Welcome to the Beautiful Darkness Book Discussion!! Over the next five weeks we will be discussing Beautiful Darkness a few chapters at a time with posts and discussion questions by a variety of guest posters. Posts and discussion questions will go up on Tuesdays and recaps of the discussion question answers will go up on Sundays. For the complete schedule of chapters and dates click here.
Also, as we are the Bookworms and are physically incapable of not hosting a give-away for any major event on this blog, there’s a give-away going on in conjunction with the discussion! WOOT!! Find out all about that here as well.
And now a warning….while we will keep each week’s post spoiler free for those who have only read up to and including the chapters being discussed that week, if you haven’t read the book at all you will find spoilers about the sections of the book being discussed. SO…if you haven’t read the book at all…STOP. GET THE BOOK. READ IT. RETURN. Easy, peasy, extra cheesy, right, Cutie? And in conjunction with that, we do ask that all of you participating in the discussion please keep your responses spoiler free. We know this can be hard but please have a heart for those who are enjoying the read-along aspect of the discussion and do your best. We in turn will do our best to monitor the comments.
And finally….on with this week’s discussion written by Erikasbuddy (AKA Greta) and Uhyesplease!!!!
Hello all and Happy Holiday of your Choosing!! I know that Erika was supposed to help me out this week but her hubz just came home from Iraq and is on R&R for the next two weeks. So, because I seriously am in need of a sidekick I asked Uhyesplease to help me out. You’ll see her pop by every now and then in RED.
Now, sit back, relax, and remember… I don’t write books… I make fun of them!! (I bet Pushy is now regretting she invited me! LOLZ!!)
6.19 Bonaventure
When we last left Ethan he was getting all snuggly wuggly with his “She’s just a friend” sexy English under-aged co-worker. Swoon ala BO-Oi-ing!! (come on! You know there had to be some sort of stirring down there. He probably blamed it on his Arclight pressing her in the back lolz!)
Oh man, I hate it when my Arclight does that!
In this chappy we start off with a motorcycle with Elf roadkill Green headlights coming at him! Instead of moving to safety, Ethan takes it like a man, shields his face for impact (we don’t want to scuff that pretty thing up) and then…… he wakes up.
But what’s so different? Something’s missing? Oh yeah… the future sexy librarian is gone.
Da da da….. *Dramatic music*
Ethan finds his English Crumpet staring up at the stars and looking all hot for teacher. What? You know they want each other.
Ethan is all “Hey baby! Want to see a heavenly body? Come back to bed and I’ll show you one.” Liv, just ignores his smooth moves and keeps on looking through her telescope at a falling caster star. Liv’s geek watch starts spinning out of control and Ethan’s arclight thinga thing starts blinking like a sparkly, jolly green giant. Liv then decides that it’s time to split. (I’m guessing that the adult supervision was probably starting to get to her)
So, Shaggy, Velma, and Fred…. wait… I mean … So, Link, Liv, and Ethan all head out in search of the falling star. I guess they figure it’s okay to just up and leave without telling the responsible adults, “bye.” Adults can be such a downer!! They might want to like come along with them or something.
The Arclight is blinking like crazy and since its hurting Link’s eyes, Ethan shoves it in his pants pocket which just make them start blinking like a beacon of LOVE. (I’m pretty sure this turned Liv on).
Again, it happens to me all the time. They don’t call me Sparkly-pants-Uhyesplease for nothing!
Unsure what to do next, the gang just keep on walking and are met up with Lucille the cat. OH OH OH!! And then!! Link hits on the cat. That frightened me!!
“Couldn’t live without me, could you girl? I have that effect on Women.” Link grinned, scratching her head. She batted his fingers away.
Clearly, “No means No,” means exactly the same thing in the animal kingdom ;P After being traumatically assaulted by Link’s hand action, Lucille turns tail and runs the other way leaving our three unsupervised teenagers all by themselves.
