The Beautiful Creatures Complete Paperback Collection

I started reading it because the movie was coming and the propaganda was really good, etc., but as I started I wanted to kill myself for buying the complete series... the conversations are stupid and the way they talk... specially the main character (it's a boy that thinks and speaks like a girl). I sincerely don't know if the story or the book improves upon reading it because after the first 3 or 4 chapters (I don't remember), I stopped reading it... I just couldn't overcome how tacky and cheesy a heart forming in the ceiling was... that was the drop that filled my glass.
I want to finish reading it because I don't like to start a book and not finish it but I really regret buying it... I think it's the first time that I think the movie is going to be better than the book (or at least I hope so - I haven't seen it either...)

Loving the content of books thus far. But when I got to the third book about 30 pages in the middle where had rough edges and were stuck together. I had to use a letter opener to get them apart and accidentally ripped several pages in the process. I'm rather disappointed in this because I take care of my books and display them proudly.

New set of books for Christmas, and already thru three of them. On on the last book and looking for more. A must read, really great writing, adventure, just enough creaters to keep you on the edge of your seat. I love these books and hope ther are more in the works. Reallt nice.

When I first read Beautiful Creatures, I had bought it on a whim in paperback, fell in love with the first book and couldn't find the remaining series. So I ordered it online at a lower price than I could have paid for one at retail. Not only was that a great deal, but when they arrived quickly through the mail I was surprised that they were paperback! I loved every book in this series, loved the writing style and the depth of emotion and honesty and characters. I cried when I read the last book!

I got it on time, and their in PERFECT CONDITION!!! I love them sooooo much! I recommend getting them the store, because try actually send it to you when it's in stock. The books are awesome too...I love them. Their interesting, and intriguing. Makes you wana keep reading more.

I would normally have read the book before watching the movie. However, I saw the movie first not knowing that it was based on a book. Though the basic plot of the 2 are relatively similar, the details between the 2 make them very dissimilar. More questions, more characters, more powers are brought to life in the book. Every chapter has some kind of page turning event.

I love them, they are so great, I haven't seen the movie but I doubt it will do the books justice because they are so wonderful, i would like the movie to do well but if it did it would be a rare thing.
Love the characters and the story is just as amazing!!!!

I wanted to read these before the movies came out - starting this Feb 2013 with Beautiful Creatures. I liked how it had mystery in the beginning. I didn't really know what the books were about. The slow reveal in the first made it interesting and to come from a guy's perspective is different from all young adult books. I have to say though the second book kind of bored me though. It just dragged. I'm now reading the 3rd and hoping it all gets better. Gotta say that so far, Ridley is the most boring character with her stupid red suckers for powers

Some stuff was missing but it was still a very good adaptation of the book. I love it. ^_^ I loved everything about t though I don’t like how Lena’s hair looked. It looked weird but other then that everything about it was really good. Definitely way better then the movie which was just ugh awful.

it was grate i had found the same thing a few days later at the PX and when i saw the price i was so happy that i bought the box set from here because it was less i only payed $33 for all 4 books but the PX wanted $70 for the same box set so yes i am vey happy with my package.

I think this could be one of the worst books I have read in a very long time. The characters were rather boring and one-dimensional, the story never really went anywhere and I found that I was forcing myself to read it to find out if the conclusion was any better than the rest of the book.

this is one very awesome book series i love this book series alot i hope these books get reprinted in the future i love how this book series was made the author seriously is amazing and how it was made this book series = the best of the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For teenagers, book one was good but book two was as stretching it, lots of teenage angst that might be even to much for that age group, books 3 was just more of the same, some strong editing would have help to move the story along

The first two seemed great. About three quarters through the second book it appeared to be ghost written. Not sure if the publisher told the authors, "We need 500 pages" but the character development started to get ridiculous. This should have been a two book series with the impact they started with. The authors admit that it was difficult coming up with new twists and turns and that became evident the further you read.

There was some confusion with the shipping. I always like to track my purchases, but for some reason this one never allowed me to. It just told me when it was shipped, which took a few days, and then it gave me an estimated arrival time, which was broad. I ended up getting the product in a few days, which was great. It was also packaged wonderfully and the product was just as described. Thank you!

Book swap???? The title is the same but the download was for a different book that will not open on my Kindle app I thought I was purchasing Beautiful Creatures by Garcia and Stohl and instead got Beautiful Creatures by Little Brown Books???? Different cover page too...So be careful which kindle book you click on and make sure the site doesn't take you to a different page and book.

