Review : Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woone

Title : Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful #1)
Author : Yvonne Woone
Published : September 21st 2010 by Disney-Hyperion

On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renée Winters was still an ordinary girl. She spent her summers at the beach, had the perfect best friend, and had just started dating the cutest guy at school. No one she'd ever known had died. But all that changes when she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest, in what appears to be a strange double murder.

After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.”

It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.

Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.

Dead Beautiful is both a compelling romance and thought-provoking read, bringing shocking new meaning to life, death, love, and the nature of the soul - goodreads

Everything dies. Sometimes too soon.

Renee, once a normal 16 years old girl. She went to normal school, make friends and fell in love with a boy. One day she found her parents were dead in the forest. Her grandfather became her assigned guardian. He made her left her hometown, her old school and friends and went to Gottfried Academy. She tried to adapt her new school, as time goes by she found that she actually liked it and felt that she actually belonged there. Renee fell for Dante, a mysterious beautiful dreamy boy. Dante practically almost did not talk to other students at Gottfried Academy until Renee. What she didn't expected was The Gottfried, her grandfather, her dead parents and even Dante, they had their own big secrets and those secrets somehow effected Renee's life.... and after life.

I was a little bit skeptical when I read this book's reviews. I tried to read it anyway and now I'm glad  I did because I loved it! I like the story setting, which takes place in a boarding school and it's not a normal one. The story idea is interesting. I had watch some movies about the undead but never read a book about it before. Movies almost always describe the undead as a frightening creatures but Woone make them beautiful. A little romance involved but it wasn't too cheesy, so I could still accept it. The plot wasn't too rush and not easy to predict. The mysteries were revealed little by little each chapter which made me eager to know where this story was going.

I like Renee's character. She isn't perfect. She had her broke down moment when her parents died. On the other hand, she had bravery in her and she's loyal. As for Dante, I felt his character is too perfect. There is no flaw described at all. I just hope Woone make him more real because there's no such thing as a perfect human or undead being.
 

The cover is just so-so. A girl wears a black dress and coat standing alone in the middle of forest, she pierces back as if someone is trailing after her. It gives a little bit of mystical feeling but that's all. Nothing is too impressive.

Overall this book is interesting. The story is easy to digest. It was a page-turning for me. For whoever likes unnormal academy or boarding school setting story with mysteries involved might like this book.



My rating : 5/5