Just like a Scooby Doo cartoon (Minus the Mystery Machine) the gang head on over to Bonaventure Cemetery. Now, they say that this is a famous cemetery in the South but umms… I’ve never heard of it. I guess I’m not hip and cool to know about celebrity cemeteries. I must not be on the list.
But Greta, you are from the South! How can that be?
I know… it shocked me too.
Being good little role models, the kids break into the cemetery and you won’t believe it!! ADULTS!! That’s right!! Amma, Macon’s mom Arelia, and some other chick with a ton of earrings on are waiting for the young whipper snappers so that they could wreck all their fun.
Drats!
Turns out the earring woman is Lena’s aunt Twyla who can go all Haley Joel Osment on the dead.
The three joy killing adults start up a circle to contact a ghost and wouldn’t you know it…. ANOTHER ADULT!! This one turned out to be the ghost of Ethan’s mom. And in pure Princess Leia fashion she tells Ethan that he is her only hope, he needs to hook up with Dead Macon, and that she’s been sending him those songs. Now, in my personal opinion the whole Seventeen Moons songs are not intended for Lena but for Ethan. Mom’s message is basically a choppy as the Peanuts Adults. I don’t get it but I’m sure we’ll all be smacking our heads and saying “DUH” by the end of the story.
6.19 Scars
Ethan learns the truth of his bad ass scar once his mom floats away. Amma explains to him that he really dig get shanked by his (probably) future Mother-in-law (wow! That just made Thanksgiving awkward. “Hey Sarafine! Could you please pass the gravy boat and this time try not to stab me?!”). Ethan has a Bella panic attack then has a man hissy when he learns that Lena did a big uber no no and used The Book Of Moons to bring him back to life. And because Lena brought her dreamboat back to life she wound up having her uncle Macon drop dead. I guess this is why Mama Ghost was saying that Macon would always be a part of Ethan. I figure sooner or later we will figure out that Lena wasn’t only making out with her boy toy but also her uncle. Ewwws!!
Double Ewwwws!
The adults explain to Ethan that Lena had to go all New Moon on him to umm… save him… or protect him…. or I don’t know…. something… basically… she loves him so uber much that she can’t stand to hurt him so she had to split. Remind you of anything? Lolz –sparkle sparkle
And I’ll say it again, running away doesn’t solve anyone’s problems. I think I said that in a New Moon Discussion somewhere.
Ethan sits down on a bench with Link after nearly passing out over the news that he still might still have a girlfriend then runs off to stare at the moon like a lonely little emo boy. Being all uber romantic he tells the Arclight bobble thing to lead him to his love muffin and instead of acting like a GPS it leads him into Macon’s past and the history of how the Arclight got to Macon is revealed. Apparently, Macon’s mama got a hold of it from her hubbles, Silias, for when he turned into a bad boy. It’s explained that the Arclight acts like a genie’s bottle and can trap a naughty blood sucking incubus into its prison when the right words are spoken. This seriously sounds like something every wife should have.
Or mother, it’s like the Ultimate Time-Out!
So, Macon’s mom gives it to him to give to Ethan’s mom for just such an emergency…. and now Ethan has it. So, now my theory is changing. I figure THAT is why Ghost Mom said that Macon is with Ethan. Like maybe they’ll use the Arclight on John (who I think is Abraham in disguise muhahahahas!) and Macon will be there in ghost form to suck him into the Arclight. Ya think?
After a brief history lesson, we somehow end up at the cemetery gates up front (Ethan must trance walk or something) and the pesky adults leave so that the kids can go on their dangerous journey in peace.
Ha! You kill me, Greta!
6.19 Down Below
The kids head on over to the Caster door that will lead them back to the tunnels. While on the way Ethan has emo thoughts about how his girl saved him. I wonder if he realizes that thinking about Lena is going to lessen his chances with Liv? Maybe she’ll hook up with Link? I actually thought a while ago that Liv might be Ethan’s mom in another body.
