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kayleightayla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
sierrataq's review against another edition
5.0
When I first started reading this book, I was instantly intrigued. Yvonne Woon gives very accurate and precise descriptions of scenery and settings in this story. As it went on, it turned into a romance-filled mystery story. I couldn't believe that I had never found this book before! If you love mysery, fantasy, romance, and reading about the undead/paranormal figures, you'll love this series!
renuked's review against another edition
3.0
The Plot: Strangely, I had higher expectations of this book. I'm as much of a fan as anyone for the girl who goes off to the elite boarding school, meets handsome guy, learns new secrets. But, only as long as it also puts something new and original onto the table. This was pretty typical I must say. Half of the plot twists I had completely figured out by the halfway point. So many pointers were given, plus the title...Dead Beautiful? At first I thought it was haunting, but the book truly was the opposite.
The Characters: Also very unoriginal, plain characters. Renee? Eh. Dante? He is supposed to be this absolute Adonis (oh wait that's Greek not Roman, oh well) but he was just kind of weird and tried too hard to be mysterious. I really dislike that stuff. You know, guy with big secret that is worried he'll hurt you if he tells you and whiny girl struggling through the most obvious plot details possible. Boring. The other characters? Practically nonexistant. The introduce Brett for a second and I thought, uh oh, love triangle? Nope, Brett just disappears. Renee's roommate disappears for 2 days before Renee finally gets the brains to tell someone. Yeahhhh.
The Romance: I love dynamic character relationships with actual tangible friendship before true love. Or, even better, if you are going to make them argue before said love, make it a good fight, with lots of feistiness and whatnot. And please above all, do not make them literal soul mates. (Don't do the opposite of what I just said, and don't do what this book did). That is all.
The Style: What is to be said here? Nothing original but no gaping holes either. Just average.
Overall: Now you are asking me, I just read a terrible review on this book? But why 3 whole stars. Well the book fit together well, it was and easy-cheesy read and lastly the mythology was the best part. All that stuff about why we bury the dead, Romulus and Remus, Latin, and the 7th Meditation was actually fascinating. That was the one aspect of the book that wasn't stamped word for word from another book. Other than that, if you want to read about mysterious deaths and hot guys saving wimp girls on the beach, be my guest and read it.
The Characters: Also very unoriginal, plain characters. Renee? Eh. Dante? He is supposed to be this absolute Adonis (oh wait that's Greek not Roman, oh well) but he was just kind of weird and tried too hard to be mysterious. I really dislike that stuff. You know, guy with big secret that is worried he'll hurt you if he tells you and whiny girl struggling through the most obvious plot details possible. Boring. The other characters? Practically nonexistant. The introduce Brett for a second and I thought, uh oh, love triangle? Nope, Brett just disappears. Renee's roommate disappears for 2 days before Renee finally gets the brains to tell someone. Yeahhhh.
The Romance: I love dynamic character relationships with actual tangible friendship before true love. Or, even better, if you are going to make them argue before said love, make it a good fight, with lots of feistiness and whatnot. And please above all, do not make them literal soul mates. (Don't do the opposite of what I just said, and don't do what this book did). That is all.
The Style: What is to be said here? Nothing original but no gaping holes either. Just average.
Overall: Now you are asking me, I just read a terrible review on this book? But why 3 whole stars. Well the book fit together well, it was and easy-cheesy read and lastly the mythology was the best part. All that stuff about why we bury the dead, Romulus and Remus, Latin, and the 7th Meditation was actually fascinating. That was the one aspect of the book that wasn't stamped word for word from another book. Other than that, if you want to read about mysterious deaths and hot guys saving wimp girls on the beach, be my guest and read it.
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. I loved the blurb, and the cover looked interesting, though my initial thought was witches or vampires... but it turned out to be Undead/zombies, though not like zombies we know.
