A Gatlin Wedding

Beautiful Creatures: The Untold Stories #4

by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl

Does it always come down to Destiny? The Wheel of Fate? Who's behind that Wheel? What kind of idiot is doing the driving around here?

The day has finally arrived: Mitchell Wate and Lillian English are getting married. Everyone has come together--Ethan and Lena, John and Liv, even Link is back in town--and there's enough pie to make Amma proud. But despite the joyous occasion, Ethan can't help but worry that something feels...off.

When Siren-turned-Hybrid Caster Ridley blows into town unannounced, Ethan's suspicions are confirmed. And it's worse than he imagined: Silas Ravenwood is coming for them, and no one in Gatlin is safe. Has the Wheel of Fate finally caught up to them, or can the Casters and Mortals come together to stop it in its tracks?

#1 New York Times bestselling authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl reveal Gatlin's destiny in this not-to-be missed final installment of Beautiful Creatures: The Untold Stories.

Word Count: ~13,000 words

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Magic, Ebooks, Novella

Audiobook

First published January 12, 2016

About the author

Kami Garcia is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. She is the coauthor of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series, which has been published in 51 countries and 37 languages, with over 10 million copies in print. In 2013, Beautiful Creatures released as a feature film from Warner Brothers. Kami is a cofounder of the YALLFEST kid lit book festival and the author of five solo novels, including her Bram Stoker Award-nominated novels Unbreakable and Unmarked (THE LEGION series) and The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos. Kami’s first graphic novel Teen Titans: Raven, with artist Gabriel Picolo, is the first book in her TEEN TITANS series for DC Comics and the adult series JOKER/HARLEY: CRIMINAL SANITY, from DC Black Label.

Find Kami online at kamigarcia.com, on Facebook @KamiGarciaYA, and on Twitter and Instagram @KamiGarcia.

Reviews

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a letdown. The climax and ending felt rushed and unexplained. The planning and build up was a bit disjointed but otherwise okay, it’s just that it didn’t follow through.

[Shawna Finnigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm only giving this two stars for Ridley and Link. I hated everything else about this novella. I started off reading this and being mad at myself. I didn't realize until I started reading it that this book took place after the Dangerous Creatures series... or at least that's what it seemed to me as someone who hasn't read the Dangerous Creatures series. If the spoilery stuff in this book isn't spoilers for Dangerous Creatures, then there's a bigger issue going on than me just spoiling myself. Anyways, as I got farther into this novella, I got angry at it for even existing. First of all, focusing on a wedding for a relationship that was only briefly mentioned in the original series? It was so unnecessary and it felt forced. Their should've been more development for the relationship in the series or this book simply shouldn't have been written. Second and most importantly of all, the plot of this book was a complete train wreck. It was rushed and it didn't make sense. It seemed as if the authors may have known what was going on but the way that it was tossed onto the page didn't make sense for the readers and it at the very least didn't feel good. What the heck are these magical light powers that they can suddenly use to defeat villains? And the fact that the main character just passed out so that the whole final fight was just cut off randomly... Literally stop. I can't believe I'm saying this since I liked the Beautiful Creatures series so much but I wish this novella didn't exist.

[Nohely · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a sloppy conclusion for The Caster Chronicles. I understand that the length of this book was shorter compared to the previous volumes and therefore, the development and details that we may have wanted to read were not fleshed out properly. However, that doesn't exempt this book of its disappointing development. Everything felt way too face paced and it seemed as if the purpose of this book was simply to end the Beautiful Creatures series. It saddens me to know that this final instalment was not the greatest, but at least we got a conclusion for this magical books.