Whoa! That would make the ‘almost kiss’ Awk-ward!
LOLZ! Could you imagine that interesting turn in plot. Ethan falls for his mom then doesn’t care that it’s wrong and they get married and have the poster children of redneck society. I doubt the authors would do that to the fan girls but I thought it was funny.
Anyways, the door is found and Link pries it open with his mad lock picking skills (A skill every child should have when ruled by overbearing adults).
While Link is opening the door, he comments on how big a stud he is, pops the lock, and down they go into the tunnels … or so I thought. They wind up on the road that led them to Savannah. Now, I thought they were in tunnels but maybe it was road. That part’s confusing me. Is it a tunnel or a road?
Whatever it is… guess who’s down there? That darn cat!! It sure is! Now, my theory on that is … the cat is actually Amma… I think. I had a theory that Ghost Mom was the cat but now I think that Amma has a spell on the cat and that’s why Lucille is following them.
Of course Link tries to assault the cat once more which is probably going to result in the cat getting a restraining order against him.
Or PETA jumping into the story…
The tunnel-roads come to a fork and Link decides the sunny OZ looking one is the best way to go. The thing is… it turns more into an acid trip because Aunt Prue and Thelma show up.
Whaaaa?!!!
You heard it, right. Now, she says she knew about the tunnels back when she was a girl and wanted to ditch Bible School (she’ll be burning in Hell for that one!!) Prue says her Dad told her about it which makes me wonder… why does HE know about them? Did he have a Caster lover girl on the side who taught him such things, too? But to tell you the truth… when I heard that Prue’s middle name was Jane I thought that SHE was the Jane that was in love with Macon and not Mama Ghost. I mean… how old is Macon? Isn’t Mama Ghost too young? But that’s besides the point…..
OK.. Now wait just a cotton pickin’ minute!! So, here we have the little red button… Aunt Prue just gifted them with MAPS of the tunnels that she and her daddy and his daddy have been drafting since dirt was a baby. What the duce?
DOUBLE DUCE!
SO, I’m guessing that these will come in handy somewhere. I mean… how lucky is that?
Then she gets all cryptic about the cat and her collar. Saying how she was waiting for the right time to let Lucille off her clothesline and that she knows a trick or two. I mean… what?!! So, the cat HAS to be something … or someone…. or… damn it! I’m confused. Ok… so let’s just say that Aunt Prue must have hooked up with a Caster Boy… oh!! Maybe John is her old boyfriend!! Maybe that’s it…….. And I’m betting that the Arclight has something to do with Lucile’s broken tag. OR maybe Lucile is a Caster Girl and Link’s girl-dar is actually sending him all the right signals and THAT’s why he’s been hitting on the cat so much. Ya think?
6.19 Bad Girl
I swear up and down that “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” should not be a children’s book. It’s rather freaky once you start reading it. It looks like the authors are going for that effect in my chappies. When I saw the title for this one I was thinking, “YES!! Bring on the leather and lace,” but it wasn’t a chick in leather I was greeted with (which I’m fine with). It was Macon’s brother, Hunting and his band of merry men. (I kid you not folks… he’s linking arms with leather beefcakes and yelling his war cry to CHARGE on Ethan and his posse).
Wait a tick… Hunting? I thought Macon killed him….. Didn’t he? Didn’t he?
So, just like the Aunt Prue little red button, Ridley shows up like a punk rock Little Red Riding Hood and persuades her hunky uncky to put the slaughter on stand-by with a wag of her tongue on her lolly. Does anyone else think that’s the writers’ way of putting an innuendo into the series? I mean, she’s always persuading dudes and sucking on candy balls.
Heh, you said balls.
