Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
| Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Catherine Bakes
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| Summary: After Renee finds the dead bodies of her parents on her sixteenth birthday, she's sent off to Gottfried Academy, where she's thrown into a world of ancient customs and the study of Latin – the language of the dead, but is Latin the only thing that is dead? | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 512 | Date: May 2011 |
| Publisher: Usborne | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1409530244 | |
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Renee is a normal school girl living in sunny California. On her sixteenth birthday she is drawn to the woods by her house. There she finds the dead bodies of her parents, surrounded by scattered coins, and shreds of cloth in their mouths. The police say they both died from a heart attack, but Renee isn't convinced — something more sinister must be going on.
Sent away to Gottfried Academy by her old, and very strict, Grandfather, Renee has to leave her home and friends to study at a school she can find nothing about in any books or the internet. When she gets there she's thrown into studying Latin, Horticulture and Ancient Civilisations. It's also where she meets Dante – intelligent, handsome and aloof. More confusing is that the students can't decide whether they love him or are afraid of him. The one thing Renee knows is that when she's around him her grief falls away and she feels alive.
But not everything is rosy at Gottfried Academy; students are going missing and turning up dead. The cause of death – heart attacks. As Renee gets more tangled in trying to find out what's happening to her new friends and also what really happened to her parents, her life becomes more intertwined with Dante. But does finding your soulmate mean literally that, someone who shares your soul? I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag. I really enjoyed this book, it was fast moving, gutsy and engaging. Once I picked it up I found it very hard to put it down. The plot was just fantastic, and original. It does verge slightly into Twilight territory at moments, but regains itself. It was interesting and what I loved most was the use of classic literature to help tell the story. The ending, however, was a little ambiguous and I'm not quite sure if it finished or not. It left me hanging feeling like there should have been more. Do I hear the word 'sequel'?
It grabs you, and when it finishes you don't really know what to do with yourself. Superb.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: If you like your monsters and romance combined then try The Demon Trappers: Forsaken by Jana Oliver or Need by Carrie Jones.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon at Amazon.com.
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