Really Ravishing Review (Beautiful Darkness)

Review of Beautiful Darkness, by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. 

Quickie: Perfectly dark. It kept me guessing and had my stomach in knots.

Full: Lena's Sixteenth Moon has passed, but she has not yet been Claimed. Terrible things happened at her Sixteenth Moon, things beyond her control and yet they were a result of her actions. Lena is full of guilt, of conflicting emotions, and pain. She's grieving the loss of her Uncle, possibly the only person to truly understand her or be on her side.

Ethan, Lena's boyfriend, is quickly being shut out of Lena's life. He's getting mixed signals that with the flip of a switch turn into plain rejection. Confused and hurt, he tries to let her go, to do her own thing, but finds that he can't. He's been hearing an eerie song, one about the Seventeenth Moon, and he knows that cannot bode well for Lena. She must make a choice, Light or Dark, and no matter what she chooses, people will die. The stress of the impending choice and the overwhelming grief over her beloved uncle are driving Lena to the edge, and only Ethan can save her.

But how do you save someone when they don't even want to see you? When they are forcefully pushing you away, hurting you?

Ethan, Link, and their new found friend, Liv, embark on a mysterious and perilous journey to track down and hopefully rescue Lena- without dying themselves of course.

Beautiful Darkness was better than I expected. There was so much hype, everyone was dying to read it and squeeing over it... so I decided to wait to read it myself. I'm not sure why, I'm just weird I guess. Anyhow, I read it in a day and a half, because I couldn't stop thinking about what might happen next. (I love that)

One of the most charming and endearing aspects of the book for me was the Southern ladies. They cracked me up! They were so funny, so quirky, and so interesting. I loved all the etiquette lessons and interesting tidbits of information because they really helped solidify that good ole' Southern feel. It's rare that I feel so at home in a book setting, but I did in Beautiful Darkness.

It was nice to see the story from Ethan's point of view, since we saw it from Lena's in Beautiful Creatures. I always enjoy getting a different perspective and getting to know other characters on another level.

On the whole, I thought Beautiful Darkness was fabulous. Loved the writing, loved the feel, loved the whole thing. The Caster world is getting more and more interesting as each page is turned, and I can't wait to dive back in.

4 out of 5 stars.