Ridley is flip flopping between teams again and tells Ethan and gang that they have to stop Lena from going to the Great Barrier. Ethan of course doesn’t trust her and for some weird reason Ridley tosses Lena’s notebook at him. I can’t wrap my brain around that one. Why did she take it? And why does she think Ethan needs it? In my opinion that would just cause a fight. “Lena, baby! I love you! Look I’ll prove it!” then he opens up her notebook and reads lines about how awesome he is. Uhh… yeah… NO!! Girls don’t dig that!! But I’m sure there’s a motive for it somewhere… I have yet to build a theory on that part.
And now… with Ridley a part of the gang… we now have four: An exotic foreign exchange student, a spiky haired drummer boy, a bad girl in a mini skirt, and a broken hearted boy… this truly is the making of YA magic 😉
Can’t wait for the next chappies! Me too!!!!
So, I’ve shared a lot of theories with you guys this round and I’m quite curious about your own. In the first book Macon explains the meaning behind the title of Beautiful Creatures:
“Mortals. I envy you. You think you can change things. Stop the universe. Undo what was done long before you came along. You are such beautiful creatures.”
What do you think Beautiful Darkness represents?
Thank you, so much, Erikasbuddy (AKA Greta) and Uhyesplease, for an epic review of this week’s chapters and a great question! Leave your answer in a comment below and remember that each answer to this week’s discussion question is an entry into the Beautiful Darkness Book Discussion contest!
Latest posts by Danny (see all)
- INTENSITY by Sherrilyn Kenyon – Excerpt & Giveaway - September 8, 2017
- Locked in Temptation – Q&A withBrenda Jackson & Giveaway - August 4, 2017
- Locked in Temptation by Brenda Jackson – Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway - July 26, 2017
I've thought about this question quite a bit before… and still, I don't come up with much. The book is definitely physically dark with much of it taking place at night and all the dark casters (which are beautiful). So I don't really have a strong opinion here. Maybe the title is from Lena's POV, if that makes sense. Before she was so against going dark, but here she kind of accepts it. She she's that it can be beautiful in its own way.
P.S
Just have to know that I look forward to Tuesdays to see what the next question will be! I will be sad when this is over.
Reply »
I actually thought since Beautiful Creatures were humans then beautiful darkness would be the dark side of the food chain – vampires, werewolves, demons leather punk rock yummy boys (A rariety in the Carolinas)…. Cuz if witches can exist then why not bring on the bad boy broodys that will make us go squee?
Reply »
Good question and omg Susie is posting a comment for the discussion! I believe it comes down to temptation and the hold that it has on Lena throughout the book so far. To her the darkness is looming and calling her, maybe even soothing her. To her it may be a way for peace. It is beautiful. It could also be Ethan's feelings toward Lena even as she pulls from him. Even to Ethan her darkness is beautiful.
Reply »
Like erikasbuddy, I think that Beautiful Darkness does represent the non-mortals. It might mean that darkness can be beautiful too. Maybe it has to do with Lena going dark?
My recent post Teaser Tuesday 40
Reply »
"dark side of the food chain – vampires, werewolves, demons leather punk rock yummy boys"
Haha – that's really funny
My recent post Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Reply »
Thats similar to what I thought
My recent post Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
Reply »
I have been thinking about this since the second I picked up this book. While I have gone through a couple different theories along the way; like it's because they are spending so much time down in the dark tunnels/ Ethan and Lena are both going through some dark times. I still come back to my first instinct, and you know what they say about those. I think it means that Lena is going to go dark and as you know Ethan will follow her anywhere. There is something beautiful in the fact that her will follow her into the dark (nevermind my Death Cab For Cutie ref.) Ultimately I think that Ethan will will be drawn in to Lena's Beautiful Darkness.
Reply »
ah yes! Death Cab for Cutie sooo fits the bill here. Loves it!
Reply »
Sweet! It melts my heart that someone got that.
Reply »
Have no clue what Beautiful Darkness stands for but I have to say, you did an awesome job with this post. I can't stop laughing at your imagery. Great job!
Reply »
It was all Greta, I was just her 2 cent side kick. She's DA BOMB!
Reply »