Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

1 review

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

 I didn't expect too much going into this book apart from a dark academia themed story, which it certainly delivered. And it might just be because I'm a bit of a wuss but after the reveal about Gottfried Academy's secret it changed a lot about how I viewed the setting, and constantly I felt on edge about what could happen next. 

Unfortunately that's all that really stands out. The characters ranged from adequate to being there to fulfill their designated roles

which meshed badly with the idea that Gottfried Academy was there to teach non Undead people that not all Undead people are bad, and to help Undead people feel more alive and "human".

 

I think if anything the Academy itself was the strongest character in the book. Also the ending felt extremely rushed and I don't quite understand what was going on. It felt like the author realised she was too close to her designated word count and had to cut back. In conclusion, I think this is a pretty bog-standard YA Paranormal Romance novel: Girl meets impossibly attractive boy who has a few strange quirks about him, they quickly fall in love, girl finds out his secret and that a large chunk of the cast are just like the boy - you've probably read similar stuff before is what I'm saying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Medical content

I didn't expect too much going into this book apart from a dark academia themed story, which it certainly delivered. And it might just be because I'm a bit of a wuss but after the reveal about Gottfried Academy's secret it changed a lot about how I viewed the setting, and constantly I felt on edge about what could happen next. Unfortunately that's all that really stands out. The characters ranged from adequate to being there to fulfill their designated roles

which meshed badly with the idea that Gottfried Academy was there to teach non Undead people that not all Undead people are bad, and to help Undead people feel more alive and "human"

. I think if anything the Academy itself was the strongest character in the book. Also the ending felt extremely rushed and I don't quite understand what was going on. It felt like the author realised she was too close to her designated word count and had to cut back. In conclusion, I think this is a pretty bog-standard YA Paranormal Romance novel: Girl meets impossibly attractive boy who has a few strange quirks about him, they quickly fall in love, girl finds out his secret and that a large chunk of the cast are just like the boy - you've probably read similar stuff before is what I'm saying.