With 2,077 pages of development, this series is a pandora’s box of mixed emotions. The first thing that drew me to the book was the voice of Ethan Wate. His dry wit and self depreciating humor made me laugh out loud and there were times where I really appreciated his outlook on life. Through his eyes, I could really picture his small southern town. Within a few chapters it felt as familiar to me as small town Oklahoma — the place where my mother’s side of the family is from. Anybody who is at all familiar with the realities of the American Southern history and culture knows this is a two sided coin.

I’m not usually a fan of books that have such an emphasis on do or die romance but I wanted to know more about Ethan and how he would adjust to a world much bigger than the small town he grew up in. I wasn’t disappointed. Ethan’s character growth is phenomenal and it was a blast to watch him and his friends roll with the punches. Link is arguably my favorite character of this entire series — second only to Macon Ravenwood who goes through his own slew of developments that makes him a delicious ally to watch the kids interact with.

My favorite book was probably a toss up between the last two — Beautiful Chaos & Beautiful Redemption. I really loved the expansion of the world at large. It was also cool to see some of the new characters utilized in a way that wasn’t predictable. The authors could have easily made another adversary but instead they added another level of relationship dynamics that I particularly enjoyed watching unfold. The last two books were the most emotional for me and there were several parts I actually found myself crying in some parts.

Overall this is a really good series. I fully intend to pick up physical copies of the books which should tell you something. That said, there are a lot of dark themes within the books. There’s definitely mentions of child abuse although nothing graphic is described. The abuse isn’t normalized except where neglect is concerned. The Castor world is pretty messed up when it comes to raising children, and I can see how their black and white view on good and evil perpetuates a lot of that abusive element in the culture as a whole. I have mixed feelings on the way it was framed, but I don’t think it was framed in a positive light so keep that in mind when you pick up this book or recommend it to friends.

The Kindle Editions of this book are really great. The formatting is nice, they do pages as well as locations so you can update your progress on Goodreads easily. Whisper-sync is an awesome way to work with the books even when you don't have time to read them specially. The voice actor for the series is awesome, and he does a really good job shifting between different characters without pulling away from the story.

I don't usually read much manga, but recently I've been interested in reading some of my favorite YA novels that have been adapted to manga. I must say, I quite enjoy it. It's a wonderful way to experience your favorite popular YA novels again through a different viewpoint.

Quick note to hardcore manga enthusiasts, though: This book is not set in traditional manga format. Traditional Japanese manga, I believe, is read right to left and clockwise on each page. (Correct me if I'm wrong. :) Most of the Yen Press adaptions are simply left to right from top to bottom. I'm relatively new to reading manga, and this format has been much easier to read than the traditional way. Either way, just a note.

The illustrations are truly beautiful. Lena and Ridley are exactly how I imagined them to look, but I do wish there was a bit more variation in the looks of the male characters. They all look somewhat the same. Yes, I know guys have basically the same hairstyles, but in real life, two guys with he same hairstyle can look completely different. This book didn't have that diversity and I frequently confused Link and Larkin.

The biggest fault I found in this was the lack of storyline, however. Cassandra Jean doesn't portray some extremely important aspects such as Ethan's dreams blurring into his life (f.e. dirt on his clothes, water on his bed, etc.) and the significance of the locket. Additionally, Ethan and Lena's relationship seems somewhat rushed. It doesn't have the feeling that the book had about how different they were by taking things slow and just becoming friends first. The Link-Ridley relationship also seems way too fake, even though it is fake in the novel. That was a bit disappointing.

On the other hand, I did like how Cassandra Jean wrote out some emotions and captions in the corner of the pages/speech bubbles. It's so entertaining to read and gives it its own special style that's different from the book.

Overall, not bad! I'd recommend that fans of the original Beautiful Creatures/Caster Chronicles novels give this a try.

This is a YA book series about a teenage boy and the new girl in town and all the strange-goings-on that happen when she arrives. The authors went with the ever typical "I love you but I can't be with you; we're from different worlds" theme.
The story could've (and should've) been summed up in one book but instead gets dragged into three more equally long and boring books because of the following:

Repetition - it takes place in Gatlin...and you don't forget that because the main character sure thinks and talks about his hometown a lot, Iike in every chapter. The interactions between the two doomed lovers are always cat and mouse (i.e. He chases her, catches her, she runs away again). Characters' relationships, habits, and appearances become familiar in the beginning but are described repeatedly throughout the entire series.

