Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Remember back to the first time that you read Twilight? The story unfolded and the pages seemed to turn themselves; then when you looked up it was four hours later. This is how I felt about Beautiful Creatures. If I had to classify this book I would say that it is a “Modern day, historical, fantasy” of sorts.
This book had me captivated from the first chapter. Set in the very small town of Gatlin South Carolina, Ethan Wait has lived his whole life surrounded by the same people, going to the same school, and doing the same things over and over. Nothing new ever happens…until Lena Duchannes comes to town. Lena is unlike anyone Ethan has ever met; she is strikingly beautiful with intense green eyes and Ethan has an instant connection with her. Not only does he recognize her from strange dreams that he has been having but she is also in his head.- talking to him. To top it off she is the niece of the creepy town shu- in, Maken Ravenwood. As the school and the town does their best to shun Lena, Ethan finds himself turning his back on everyone to protect Lena and her secrets.

Judgmental neighbors are the least of Lena’s problems. As her 16th birthday approaches she becomes more and more afraid of what will happen and the choice that she will eventually have to make. While Ethan does his best to stand by her side, the forces at work and the others of Lena’s kind are making it hard.

This book came out in December of 2009 but thankfully it hints at a sequel. Now I just have to wait patiently for what is to come.

Really, I promise, there is life after Twilight!

I am the book queen; or so I like to think. During all the time I spend listening to audiobooks on my commute (three hours a day), reading books for the classes I teach, and reading for fun I stumble across some pretty great books. I will warn that I am a fickle reader; every captivating new book that I read becomes my favorite. I will start off telling everyone that "This is the absolute best book of the year"...and then I find another one. So it becomes "The absolute best book of the summer"...and then I read one more. Finally I have settled on "This is the best book of the week."

I try to keep lists of these great books that I read. I post them in and around my classroom; I write them in book journals. I stack the books themselves in the front of my class and point to them frequently. I even lure students in with cupcake promises and then tell them about the latest, greatest thing I have read. In the end I convince myself that they come for the cupcakes but they stay for the books.

So that is the very short, not so interesting story of why I started this blog. This is my attempt to create "The Best Book List."