A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton

This is the second novel in the Gods & Monsters series by Kelly Keaton.

My review of #1: Darkness Becomes Her.

WARNING - This review will contain spoilers from the first book! Be forewarned before reading any further!

Everything changed for Ari when she went into New 2 (New Orleans after a massive hurricane blew through 13 years ago). Sure, Ari was a freak outside of New 2 with her white/silver hair and teal eyes, but in New 2 she is normal - it's were all of the weirdo's are.

But that's not the weirdest thing. Ari found out that she is a direct relative of Medusa, the gorgon, whom Athena cursed centuries ago for her beauty.

And every female in Ari's family will have a daughter and die on their 21st birthday, when the curse comes into full effect. Except Ari is even more unique than her ancestors because she is starting to be able to control her curse at the age of 17.

Now Ari is learning how to fight and to control her curse to prepare to fight Athena. Because Athena took her father and Violet, the 8 year old who is fascinated with Ari, not frightened.

With the help of the Novem, the original 9 families who bought New 2 and have fought Athena 13 years ago, and her adopted family, Ari is trying to find information on how to defeat Athena while also trying to find a way to get rid of this curse.

Ari is also having to figure out how she feels about Sebastian, a warlock vampire who seems more distant toward Ari after finding out she will become Medusa in 3 1/2 years.

But when Ari meets Athena again, she's not nearly ready to defeat her. She just started training and learning about the Olympian history, so figuring out the way to defeat the Goddess of War is low on her learned list.

Can Ari figure out a way to kill Athena? Can she save her father and Violet from Athena's realm, or is that an impossible feat for Ari since she cannot get a handle on her curse yet? Read A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
I really enjoyed the first novel in this series, finding that I loved the different characters and what "species" they were, creating a very entertaining and information load novel. It was no different for this sequel!

Now that Ari knows what she is, she is determine to fight not only Athena but also herself and what she will become. But the first thing on her to do list is to get her father and Violet back, because both of them have never judged Ari, nor treated her like a monster when they found out what she was.

This novel did not disappoint in bringing randomness like the firs novel. Ari had to go to school to learn more about Athena, plus she went to another realm to Athena's turf and confront her.

I will admit, there were some parts I had to re-read just to make sure I understood exactly what was going on and other times I had to re-read because I could believe Keaton did that to her characters, but overall it was a great sequel that answered questions from the previous novel. But only to add more questions at the end of this novel.

I'm not sure if this is the last book in the series? I have a feeling that it's not because of the way this novel ended and the unresolved issues still to come. And I rarely say this, but I want more of this world and more of Ari learning about her curse! So far on Goodreads it just has these two novels listed as the series, but I'll keep my eyes out for installments!

I would definitely recommend this to other readers. I would state that I think everyone should read the first novel first, though, because this novel starts right where the first one ends. But it's a mix of topics that I think any reader could grab on to and and enjoy this novel.