You know a good series when you read it, because it stays with you. It occupies a place in your memory—and it’s so solid that you feel like you know its streets. Maybe better than those who live there, because you know its secrets. You also know its residents; you may not like all of them, but you’ve forgotten life before knowing them. 

Each time you read a book in a series like this, you go home and you share what’s changed in the time that’s passed since you were last there.

Let’s just say a lot has happened in Gatlin, which is strange considering we were told when we first arrived there—with Beautiful Creatures—that there are no surprises in this small South Carolina town. Funny, because there are always surprises whenever I visit Ethan Lawson Wate and Lena Duchannes.

The Caster Chronicles is the teen series that I wait all year for. There are many good books, but this is the series that continues to stand out and deliver a lush world full of characters who I can’t wait to see again. Each book manages to both delight and reduce me to a weepy mess. While I don’t always like what happens, I never leave Gatlin feeling disappointed.

I received a copy of Beautiful Chaos a week early from HBG Canada, and I swore that I was going to take a few days and really savor it. Then I started reading and I didn’t stop until I ran out of book at 2:00 AM. It’s not that I accidentally read this book in a single setting that you should take heed of, it’s that after I finished I had to stop myself from going back and reading it again.

At the end of Beautiful Darkness, Lena claimed herself—choosing to be both Light and Dark Caster. But her choice has had serious consequences: The Order of Things is broken. Both the Caster world and our Mortal world are suffering—and the price of fixing them is going to cost our friends dearly.

Beautiful Darkness was the book where Ethan and Lena were separated. Because of that, Ethan built—or at least realized he had—a strong support group beyond just his Caster girlfriend. In Beautiful Chaos, Ethan and Lena’s relationship is more stable… and it’s Ethan’s support group who is threatened.

Involving his support group in the tension keeps me from feeling like I’m only reading about relationship drama. It’s also more realistic to me that as a character’s entire world changes and expands, those effects would also impact the people in his life. That’s a big part of why I love this series; it’s never been just about a boy and a girl.

Of course, as it is a teen novel there is a little bit of teen romance drama in Beautiful Chaos. Fortunately, it doesn’t overshadow the plot. There’s this amazing scene where Liv says to Lena everything I was thinking in Beautiful Darkness. It’s cheer-worthy! Also, I enjoyed how this book changed my mind about John Breed. I didn’t like him in Beautiful Darkness, but by the end of Beautiful Chaos I can say that he’s all right.

Another thing I appreciate about these books is that there are adults like Macon and Marion, who are cool and help the young adult characters. These adults don’t necessarily solve the problems for Ethan and Lena, but they remind us that we have people in our lives who care about us. (There are also adults who aren’t supportive, but that’s representative of life.)

As the penultimate book, Beautiful Chaos does feel a little bit like bridge between what happened in Beautiful Darkness and what will come in the final novel. I think the biggest factor in what gives me this impression is the book’s cliffhanger ending that you probably don’t want to reach at two in the morning. Let’s just say it’s hard to get to sleep when all you can think is how desperately you want to know what happens next.