Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate used to think that Gatlin was just Gatlin. A tiny southern town where nothing ever changed, where he was always going to be "Poor-Ethan-Wate-Whose-Mama-Died" and where he would forever be stuck, like his father. But then Lena came to Gatlin and opened Ethan's eyes to the truth about Gatlin. There is a secret side of Gatlin including tunnels crisscrossing under the town, a special library hidden under the DAR building and things in the past that connect Ethan and Lena. In Beautiful Creatures, Ethan found Lena. Will he lose her in this second installment to the Caster Chronicles?? He wonders if he might and so do we.

I loved Beautiful Creatures. It was an awesome first book. Really well done all around. I wondered if Margaret and Kami could repeat their success with Beautiful Darkness and they did not disappoint. In BD, we learn more about the Caster world and about Ethan's mother. I really enjoyed all of that back story. I loved Ethan in this book especially because he never gave up. Lena would push him away over and over but he never gave up on her. He did his best to stay by her side so that when she needed him, he was there. I don't know what more you could ask from a boy. He could easily have gone back to his old life, dating the cheerleader and hanging out by the Stop and Steal but he never did give in. Ethan does meet a new girl but he remains sure that he belongs with Lena and that she needs him. He even begins to find his place in the Caster world. There is really so much that I absolutely adored about this book. The one drawback is the Lena is generally a nasty little witch for the majority of the book. I was really disappointed in her for acting the way she did. We always have a choice, even when we think that the decision has been made for us- we have the choice to fight it. It was like she just gave in and everything that Macon had done for her was tossed away. It's typical teenage behavior but Lena didn't strike me as "typical" in Beautiful Creatures. By the very end, though, she had redeemed herself slightly in my eyes. There's also a great twist at the very end that Macon lovers, like me, will appreciate.

I gave my sister-in-law the set of Beautiful Darkness and Beautiful Creatures as part of her Christmas gift and she is loving Ethan now, too!! If you haven't read these, give them a try. I think you'll find that these books are unlike anything else that you've read.

You can find out more about the Caster World on Caster Girls & Boys- the main Caster Chronicles fansite, you can check out the book on Goodreads, and you can follow Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl on Twitter!

Beautiful Darkness earns 5 Fairies for a dark but beautiful ride through a fantastic world.