Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Are you in the mood for a paranormal southern gothic set in a contemporary small town in South Carolina? Beautiful Creatures has a good balance of foreboding nightmares, high school social politics, an ancient curse and buttermilk pie. Ethan fell in love with Lena, the girl of his dreams, before he had ever met her. Then, he recognized her at school, where she was a new student. Lena comes from a long line of witches. Ethan is a mortal. Their feelings for each other are dangerous in ways they don't fully understand.

I liked that the story is told from Ethan's point of view because that kept the romance element - which is crucial to the plot - from being too emotional for my taste. Ethan and Lena are misfits so sympathetically portrayed that it's everyone else in the school who seems freakishly normal. Recommended to fans of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Grade 8 - up.