And

Lack of direction - it became apparent to me that when the authors wrote the story into a corner, a new character popped up and could magically solve the problem or an old character suddenly had the answer. Because of that there is too much family history, too many types of 'casters' and powers, and too many explanations/back stories that you just have to accept.

If you are compelled to read these books, I would borrow them first to see if you can make it through all of them, I feel like I deserve a medal for doing it.

I just didn't feel the romance in this book. I bought the whole series because of the rating and had got a sample before I bought the whole lot. The start is interesting but I felt myself getting bored in the middle of every book. I read some reviews that this series is like or better than Twilight and The Hunger Games. For me, this is absolutely not true, not even in the same league. The differences being that the Twilight author understands how to write romance.. it happens slowly. And the difference with The Hunger Games is that there was always something exciting happening, something that kept me turning the pages. With this book I also found the characters a bit shallow. I rated it 3 stars because I'm not mean. I can see how some teenagers might really like the book. But I thought it was just ok.

So I read beautiful creatures without high hopes. I read some great reviews, and some that are so terrible. Halfway through beautiful creatures I'm on the fence but once I'm finished I'm stricken. I have never read a book more wonderful and complex and beautiful than these. I started on darkness and chaos and I'm now about to start redemption. Based on the movie it doesn't seem all that wonderful but clearly there were some bad bad writers. I get these are some larger books but really? I honestly think these books would have done better as a tv show, a book per season. Anywho once I'm finished I'll be in the corner crying over the the characters who stories I will no longer gasp and read and smile at. I have enjoyed every page, and ever page
Has become more interesting than the next.
With that said, I encourage you to buy this set. I was overjoyed on Christmas and you should be too. The story is complex. But a good kind of complex where you know where all the characters are from and soon bond with a certain character. The authors have written these books so well they seem even more real than you and I.
I have to say though this is a very christian southern-ey book. Both protagonists and antagonists have many references to the book of moons being like a bible to the casters. The people of Gatlin, SC go to church and prepare for the apocalypse. They make many references to God, hell and more. This didn't bother me at all because God is never doubted. They don't say he must not be real because magical people exist. I think that it helps that both the god and heaven we think of today is brought in with the casters and mortals. So there is a lot of this in the book, more referring god as god and not god as Jesus which you would think the southern Christians mention more?hmm now that I think about it. This is a very big topic or the book but it doesn't teach anything or preach. Doesn't bother
me ;)
The caster chronicles are by far something that was missing from my life. <3

Note, I’m not good at giving reviews…

Read it in 2 sittings.

I'm a fan of magna/graphic novels so I was thrilled when I saw the listing for Beautiful Creatures. After seeing the movie I was quite interested in knowing more about the story (having only read half the book thus far). It was a cute yet intense story. A satisfying tale. I can’t wait to finish the book/series now. I want to know more, more, more...

The pictures were really gorgeous and true to how I've pictured the characters in my mind (from what I’ve read of the novel thus far. The movie characters do not cling in my mind while reading, although the actor who played Ethan is really adorable). I hope more people discover this book and go to see the movie!!!

Overall this series is enjoyable and supernatural readers will not be disappointed. The characters are memorable, and although this is a YA story there is a maturity level that is often lacking in coming of age books.

Before i read this series i had heard that the series wasnt that good, but i read them anyway. First im going to tell you the not so good parts of these books to get it out of the way and you can finish this review on a good impression. WARNING: this review will contain spoilers if you have not read the series PLEASE do not continue reading this. okay so lets get started. BAD: ~ okay for starters the beginning was stupid. i mean come on really guy dreams girl, guy meats girl, guy falls in love. stupid right? ~ okay next the guy cant "touch" the girl and the guy almost dies on a few occasions. it happens to many times and ruins the moment. ~lastly all the poems were really sad. and it wasnt just the poems that were filled with sorrow it was almost the whole series the only happy long lasting good moments were mostly whenever the two lovebirds were alone. GOOD~okay so that was only a little bit of the bad stuff i could think of at at the top of my head so now for some of the good stuff. ~ so for starters i love the backstory behind ethens name it adds a whole new mystery and love life with geniveve and ethen before lena and ethen. ~ next the shadowing songs that ethans mother had been sending him was a really good idea. although i really do wish it would have explained more of how she did it. ~ lastly i loved the turn of events where link turned into an incubus. i had not seen the twist coming. okay so i hope you enjoyed the review. please keep in mind that i did not list all the good and bad. and i just finished the series a week ago. and if i had to pick a favorite it would be book two. also if you enjoy reading romance i would recomend the divergent series, harry potter, and the selection series.

