's a catch and this catch are the Fisher boys (ah, no pun intended!) Belly has known brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher her entire life so Belly didn't see anyway how this summer could be any different than the rest. But in a both exciting (and equally, terrible) summer everything changes. And I mean, everything.

  I think what was what surprised me most about The Summer I Turned Pretty is the rawness of Belly's character. She's no different than any other teenage girl, and believe-it-or-not, Belly has her flaws. Even in the case of some sticky romance situations (no spoilers, I promise) she doesn't become a Bella Swan. I totally understood Belly, even if it took me a bit of time to actually come to like her character. She's insecure and on the brink of womanhood, and while it isn't the summer she turned pretty, it's the summer when she truly felt it.

This sets a tone for Han’s debut novel near-perfect and even if it this is a story of a fictional place it felt “real”--hm or, well, in this case as real as a fictional novel can be. The relationships between the characters and how they all connected together just seemed genuine and as the backstories slowly begin to piece together, you’ll be bound to develop a greater sentiment for each of them.

   But nonetheless, at first Belly's narration can become tedious and sometimes comes off as a bit little too slow-paced for my liking. Between the balance of backstories and memories, it just takes a long while for things to get going. I get for some readers slow-paced books can be a total turn off (trust me, I’m one of those readers), but ‘Pretty’ is simply just one of those books where you have to stick it out out till the very end. There were some brief moments when admittedly, I wanted to put the book down and move onto another because--meh!--the storyline just didn’t seem to be sticking to me as well as it should in the beginning. But as expected things definitely began to pick up towards the end, and Han snuck up a few surprises up her sleeve too.

All and all, ultimately, The Summer I Turned Pretty is a charming read and endearing characters that I’m positive any romance fans would be bound to enjoy, not only teens. If you’re looking for that perfect end-of-the-summer read and you haven’t read The Summer I Turned Pretty yet, and it seems like your kind of book then I wholeheartedly recommend to give a try!

Star count?

★★★☆☆

With love,

Bee

(And psst, be sure to check out the sequels It’s Not Summer Without You & We’ll Always Have Summer! Reviews coming soon.)