A Beautiful Evil [Hardcover]

Kelly Keaton (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 21, 2012

Myth and mayhem inhabit a richly reimagined New Orleans in this sequel to Darkness Becomes Her.

After the epic graveyard battle at the end of Darkness Becomes Her, Ari and her friends know what they’re up against: Ari is facing the Medusa curse and is haunted by the image of what she will become. To make matters worse, the heinous goddess Athena has kidnapped young Violet and is threatening to destroy Ari.

Ari, along with the superhot Sebastian, is doing everything she can to learn more about Athena and to get Violet back. But the battle of good and evil is bigger than she realizes, and she’s about to be pulled into a world more horrific than she could ever imagine....

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If I could become a character in a fictional world, I would pick this one. Action and romance combine with good storytelling and an alluring world. More, please!”

—Melissa Marr, bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series

“Filled with action and suspense. Readers will continue to root for Ari’s triumph over Athena, hoping that she breaks the curse that plagues her future.” --VOYA, December 2011

"Packed with action and hints of romance, [Kelly Keaton's A Beautiful Evil] pairs well with fans of Rick Riordan and Stephenie Meyer."

Recommended.

--Library Media Connection, May/June 2012

"Percy Jackson meets Anne Rice."

--School Library Journal, May 2012

About the Author

Kelly Keaton is the critically acclaimed author of Darkness Becomes Her. As Kelly Gay, she writes the popular adult series, Charlie Madigan, for Pocket Books. While she calls Raleigh, North Carolina, home, she can also be found chatting about books and life on Facebook and Twitter. Read more about Kelly on her website at KellyKeaton.net.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781442409279
• ISBN-13: 978-1442409279
• ASIN: 1442409274
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kelly is a multi-published author with six novels currently in print. She writes the YA series, Gods & Monsters (Simon & Schuster), and the Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series (Pocket Books), which are written as Kelly Gay. She is a two-time RITA® Finalist, an ARRA nominee, a Goodreads Choice Award finalist, and has landed on the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance's Okra Picks list. Kelly is also a recipient of North Carolina Arts Council's fellowship grant in Literature. She lives in NC with her family. You can learn more about Kelly at www.kellykeaton.net.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Stops! Great Story! February 21, 2012

By Erica Nicholas

Format:Hardcover

Kelly Keaton knows how to keep a story going! This book picked up right where Darkness Becomes Her left off.

*If you haven't read the first book, Darkness Becomes Her, then this will contain spoilers!*

Ari is a teenage girl who grew up in the foster system. After a search for her mother at a hospital lead to her venturing into New 2 (formerly New Orleans before hurricanes hit), we find out teenage heroine attending the prestigious Presby school. Her school day is anything but normal; it's filled with a training session that causes her to break, and studying in a library that shouldn't exist.

After Athena stole two of the most important people Ari had in her life, she had to find a way to go after them. The Novem eventually conceded and allowed her to search their secret library for as much information as she could find on Athena and her temples. There is a ton of information there, and eventually she finds bits and pieces that may help on her search. No one knows about this library, unless they are a part of the Novem or apparently their children. And rightly so, because this library is hidden in plain sight and has a very interesting title that has been passed down through the centuries...

I'm not going to delve into much more here, I really don't want to ruin it for anyone. This book is so fast paced, I'm not sure that I want to share too much for fear of spoilers! I seriously could not put this book down, I read about 120 pages in two hours last night! Kelly Keaton does such a great job at helping us imagine the world that Ari is living in, and visualizing just what her emotions are doing to it.

I am happy to say that this is one YA novel that does not have a love triangle! There is a love interest between Ari and Sebastian, but that is it. To me this made it much more enjoyable because there wasn't all the drama involved with a triangle. Future gorgons don't need all that drama in their lives anyways, right?

There are some great battle scenes as well, and some of them are a bit gruesome. The high energy that came off of these scenes just kept me going to find out what would happen next! Kelly Keaton is a mastermind at mixing in fantasy with mythology, and still making it believable and believable!

I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves Greek mythology and a bittersweet love story!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Follow-up! April 12, 2012

By Lori Lawson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really loved the first book in this series and I am extremely happy that A Beautiful Evil lived up to its predecessor. This book starts right where Darkness Becomes Her left off. Ari has just figured out what she is and she struggling with that and saving her friends from Athena. The book takes off quickly and is pretty action packed throughout. I flew through it in no time.

My absolute favorite part about these books is New 2. It's such and fascinating, gritty place. It's almost overrun with things that go bump in the night and it's falling apart in some places, but the way that Kelly Keaton describes it makes it come to life. The crumbling houses of the Garden District sound stunning. The ancient cemeteries seem just as beautiful. They way its written makes me want to live there...even though I would probably die a horribly painful death...Parts of this book take place in the temples of Olympus. It was just as richly detailed, but I didn't love it as much.

Ari is still the strong, level headed warrior that she was in the first book. She didn't seem quite as kick ass as before, but I still really liked her. I also really like that there's romance in these books but it's not at all the main focus. Ari is super independent and I like that a lot. She doesn't need Sebastian.

Overall, this is a really fantastic sequel. If you haven't read them yet you should change that. These are the kind of books that remind me why I love paranormal.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Sequel Filled with Mythology! April 2, 2012

By GoldiReviews

Format:Hardcover

In this sequel to Darkness Becomes Her Keaton continues to weave together mythology and fantasy to tell a gothic YA tale. The story begins almost right where we left off in the last one. Ari has begun at Presby upon her own request and is training for her eventual match up against queen evil b**** Athena. For the first one-third of the book that's pretty much all Ari does, and I was afraid that the slow pacing would continue. As I reached the book's middle, the action started to pick up a little and I was relieved that I became much more interested in the story. I still find myself a little iffy on the chemistry between Ari and Sebastian though, I just want more. More heat, more flirting, more something. Sebastian experiences some changes in this installment that might hopefully lead to him becoming more intense and a little sexier in the next one (sexy for YA, I mean).

I do love the world Keaton has created for this series, and as I said about book one, the world building and setting of the story are the biggest stars here. A ruined, future New Orleans provides an awesome backdrop for a place where vampires, shifters, and ancestors of gods reside. I would like to see a little more fleshing out of those paranormal and mythological characters. There are so many different types of paranormal characters that they can't all be fully developed in one or two books, so I'm hoping to get more background as the series goes on.

Ari continues to be a really great young adult heroine. She is strong, doesn't make decisions that don't make any sense, and she cares about her friends and family. Ari's driving force is to get her people back and avoid giving into her curse. In book one I really enjoyed the friendship between Ari and the odd little Violet, and she is absent for quite a lot of time in this one. I can't wait to hopefully read more about their special connection in the next book.

Athena is a pretty awesome bad guy, or bad girl I guess. She is evil and mean and will make you hate her. We finally get a little more information on her backstory, and that helps the reader to understand her anger and her motives.

All in all, I still enjoyed this series after reading book two and I will certainly keep an eye out for book three!