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Beautiful Creatures
This article is about the book. For other uses, see Beautiful Creatures (disambiguation). Beautiful Creatures by Garcia and Margaret Stohl the first book in the Caster Chronicles series. The book was published on December 1, 2009, by Little, Brown, and Company. In the UK, Beautiful Creatures is published by Penguin Books. On January 3, 2013, a new edition of the novel was published, featuring images from the movie on the cover.

Character

 * Ethan Lawson Wate is a 16-year-old high school boy from the fictional town of Gatlin, South Carolina. Though he is not a Caster himself, he somehow has the ability to protect Lena from powerful magic and Dark Casters. He and Lena share a connection called Kelting, which lets them communicate telepathically, even if they are miles away.
 * Lena Duchannes is a Caster who appears in Ethan's dreams before moving to Gatlin. She must be claimed by her powers for either The Light or The Dark on her sixteenth birthday.
 * Lila Ever Wate-'Ethan's mother who died a year before the story took place. She was the best friend of the librarian Marian Ashcroft and is hinted to have had a previous relationship with Lena's uncle Macon Ravenwood in the past. She is later revisited by Macon when he is dying.

Plot Summary
The story takes place in a small town in Gatlin, South Carolina with a boy named Ethan Wate. The town isn’t one of those storybook towns you read about in fairytales, it’s is as Ethan describes it, isolating and suffocating because everyone knows everyone. Ethan dreams of escaping after high school to the farthest college away he can get to. Ethan’s mother was killed in a car accident and after that his father became a withdrawn, absente dad, holed away in his study. Though Ethan does have the company of his housekeeper Amma, who had been there to raise his dad when he was growing up. Amma has the gift of foresight, and she is in some ways the town considers her the modern day witch. Ethan had repeatedly had a dream about this girl falling, and he tries to catch her but is always just slightly out of reach. When he wakes up, he smells rosemary and lemons, and on his iPod he hears the song, “Sixteen Moons” a song he has never ever heard up until the dreams started. Later that day at school Ethan meets a girl named Lena Duchannes, she’s the new girl, who is the granddaughter of the infamous Macon Ravenwood. Macon is a reclusive, mysterious owner of the Ravenwood Manor, an grand old plantation house from the times of the civil war, maybe even before then. At school, Ethan suddenly hears “Sixteen Moons” and follows the sound to a music room where he finds Lena playing the song on the cello. He recognizes her as the girl he has dreamt about saving and is shocked to smell rosemary and lemon. He cautiously approaches Lena and tells her about his dream he’s been having about her. She denies knowing about anything, when Ethan tries to point out the scratches on her hand coinciding with the dream. Over the next week Ethan slowly gains Lena’s trust by supporting her when students start teasing and bullying her. They end up getting close and making a real connection, even so close that they start to develop the ability to communicate telepathically, no joke. Lena later tells Ethan that her whole family, including her have special powers, referring to them as caster, originated from their ability to cast spells. Ethan eventually learns to accept and even appreciate this fact after a while, because it’s a part of Lena. Ethan meets a girl who approaches him at the convenient shop and introduces herself as Lena’s cousin named Ridley, who takes Ethan to Ravenwood manor. Ridley’s real motives to taking Ethan to the manor is to sneak in and gain access to the house. Ridley becomes angry at her family and declares that Lena will soon be “claimed” on her sixteenth birthday. Lena knows Ridley speaks the truth. The worst part of it all is that she will not have any say over if she will be claimed by the dark or the light. Ethan ends up losing consciousness but not before he hears Lena tell Ridley to leave her “boyfriend” alone, or else. Ethan wakes up in Lena’s bedroom, and Lena explains to Ethan that she can’t be with him because she may turn dark and lose the ability to love anyone, or anything. Ethan tells Lena he will love her anyways no matter what she becomes and that he will try to save her from her fate. At first, Macon and Amma both disapprove of the young teenage romance growing between Ethan and Lena and it becomes apparent that they have some history and prior connection involving the magical happenings in the town. However, this changes when Lena is attacked by evil forces on Halloween. Lena’s family are trying to protect her without success but, after Lena telepathically calls to him, Ethan manages to free her from the enchantment. After this, Lena’s family recognize the strength of Ethan and Lena’s relationship. Amma comes to accept Ethan’s relationship with Lena and invites her over to Thanksgiving dinner at their home. While they are enjoying the dinner everything suddenly freezes apart from Amma and Lena. Ethan watches helplessly, immobilized, as Amma tells Lena that her mother Serafine isn’t dead but is dark and responsible for the attacks on Lena. Ethan eavesdrops on Amma and Macon, learning that he is an incubus and is dark as well. Lena’s whole family had come for the claiming ceremony, including her mother. Serafine explains to Lena that she can choose whether she goes light or dark. However Lena discovers the consequence of the choice: If she chooses dark then every family member that is light will die, but if she chooses light then everyone who is dark in her family will die, including Uncle Macon, the one who she loves more than anything in the world. She also learns that, regardless of her choice, as a Caster, she will not be able to have a physical relationship with a mortal like Ethan anyway, and is upset and confused. On the night of the claiming, Lena’s mother stabs Ethan but Lena is able to bring him back but unfortunately Macon Ravenwood dies in his place. As the Claiming requires, Lena causes the moon to disappear and it seems that she will have to choose Light or Dark. However, as the novel ends it is revealed that the song “Sixteen Moons” on Ethan’s iPod has transformed into “Seventeen Moons,” implying that Lena may be able to continue blocking out the moon and deferring her choice. What will Lena decide, and will it cost her the boy she has fallen in love with?