Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.  Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.





 

This is the last book in the Castor Chronicles following the love story of Ethan and Lena. At the beginning we find out The book was written in dual point of view, and I was glad that the books finally put Lena's character. It felt nice to actually read what she was thinking most of the time. I think the writing of the dual point of view would have worked out fine if the authors didn't have the point of views switched after every every one hundred pages, and if it was apparent that we were actually in different POVs the views were too similar lacking characterization. It didn't have that dynamic feel to the beginning. The beginning tends to be a little depressing. The plot became to predictable for the ending. It really takes four books just to find out who Lena's parents really are? The series really just lagged on just to keep the books going. If you are someone who has been following the series from the start you may be happy with the book, and you may or may not be happy with the series ending.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

Love hurts. There is nothing as painful as heartbreak. But in order to learn to love again, you must learn to trust again. 
When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in 
the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.



I have never read any of Nicholas Sparks books, I only read one of his books Message in a Bottle, and I found that book to be unappealing. I recently picked up the book to read because I am very picky. I refuse to watch a movie based on a book without reading the book first. I found this book to be quite enjoyable. The book really falls under the romance-thriller suspense. There are parts filled with so much romance and suspense the reader can find their hearts racing between the chemistry of Katie and Alex. Sparks has really good writing, and for a male writer, his romance novel fulfilled my expectations. I am very excited to be seeing the film and to compare what was kept and removed from the film.

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What — or who — will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?
For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself — forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask. Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

The style begins to feel the same like the first two books where the reader has a really hard time getting into the story. It's also really hard to feel the love between Ethan and Lena in this installment in the series like we did in Beautiful Creatures itself. Ethan is just a wonderful Southern gentleman and he treats Lena with so much respect, makes my heart melt. It takes a really long time to get into this book. Another issue is the interaction between the characters it feels really forced. There is still trouble between the Castor world and the Mortal world. It's not until the end something really horrible and tragic happens.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.
Sometimes life-ending.
Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

The first book in the series was really good. I was too conflicted to actually continue reading the series because I had a lot of issues with the first book but since the last book of the series came out. Beautiful Redemption came out I wasn't as happy with book one but I am eager to see what happens with the characters and I am determined to read this series. 

Ethan continues to narrate through the book and his narration is not horrible but it is hard to tell if Ethan is actually a boy, the narration is not too realistic for it to be a boy perspective, a book that had a boy's point of view down to the core was Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Lena, while she barely makes an appearance throughout the book, her behavior in this book angered me so much, I had to refrain from throwing the book out of the window, Lena was a bit too conceited in this book. There was an interesting storyline between Link/Ridley/John is pretty interesting and I hope it keeps developing throughout the series as I continue to read it until the end. 

Another cliche is the love triangles, or a love square for this particular books.The most common problem with this just like in Beautiful Creatures is the writing, the writing is not bad, but the story just lags on where the reader just wants to put the book down. About 175 pages in this book could have been cut out. 

Another thing that made me think that this book was just another carbon copy of Twilight was when Lena announces to Ethan that she and her family are leaving town after an incident that happened in the school parking lot. Sound familiar from another book? The Cullens leaving Forks due to the accident that happened on Bella's birthday?

WRITERS: Never write pages that lag on, a book should be so addicting that the reader should never want to put it down.  there could be dozens of pages cut out so the reader gets to the good juicy parts.