I've tried three times to read "Beautiful Creatures." Each time I can only get about a hundred pages into it before getting so bogged down I can't continue. I will (hopefully) one day actually finish the book, but for now I'm quite content to stick with the manga.

I'm a huge Cassandra Jean fan. I've been reading her online manga "Land of Lions" for quite some time and also bought the first three books. Frankly, I read this manga for her art. That's it. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Since it cut out a lot of the long, dry passages from the book for length reasons, it made the story flow a lot better without getting bogged down in so much detail.

I definitely recommend this for anyone who's not sure about the novel, but still wants to read the story.

From the first book to the last - I could not put this down. Such an intense read that took you on a journey. I wished I was there ! When I wasn't reading I was thinking about the book and the characters and trying to predict where the story was going. The best way to read this series is having all four books downloaded together so you can just keep going. I have not yet seen the movie and I am almost not wanting to see it in case they wreck it as it so often happens. Reading a story like this from Ethan's point of view was fantastic and such a great change. Thank you for entertaining me for the past two weeks. I hate when you finish a great book that leaves you wanting more and it becomes to hard to find something to read next !!!!!! :)

Not bought from the store.com.
Wonderful and easy read for any age. The story really pulls you in. It's a nice change from vampires and werewolves with only a moderate frustration with the teenage girl character.

I bought this gift set from a Barnes and Noble book store and I absolutely love this series! I even bought the movie and really wish more would be done. Ethan and Lena's adventure is unique and I was thrilled the whole time!

I wish that I had read the negative reviews before I one-clicked this mess onto my kindle.

I do not expect much from young adult fantasy fiction. I am a forty-something mom who started reading the genre as a way to maintain connections with my daughters years ago, and I continue to do so even now, because it entertains me for a bit. As with a Dan Brown novel, a literary review would be besides the point. But this particular book is so full of offensive, ignorant stereotypes about all things and people Southern that it staggers even a Yankee like me.

I read that one of the authors grew up in the DC area and now lives in California, and the other is a California native. Did either one ever step foot south of Fairfax, Virginia before writing this book? I really want to know.

Ok this series is wonderful! I cant wait for the movie and I hope it does the books justice. This complete collection set is a wonderful product that is for the true fan. All books are in hardback. And they look wonderful!

Fantastic storyline. Although it's pretty much the same as Twilight, I think it's more interesting being that's based on witches and warlocks, I mean castors, instead of vampires. I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone who is interested in fantasy, with a touch of love

One of the few times I have ever reviewed anything! I loved this series, as a matter of fact I have yet to read the last book because I didn't want it to end! It is a great story that anyone can read young adult to 102,

I seen the previews for the movie, and I'm the type of person that wants to read the book before I see the movie. I wasn't sure how much I would like this series, but once I started I could not put it down. It says on the back of the cover of the fist book to give it to a Twilight fan and when you do they will see how much better it is. It may be the fact that it is in the guy's point of view and that doesn't happen very often but all in all these books are FANTASTIC!!

This is a great book series, and i was very happy to hear that it is going to be a movie!! i would rate these books a 8 out of 10. very well developed characters and an intriging love story and story line.

It was a good book. I liked the series. It was an interesting book to continue reading the series because I never had read anything like this book before. If you like books that are about things that aren't real and to be able to get away from everything, I would say read this book.

I thought I was buying the Kindle version of the book Beautiful Creatures. Obviously, that is not what this is. The same author, etc., but this is the comic book version. I guess I should have been more careful...

ethan lives in gaitlin where every one knows everyone and all there secrets. after his mothers death all ethan has ever wants to do is get out of there. until he meets the girl of his dreams. literlly.
ethan than starts to grow closer to lena and secrets are told. secrets about lena and her family.

I read the first book mostly because it had such great reviews and everyone said it was awesome.Then when I started reading it I was very interested at the beginning but by the time I got to the middle of the book I could barley make myself keep reading it and when I finally finished it I was very disappointed. I just don't know why everyone likes this book, it could have been good but it got very boring and hard to read at places. I am definitely not going to read the other books in this series and I very much regret reading the first.

Overall is a nice story placed in a small town in the South where people still reenact civil war battles and etiquette, mixed with ancient magic both dark and light, the problem is the pace of the story as well as some character inconsistencies, creating confusion in a world both new and extravagant

It took me like 3 months to read this book but not because I didn't have time, no it was just really boring. I usually read a book in less than a weak but I could not read this one so fast because I always found something better to do.