Warning: Spoilers might be around
These undead aren't craving for brains, but are looking for their lost soul. Also they are only limited to those under 21 who aren't buried/cremated. So yeah, creepy factor, that you know that a little kid might just kiss and eat your soul. *shivers*
I loved our lead girl, she was really sweet and though she was oblivious to a lot of things, in the end she turned out to be alright.
I also loved Dante. *swoon* He was sooo cute and hot, I expected something was wrong with him, with all the: He doesn't eat, sleep or feel cold. I was really cheering for both our lead girl and Dante to be together and that everything would work out, since they have enough problems. Him being and she being . And that being that, they can't kiss on the lips.
The lessons they got at the school were great, I wish I could learn Horticulture when I was at school.
The book had lots of suspense, romance and I would recommend it to all. :)
Warning: Spoilers might be around
These undead aren't craving for brains, but are looking for their lost soul. Also they are only limited to those under 21 who aren't buried/cremated. So yeah, creepy factor, that you know that a little kid might just kiss and eat your soul. *shivers*
I loved our lead girl, she was really sweet and though she was oblivious to a lot of things, in the end she turned out to be alright.
I also loved Dante. *swoon* He was sooo cute and hot, I expected something was wrong with him, with all the: He doesn't eat, sleep or feel cold. I was really cheering for both our lead girl and Dante to be together and that everything would work out, since they have enough problems. Him being
Spoiler
undeadSpoiler
a monitorThe lessons they got at the school were great, I wish I could learn Horticulture when I was at school.
The book had lots of suspense, romance and I would recommend it to all. :)
mishtighosal's review against another edition
4.0
Many reviewers have compared Dead Beautiful to Twilight.... Well, this book had me hooked on right from the first page.
I loved this book. It wasn't boring like Twilight, and the female protagonist, Renee Winters, is more interesting than Bella Swan. Even though the interactions between Renee and Dante, the mysterious handsome guy might remind one of Bella and Edward, the book is humorous and interesting enough to keep one interested in the trilogy.
But beware of cliffhangers!
I loved this book. It wasn't boring like Twilight, and the female protagonist, Renee Winters, is more interesting than Bella Swan. Even though the interactions between Renee and Dante, the mysterious handsome guy might remind one of Bella and Edward, the book is humorous and interesting enough to keep one interested in the trilogy.
But beware of cliffhangers!
brunettegeekgirl's review
5.0
So, I'm a sucker when it comes to Romance books and stuff like that. I hate stories that discuss romance between teenagers. I was so close to decide to give it 4 stars (if not less) when I was reading it, mostly because it was boring at the beginning that it looked like it was one of those "gossip girls" and "romance" stories. But it really isn't!!
I was so shocked at the path the story-line took at the middle of the book. I was completely socked in the story and I couldn't wait to finish the book!
It ended sadly, yet it has this mystery which leaves you with theories for the next book.
I'll definitely be reading the second one.
I recommend it if you like mystery books, with hidden clues and you're a fan of supernatural creatures such as vampires and zombies, this one will definitely get your attention :). Also if you're a romance fan, although I didn't like that a lot :s.
I was so shocked at the path the story-line took at the middle of the book. I was completely socked in the story and I couldn't wait to finish the book!
It ended sadly, yet it has this mystery which leaves you with theories for the next book.
I'll definitely be reading the second one.
I recommend it if you like mystery books, with hidden clues and you're a fan of supernatural creatures such as vampires and zombies, this one will definitely get your attention :). Also if you're a romance fan, although I didn't like that a lot :s.
serru's review against another edition
2.0
I only picked this up because I liked the cover and really wasn't expecting much. True to my initial impressions, this book is a fairly typical YA paranormal story. A human girl has some tragic things happen to her, enrolls in a new school, and meets a mysterious and alluring not-quite-human boy. They fall in love and then for whatever reason, discover that they can't be together.
