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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.
audreychamaine's review against another edition
3.0
The night Renee Winters turned 16, she found her parents dead in the redwood forest. She soon finds herself with her estranged, wealthy grandfather as a guardian, and is being sent to a boarding school in Maine, far away from her California home. When Renee arrives, she’s drawn to a handsome loner named Dante. She’s also confused by the school’s strange rules, including no lights other than candlelight at night, and the odd courses she has to take. Renee become drawn into the mystery surrounding a death the previous year, and begins to suspect that there may be more to Gottfried Academy than meets the eye.
Dead Beautiful is a bit like a mix of Twilight, Harry Potter, House of Night and Evernight. There’s nothing original about the story, and some elements feel like they’ve been directly lifted from other books (Dante is paired with Renee as a lab partner, and can’t kiss her because he’s afraid that he’ll hurt her). Aside from being so similar to other popular YA works, Dead Beautiful does a good job at drawing in the reader, and presenting an intriguing school atmosphere. There’s quite a bit of reference to philosophy and Cartesian thought, and Woon makes Latin seem like something cool to study. The mystery and ending aren’t too difficult to figure out along the way, but it was enjoyable reading how everything would play out. Fans of Twilight will probably enjoy this book, and I think it ranks above many other Twilight-read-alikes. Overall, Dead Beautiful was an enjoyable book, with the promise of sequels to come.
Dead Beautiful is a bit like a mix of Twilight, Harry Potter, House of Night and Evernight. There’s nothing original about the story, and some elements feel like they’ve been directly lifted from other books (Dante is paired with Renee as a lab partner, and can’t kiss her because he’s afraid that he’ll hurt her). Aside from being so similar to other popular YA works, Dead Beautiful does a good job at drawing in the reader, and presenting an intriguing school atmosphere. There’s quite a bit of reference to philosophy and Cartesian thought, and Woon makes Latin seem like something cool to study. The mystery and ending aren’t too difficult to figure out along the way, but it was enjoyable reading how everything would play out. Fans of Twilight will probably enjoy this book, and I think it ranks above many other Twilight-read-alikes. Overall, Dead Beautiful was an enjoyable book, with the promise of sequels to come.
mamap's review against another edition
3.0
Too much drama. And the perfect love thing. So gross. So teen.
Potential as an author, but too dramatically and tragically romantic for my taste.
Potential as an author, but too dramatically and tragically romantic for my taste.
glitterkitter's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the myth used in this book, it makes a nice change to all the vampires and werewolves and angels that are around everywhere at the moment.
I felt the story itself was a little slow, I picked up on certain clues pretty early on in the novel and I felt like I was waiting chapters and chapters until the main character started to catch on to them.
I'm not too sure about the ending. It was a bit of a letdown and felt like it was almost rushed just to get it over with.
I felt the story itself was a little slow, I picked up on certain clues pretty early on in the novel and I felt like I was waiting chapters and chapters until the main character started to catch on to them.
I'm not too sure about the ending. It was a bit of a letdown and felt like it was almost rushed just to get it over with.
readmynee's review against another edition
I haven'tt read this book since sixth grade, so it was good to refresh my memories. Re-reading a book is always fun- especially when I haven't read it in a long time.
charlottenw1's review against another edition
3.0
I love the characters in this series and I am really fascinated with the fantasy aspect to the story. I am looking forward to the mystery that will be uncovered. The writing was really good and helped develop the storyline but I feel like the chemistry between the characters could have been more intense.
bexsbookshelves94's review against another edition
5.0
This review and more can be found at:
Reading Under the Covers
This book had me from the very first page. I was a sucker.
I was totally drawn into the story and Renee was an awesome main character. From the second she found her parents you knew she was different but I couldn’t tell how and that bugged me and now I know I want to scream because it was so obvious and that pisses me off.
When I normally go into a story like this I can normally guess where it was going and I feel so stupid not realised where this story was going. Yvonne dropped so many obvious hints throughout the story that you should know what was going on, what the main plot was or well one of the main plots was.
The writing was great and I loved all of the characters. There’s a lot of loose parts of the story that I am so hoping that get told in the next book because I just need to know. They are HUGE cliffhangers and that bugs me. There is so much more of this story to be told.
But damn you Yvonne that ending sucked so badly. It was one of the biggest cliffhangers of this story and I hated it. It annoyed me so much I need to know what is going on which is why I am now going to buy the next book.
Reading Under the Covers
This book had me from the very first page. I was a sucker.
I was totally drawn into the story and Renee was an awesome main character. From the second she found her parents you knew she was different but I couldn’t tell how and that bugged me and now I know I want to scream because it was so obvious and that pisses me off.
When I normally go into a story like this I can normally guess where it was going and I feel so stupid not realised where this story was going. Yvonne dropped so many obvious hints throughout the story that you should know what was going on, what the main plot was or well one of the main plots was.
The writing was great and I loved all of the characters. There’s a lot of loose parts of the story that I am so hoping that get told in the next book because I just need to know. They are HUGE cliffhangers and that bugs me. There is so much more of this story to be told.
But damn you Yvonne that ending sucked so badly. It was one of the biggest cliffhangers of this story and I hated it. It annoyed me so much I need to know what is going on which is why I am now going to buy the next book.
bookgirl4ever's review against another edition
3.0
Renee is drawn to her dead parents, deep in the woods. They have gauze in their mouths and coins on their eyes. The autopsy reports states they died of heart attacks but Renee doesn't buy that. Then her estranged grandfather becomes her guardian and takes Renee across the country to Maine to attend a mysterious elite boarding school--Gottfried Academy (which has striking similarities to Hogwarts). Renee soon makes friends and adapts to her new life. And she meets a great looking, albeit cold guy who is also really into her. Dante is different from other boys, though. He doesn't eat or sleep, and he is fluent in Latin. Renee finds that Dante has a past, which includes a student who died in a similar manner as her parents. When good friends of Renee disappear, Renee investigates and find she is destined for a life she would never have chosen.
I really, really enjoyed this book until the last fourth of the book. Then it seemed to wrapped up too quickly. This is a book that, if I was a teenager, I would read a couple times and daydream I was Renee.
I really, really enjoyed this book until the last fourth of the book. Then it seemed to wrapped up too quickly. This is a book that, if I was a teenager, I would read a couple times and daydream I was Renee.