Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

Summary:
Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code in this action-packed paranormal thriller, the first book in a new series from New York Times bestselling author Kami Garcia.
I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.
When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I was a little a wary reading Unbreakable because I'm not the biggest fan of Beautiful Creatures and this book is by one of the authors of this series. It's always interesting reading a book by two people because you never know who is writing what. Anyway, reading Unbreakable gave me a chance to see what Kami Garcia is like writing solo.

I was attracted to Unbreakable because it's been likened to the TV show Supernatural so of course I had to read this. A lot of people on GoodReads have noticed how similar the stories are and I agree that the premises are very similar. Also if you've seen season 4 of Supernatural you will identify with the ending and twist of Unbreakable. I think Kami Garcia watches the show. But in all honesty, I liked the demon/paranormal creature hunting in the book and it was an exciting part of the story. The book moves along very fast and almost too fast because the characters figure out clues quickly and efficiently. It shouldn't be that easy to solve this supernatural mystery.

My qualms with this novel is the romance. Of course the book wouldn't be complete without a love triangle, this time between Kennedy and two twin brothers. It was very contrived and for most of Unbreakable I couldn't even tell the difference between the two boys. I won't tell you which one Kennedy is drawn to, but their relationship progresses way too fast and isn't based on much besides physical attraction. So the romance was pretty disappointing.

But I did enjoy the plot (even the Supernatural-esque twist) so I plan to continue the series. If you like the TV show I would definitely recommend reading this book.

Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2013/Little, Brown/305 pages.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate lives in small town Gatlin, South Carolina, home to Confederate flags, home-cooking and Southern hospitality. Ethan wants to get out of the small-mindedness and narrow thinking that often comes along with a small town, but resigns himself to trying to fit in at his high school until he graduates. That is, until Lena Duchannes moves to town. Lena, niece of the resident shut-in, is beautiful, mysterious, and completely different than the other girls in Gatlin. There's something special about Lena, something almost magical. As Ethan is drawn to Lena, he must not only contend with the wrath of Gatlin, but the curse that is on Lena's family.

When I received Beautiful Creatures in the mail, I was so excited to read it. It's been one of those books that are really hyped up and it sounded really good. Unfortunately, Beautiful Creatures is not my new favorite book. I did like it somewhat, but there are some things I didn't like at all.

First, I thought Beautiful Creatures was way too long. It was over 600 pages and that would have been fine if that length was actually needed. In my opinion, the book could have been shortened significantly because there was a lot of unnecessary narration. The book is written in first person, so Ethan gets a lot of exposition and he just doesn't stop talking. I must have heard Ethan say that his housekeeper Amma is a tough, no-nonsense woman a million times before the authors were satisfied that the reader understood. In keeping with Ethan's run-away narration, there was a lot of telling, but not showing. I also think that the magical, Caster aspect of the story could have been fleshed out a little better.

Fortunately, Beautiful Creatures wasn't all bad. Around the 300 page mark, I started to get into the story a little bit more and was curious about what would happen at the end. It took awhile, but I got there eventually. Even though his "talking" annoyed me, I did like Ethan and thought that he was really funny. All the characters were unique and had distinguishable personality traits, which made the book somewhat enjoyable to read. I would also like to remind everyone that I'm not a huge fan of fantasy, which is why I may be reviewing this book unfavorably. So if you do like fantasy, you will most likely enjoy Beautiful Creatures. Just make sure you set aside some reading time because it will take you awhile.

7 out of 10.