The only interesting twist is the inclusion of classical philosophy in the mythology behind the supernatural elements. Descartes' ideas about life and death form the basis of the mythology, although the book doesn't go into much detail about it and the author clearly takes a lot of artistic liberties in fitting his ideas into her tale. Nonetheless, I thought this was an interesting approach to the YA paranormal genre, and enjoyed reading about it. I'm curious enough to read the next book in the series, and really hoping that the author will continue to use classical philosophy in the storyline.
The only interesting twist is the inclusion of classical philosophy in the mythology behind the supernatural elements. Descartes' ideas about life and death form the basis of the mythology, although the book doesn't go into much detail about it and the author clearly takes a lot of artistic liberties in fitting his ideas into her tale. Nonetheless, I thought this was an interesting approach to the YA paranormal genre, and enjoyed reading about it. I'm curious enough to read the next book in the series, and really hoping that the author will continue to use classical philosophy in the storyline.
sailorkchick's review against another edition
3.0
The book had a slow start but by a third of the way through, I was hooked. People who hate Twilight might have some reservations about this book because it does carry some similarities; but rather than Dante being a vampire...he's Undead. And you figure this out A LOT quicker than the main character does.
But I love the romance and the intrigue, I found myself walking the hall to my apartment thinking who did what, but why would he do that...or maybe it was that guy...
It's a fun read and very different from the bright and sunny YA books that are so many.
But I love the romance and the intrigue, I found myself walking the hall to my apartment thinking who did what, but why would he do that...or maybe it was that guy...
It's a fun read and very different from the bright and sunny YA books that are so many.
dancinkare's review against another edition
Full of surprises and memorable characters - a real page-turner!
bonbonsandreveries's review against another edition
2.0
Dead Beautiful centers around Renee and her life after she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest. Throughout the story Renee tries to solve the mystery of their “death by heart attack” which seems to be a reoccurring theme/death of students who have died while at Gottfried Academy. Of course, everyone tells her she is looking too much into their deaths and that it is perfectly possible for two people to die of heart attacks at the same time in the woods.
Besides her investigation into the mysterious deaths, her growing attraction to Dante, a student who causes her to literally go weak in the knees, has left her with more questions than answers. I liked Dante’s character and how unselfish he was but he just didn’t give me that I-want-him-gotta-have-him feeling. Honestly, I really really really wanted to love this book. I really did! But sadly, the idea of the Undead creeped me out. Even though they specifically stated in the book that the Undead are not the same thing as zombies, to me, they basically were; and I’m not a huge fan of zombie anything. But I tried. Also, I did not like Renee. I thought she was rude and was selfish most of the time.
This book wasn’t my type of book. However I think it was well written. The world Woon created was detailed. The mythology surrounding the Undead was original and put together nicely. The mystery was good. In fact, it was what kept me reading even though I wanted to stop because of the whole Undead thing. I wanted to find out who was behind all the murders. The end was not what I expected and I was a bit disappointed.
Overall, it was a good book, just not for me. Although I can understand why so many people really liked it. It was kind of like Twilight but with Zombie-like people instead of vampires.
Besides her investigation into the mysterious deaths, her growing attraction to Dante, a student who causes her to literally go weak in the knees, has left her with more questions than answers. I liked Dante’s character and how unselfish he was but he just didn’t give me that I-want-him-gotta-have-him feeling. Honestly, I really really really wanted to love this book. I really did! But sadly, the idea of the Undead creeped me out. Even though they specifically stated in the book that the Undead are not the same thing as zombies, to me, they basically were; and I’m not a huge fan of zombie anything. But I tried. Also, I did not like Renee. I thought she was rude and was selfish most of the time.
This book wasn’t my type of book. However I think it was well written. The world Woon created was detailed. The mythology surrounding the Undead was original and put together nicely. The mystery was good. In fact, it was what kept me reading even though I wanted to stop because of the whole Undead thing. I wanted to find out who was behind all the murders. The end was not what I expected and I was a bit disappointed.
Overall, it was a good book, just not for me. Although I can understand why so many people really liked it. It was kind of like Twilight but with Zombie-like people instead of vampires.