[Michael Vandewint · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent the last 2 days with very sleep being drawn and absorbed by this book series. i loved the characters and how they grew and evolved as characters. i loved the series and every book. i have not found a book that made me feel and capture as much as the caster series in 8-9 years. this book was amazing but felt rushed. i wanted more. i wanted to look into Ethan's and Lena's college life. see what John and Liv were doing in England and maybe a little more info on how things happened. my heart was broken after Dangerous Deception so it is kinda comforting to have the two drive off together at the end of this book but over all i truly wish and want more. i fell so in love with the book series that the night i have had to sleep i had fantasied about how the book would continue. how would Ethan and Lena grow and slowly become adults and what kind of future was ahead of them. i would gladly buy more copies of the book series just to have these questions answered. the very idea of this series ending makes my heart ache and tremble with the idea of a world i had just only begun to know and fall in love with to fade and disappear with the flows of time. the movie and the graphic novel were very good and i bought my own copy of both. I found that the movie left out some of the most amazing things about the characters but having seen the movie gave foundation to how Ethan looked more in depth and the Graphic novel was so well done it brought even a tear to my eye. i truly hope there will be more and their values of friendship and love would be tested more as they grew older. Lena and Ethan have many years ahead of them with Gatlin Wedding ending with them being only 17. i would love to see what kind of person Ethan became and more. i feel like there is so much more Lena could learn and evolve. her magic might be getting stronger but her control still seems rather weak and still needing to be focused and worked on. i have rated all your books so far with 5 stars. i am happy you published these amazing books and i would read them many times to come and enjoy them. the feelings they made me feel were real even if the character's weren't. the sorrow, the joy, the loneliness, the betrayal, the anger, the love and the passion. Hopefully the world will at least be there to the point where actually Ethan finally proposes to Lena hopefully when they are old enough as well, my best imaginary ending.

[Farren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am officially done with all of the Caster stories in existence. This one wasn't necessarily bad, but it was just completely pointless and the few events that happened in the middle of the book did nothing for the story of Ethan & Co. as a whole. In the end it was as if none of it had happened, and it was really just a waste of time to publish the story at all. At least the other Untold Stories helped you to learn things about the characters who were never fully explored before and were worth the read if you had become attached to everyone in the books. Fortunately I didn't have to pay for this to read it.

[Nancy The book junkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75/5

It was short but action packed! It wouldn't have been a wedding in Gatlin without an almost apocalypse! I don't know if it's me but it makes me wonder if the Dangerous creatures series will have a third book considering the ending of this novella

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this short novella in one sitting. Ethan's dad is getting married to his teacher Lillian English. I had to read it because I needed more Ridley and Link. The ending of Dangerous Deception left my poor heart in pieces. If this is the ending for Ridley and Link, I am very disappointed. Everything felt rushed, and the way they defeat Silas Ravenwood with a friendship circle seemed like such an easy way to end things. I'm still hoping for a third book in the Dangerous Creatures series because it deserves a better ending.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok

There were so many unanswered questions in this novella. It felt super rushed. This would have been much better had a little bit more time been taken to explain why people did things. The rings from the Dark Creatures novels: kind of a let down in how they were used. Ridley and Link: no explanation as to why she changed at the end. This would gave been much better had they made a final book for the Dark Creatures duo and finished spelling out details. Too rushed. Very disappointing.

[Christina Morden (ClaryNathanWill) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful Creatures is one of those stories that never leaves me. I could not read about the world for years and then dive right back into it again at a moments notice.

This short story is the epilogue to beat all epilogues. It concludes the four Beautiful Creatures novels, the two Dangerous Creatures novels, and the numerous short stories in between. So I would recommend reading this last.

I may have cried. I love these characters so much. Ethan means so much more to me than a lot of characters in YA. I am so happy that this is how this ends. Thank you to Kami and Margaret! This world has meant the world to me.

[Marci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these novellas!!! I hate to see them end! I love these characters!!! Please please write more!!! We need our casters!!!

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really sick of Ridley coming in just to cause trouble and be a spoiled brat and everyone just forgiving her. To me she is an unredeemable character and I just don't get the appeal and why the authors don't just let her leave and stay gone. While I'm also not a super fan of how Link turned out, I also think that he's a spineless character because he let's Ridley just treat him like shit and use him. This to me was the most disappointing of the novellas in this series. The whole "light defeats dark" was really shoved down our throats and of course the person who saves the day is completely unbelievable as someone who actually cares. Could have done without this one.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this final novella, Mitchell Wate and Lillian English are getting married. Once again, reading a short story was a great visit to the characters we've grown to love so much. I really enjoyed all the sweet moments between Ethan and Lena. They're absolutely right, "love is the thing that stays".

