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.




Title: Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles #1)
Authors: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
Page Count: 563 pages
Book Website: http://beautifulcreaturesnovels.com/
Published: December 1, 2009
Source: I can't even remember, it's been on my to-read list for ages.

This book was good. I kind of have an "Ok, that's good." kind of feeling about it, but it's not something I'd obsess over. It wasn't anything too negative, and there were times where I just wanted to stop school and read- I felt that pull.. But it wasn't anything too amazing. I picked it up because the movie is coming out on Valentine's Day, so I wanted to know what it's about. I won't see it on the 14th of next month, but maybe the weekend after? Anyway, let's get down to it.

First, what got me for a minute there is that the main character is male. Watch out for that if you haven't read the book yet- Ethan Wate is the narrator. It's not clear in the beginning, but you eventually get it.

In this book, pretty much- in a sort of Twilight-esque way- a new girl comes to a small town. Gatlin is such a small place where news travels so quickly, just like Forks, Washington. What makes this different? Everyone seems to hate Lena Duchannes ( Lee-nuh Doo-chan-ay; for those like me who had problems getting it), compared to everyone loving Bella Swan in Twilight. Enough with the comparisons though.

Ethan is the only one really to see Lena as a beautiful person for being different, because he's one of the only ones who has ever wanted out of Gatlin. So they become friends and later, boyfriend/girlfriend. You don't really have a YA book targeted at females without some sort of romance these days.

It's going to be a good movie, and I'm currently on the second book.
So go read!

Hi, guys! I know it's been a while since I've written anything for books here, but a post is coming in a bit. Anyway, I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award.

If you don't know what the Liebster Blog Award is, it's this award given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers. If you're nominated, there are four steps:

1. You thank the person who nominated you and you provide a link to their blog on your blog
2. Your nominator has put 11 questions for you to answer. Answer them. Then tell 11 facts about yourself.
3. Leave 11 questions on your blog for the 11 people that you nominated to answer.
4. Pass on this award to 11 other blogs whom you feel are deserving for this award. Leave a comment on their blog that you have nominated them.

-Thanks to Shana for this description. :)

So, first off- thank you Shana at Vintage Sorrow for nominating me. She's my only follower here, but I know more people see my posts due to stats. I'm happy she wanted to bring some spotlight to my blog. ^.^ Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)

Here are the questions that she's left me:

1. Why did you start blogging?
I wanted to keep track of what I was reading and how I felt after finishing the books. It's hard to remember what parts you liked the most and what happened in a series when you have to wait a year until the next book comes out. My blog is sort of just that- and I don't mind that people are reading my thoughts. I just have lots of spoilers and that's one thing I warn new followers about. 

2. How would you describe your blog?
Just a kind of book blog. Nothing spectacular. I'm a college student, so it's not the most frequent with posting. I try to keep to just blogging books, but I've been thinking about doing some movies posts, too. Changing it up a little. 

3. What is your biggest fear?
Losing those I love. A lot of the people I care about are online friends, people I can't just go see because they live in a different city, state, country, or even a different continent! But I love these people so much, they're my best friends and I don't want to drop the contact. 

4. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Anything would get old though. Hmmm... I'm not sure. Maybe fettuccine alfredo with spinach leaves and mushrooms in it. I love the sauce. 

5. Apple or orange?
I honestly like both. Right now apples sound better though. So I guess apple. 

6. Which is your all time (favorite/favourite) book?
This is a hard question to answer. I love books so much. My favorite series is the Harry Potter series, but as far as choosing just one book? I can't. 

7. What is one change that you want to see in the world?
I would love to see greed end. If the world dropped greed, people wouldn't be hungry, people could get an education, people could make more out of themselves and their lives. A lot of people are too busy saying "MINE! MINE! MINE!" all the time, that there are those who go hungry, who can't provide for their families, who drop out of school to help their families out. It's not cool.

8. What place would you like to visit that you haven’t been to yet?
I would loveeee to visit other countries- England and Scotland come to my mind first as top places. But just to start simple, I'd love to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida. It's in my same country and I don't need extra shots or a passport! 

9. If you can go to lunch with four historical figures, who would they be?
This would be interesting. Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, and Bach. It'd be interesting musical conversation, seeing as Beethoven and Mozart are from around the same time, and Vivaldi and Bach are from a completely different era. It might not be so pretty, kind of like politics talk. But I feel, as a musician, I'd learn a lot. I know they aren't traditional historical figures like, say, Martin Luther King, Jr. or George Washington, but they're historical figures to me.

10. Which magazine(s) do you enjoy reading?
I don't read magazines. 

11. What is your dream job?
Teaching string orchestra to middle school-aged students. I'm working on it!

Now, 11 facts about me...

1. I'm only 4 ft. 9.
2. I'm a music education major in college, and I play the violin.
3. I'm learning piano, tuba, and clarinet right now. By the end of the semester I'll also know trombone, euphonium, and alto saxophone. 
4. The first "big book" I ever read was "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." I read the Potter books out of order the first time through, but I was young enough not to care. 
5. I have three dogs. 
6. I have an obsession with bedding. I love having my huge comfy bed to go to at night after a long day at school. It's niceeee. Oh, and unless I say you can come sit on it, you can't. It bothers me to know other people get on my bed. I'm OCD when it comes to my bed. 
7. My Harry Potter stuff takes up two shelves of my four shelf bookshelf. And I still have more Potter stuff, but it's just in other spots.
8. I love Lindsey Stirling- she's a violinist who composes her own music as well as covers for the violin, then choreographs dances to them. She then directs music videos for youtube, and publishes them there. She has a CD out, too. Plus I'm going to see her in March- one of her concerts in Ohio! ^.^
9.  I have two sisters. Because of my height and everything, normally everyone thinks I'm the youngest, but I'm the middle child.
10. I love food. More than I probably should.
11. I had a huge Twilight phase when I was 15/16 years old. I still like them now, but I'm not huge into them. 

Questions for my nominees:

1. If you could sum what your blog is about up in three words, what would they be?
2. What are your favorite fandoms? 
3. Top three favorite foods?
4. Top three favorite movies?
5. Top three favorite books?
6. What is your most-visited website?
7. What's one weird thing you can do? 
8. Rant about one thing for as long as you can. What bothers you?
9. What's your favorite season?
10. Do you like/dislike sports? If like, what do you do. If dislike, what do you like?
11. What's your favorite color?

Nominees

I hate to do this, but I couldn't find more than a few blogs after about an hour's search with less than 200 followers. So, here are the three I found:

1. Vintage Sorrow (I know she already nominated me, but any chance of her getting more followers is nice.)
2. Casey's Crew 
3. Potter Blogger 

If I find more, I'll make another post. :)

Hi people who may or may not be reading this!

First off- Happy New Year! I've been meaning to make a post saying something like this recently, but school started back up. I'm two weeks late but better late than never, right?

Second- sorry I haven't gotten much done as far as blogging goes! I've not been able to read anything since my last post really, but I'm working on the first Beautiful Creatures book by Kami Garcia. This past week has been beyond nuts, involving car troubles and starting out new instruments and the like. Typical music major stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to read more, but I'm trying to get a good foundation on these new instruments. :)

Third- You are all awesome, keep reading, and hang on in there. :)
I'll make new posts as soon as I possibly can, this craziness can't go on forever!

Have a good morning/afternoon/evening/night, wherever you are!
~Wills