I think this is the perfect ending to the series. I'm not sure if we'll hear from them again in the future, but at least for me the story is complete now and I don't know what else could happen to them. Now they just really deserve to be happy, and love, love, love.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was pretty good, and makes me want to reread Beautiful Creatures... but it also reminds me that we've gotten no word on a book three for Dangerous Creatures, and it's like they've forgotten us as fans. :(

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Ridley now. I need it. I’ve been on a cliff hanger for years because I didn’t know this existed and this was not enough I need more I’m begging pleaseeee.

More coherently, I loved spending the whole novella with the characters I knew and loved from the og series, and I very much appreciated the Ridley update, however, it was super rushed. I’m sure this is the conclusion to the caster world since this was published early 2016 (sheesh how has it been so long already) but I will continue to delusionally cling to the hope of more. This series really just can’t be wrapped up in a novella, I still have tons of questions and and it didn’t feel fully fleshed out because, again, novella. My rating here is purely for nostalgic purposes, I love this series and always have. Frankly this novella was more of a conclusion than I ever thought I’d be getting, but this series still deserves more (and so do Ridley and Link).

[ishi · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest i read it because i found a pdf online. I remember liking the series years ago and it was nice in that nostalgic way. This one i liked more than the other 3 because i like the character of Ridley significantly more than the others

[Linda Hamonou · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems that a lot happened to Riley but we only got a short little summary of it even though it's the main part of the story.
Ethan's dad is getting married to the English teacher with a tendency to be possessed by a demon who is not that bad actually.
I wish the story was actually a real novel instead of something so short because there is a lot of material in it that could have been explored.
Gotta love Riley's new eye color.

[Linda Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

And so the Beautiful Creatures stories continue....

I really love reading about Ethan and Lena again! I miss them! This story brings us up to date on the lives of our favorite characters. I hope the stories continue! Such a great break from a boring and predictable reality!

[Samantha Glass · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bite to tide you over between books, if you will. And who doesn't love a wedding? Enjoyable, quick read.

[Felipe Gulyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story can easily be not just the end for the main series but also for the spin-off. It was very well written, but I do think it would have been better as a full novel. It was too short to put an ending for all this Caster universe. Although we don't know if this will be the end forever. At least we had a little of Link and Ridley.

[Shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. Just meh. I'd love to give you a breakdown of the qualities that made this novella good but everything about it was just that 3 letter word. "meh". You don't get any new insights to any characters. The plot is relatively pointless in the grand scheme of things. The couple of things even worth mentioning are just so blah that I won't even bother.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well done I think. The story of course was short because the book is short but it was good. I like that we get to know a little bit about what happened to Lena, Ethan, and friends. It did have a story where they had to figure out how to prevent a disaster from happening but it didn't take over 500 pages to do so.

[Taylor Schwieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read Dangerous Creatures before this story!
Without spoiling anything, so happy I read all these short stories after I finished the Dangerous Creatures series. This one could have been written as a full book and I would have devoured it just like I did this story. I'm still not ready for the Beautiful/Dangerous creatures stories to be over but this definitely helps.

[Heni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supongo que se acabó, el mes y medio que disfrute de esta hermosa historia valió la pena, es increíble y simple.
Aunque debo decir que esta historia complementaria se merecía ser un libro, todo lo que pasa en esta historia y que se siente tan rápido y ufano hubiera sido mejor si fuera un libro más extenso, sin embargo, no puedo quejarme más.

[Laura Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED this novella! I was able to catch up with all of the characters and really got a sense of closure on the story. I'm sad that it ended but happy that Ethan and Lena remain happily in love!!

[Marcia Camden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great!

A great completion. But it would be awesome if another book (real book) about the continuing story of Ridley and Link were out soon! Also a real book including all of the novellas.

[Yoselin Godinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was kind of rushed but I'm happy to see that everything ended up being resolved. The conflict with Silas is resolved with this last book but I felt to abrupt how it ended. I still feel like having a 3rd book for dangerous series with Ridley and Link might have been better

[Kiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice ending

Everyone stood together to stop silas with a binding ring and his experiments and the final nail in the coffin was Ridley distracting silas and everyone helping in killing him and then a nice normal wedding to end it and it was bittersweet .

[Melody Strickland · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s so obvious this was only written because people were upset about the end of Dangerous Deception, so they made Link and Ridley end up together.
While that makes me so happy it didn’t make any sense and didn’t solve any issues with Ridley just made her change boys… very upsetting

[mundiemom5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun trip back to Gatlin!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want more 😔😢😭