Dead Beautiful [Paperback]

As soon as I saw the cover of 'Dead Beautiful' I knew I had to read it. It's a striking cover shot and really grabbed my attention before I even knew what the book was about. It's been compared in many ways to the Twilight saga but I have to say that although I agree in some respects, in others I thought that 'Dead Beautiful' really stands on its own merit as a brilliant read which was gripping and exciting and deserves to be considered in it's own right as a superb paranormal romance.

After the death of Renee Winter's parents in mysterious circumstances, she is sent to live with her grandfather who she finds it difficult to communicate with. I would have liked to have seen their relationship explored further, as I always enjoy reading about the relationships between family members. I liked the gradual unravelling of her grandfather's history and background and I think he could be very important in the future to many of the important secrets that Renee will come across. He decides to send Renee to Gottfried Academy and although she doesn't want to leave all of her friends and her life behind, he insists that she goes.

This book had all the perfect ingredients for a fascinating read. I thought that Renee was a brilliant female character who was really interesting and engaging and goes through a huge amount of character development over the course of the story. There's lashings of romance mixed with dark and mysterious secrets and plenty of action to grip the reader entirely.

'Dead Beautiful' ticked another box for me in that the majority of the story was set at a boarding school. I never wanted to attend one myself but I love reading about them and seeing how the characters get on standing on their own two feet and interacting with each other within the confines of the boundaries, rules and regulations of the school which has a dark and Gothic feel to it.

At Gottfried Academy, Renee meets the enigmatic Dante Berlin who I loved! Seriously, the guy is gorgeous, beyond beautiful and like all great boy crushes, has so many layers and hidden secrets that you keep discovering more and more about him as the story unfolds. I could definitely identify with Renee being drawn to him! I loved the way in which their relationship developed. It didn't seem too sudden and fast, which meant that sufficient time was spent on building up the chemistry and romance between them. By the end, even I was feeling weak at the knees! I'm looking forward to seeing more of Dante in future installments and discovering all of his secrets.

Another thing I loved about the book was the interweaving of Latin and philosophy. The idea of Latin as a 'dead language' is of huge significance to the story and I found this absolutely fascinating. So much so, that I'd quite like to try and learn it myself. Several of the character's names are also derived from philosophers which provides insight into their personalities and behaviour.

I thought that the main plot progressed quite slowly but this was actually a good thing as it allowed greater depth to be built in the plot and for the characters to be developed fully. The ending was mind-blowingly good and shed light on lots of the mysterious happenings throughout. This opening installment has got me well and truly hooked on the fascinating Renee Winters and Dante Berlin and I can't wait for the sequel 'Life Eternal' which is due to be published next year.

I'm going to start by saying this. If you loved Twilight you'll love this book. If you don't like Twilight it's probably not the book for you.

I for one really really enjoyed this book. I loved the setting, the writing style and the main character. I read the whole thing in two sittings as found the plotline really engaging and found it really easy to rocket through.

The main criticism I can forsee being made about this book is that it is similiar to Twilight. I'd have to agree and same there certainly are parallels. The main character moves across the county and starts a new school. She is drawn to a mysterious and brooding handsome stranger who has a paranormal edge to him. While I think it'll really bother some readers I really didn't mind and thought the story itself had enough going for it that made it sufficiently different from Twilight.

I thought the main character in this book was really sweet and lovely and enjoyed getting to know her. The main love interest of the piece is dark and brooding and just a little bit gorgeous. I also enjoyed the host of characters you meet, such as the other students in the school, Renee's Grandfather and several of the teaching staff and can't wait to find out more about them. I also loved the setting. A gothic and mysterious boarding school with an antiquated curriculum and code of conduct was just a little bit too awesome for me!

For me the best bit about this book is the potential it has as a story overall. Loads of ideas have been set up in place ready to be explored in the future. It ends on an excruiating cliffhanger and leaves so many answers which I need answered asap.

All in all a welcome addition to the paranormal romance genre.

I think it's safe to say that YA paranormal romance has been done so many times over and in so many different ways that those of us that really enjoy reading it have seen pretty much every take on it. That is, until now. "Dead Beautiful" follows some of the typical trends (girl meets mysterious, handsome boy) but the story running through is actually really unique. Despite how interesting I found the idea though, I really did struggle to stay engaged with the book and I'll explain why but to begin with, here's what it's about:

Renee has a great life, or she did, until she stumbled across the bodies of her parents in the woods. Completely deviating from her original route she has an unexplainable pull towards them and finds them with gauze in their mouths, coins on their eyes and all around them and the strange feeling that they've aged considerably since she saw them this morning. From this point Renee is shipped off to live with her Grandfather (who I think was initially supposed to be a character we wouldn't really like but I found him particularly intriguing).

Renee can't stay at her current school because her Grandfather lives too far away so she is moved to Gotfried Academy, a boarding school close to her Grandfathers lavish home. I absolutely love any story with a boarding school in it (perhaps it's nostalgic and reminds me of Harry Potter a little bit) and Gotfriend Academy lived up to my expectations. At Gotfriend mysteries surround every corner but they all seem to link to the death of her parents. The coroners claim that her parents died of simultaneous heart attacks - but if this is true, why are children at Gottfried believed to have died in exactly the same way? Is it really that common?

And then we meet Dante. Our token gorgeous and mysterious love interest. I absolutely loved his character and the way he interacted with Renee - it was nice to see that he actually did interact with her instead of being cold and aloof. Renee as a character is quite witty and funny to read about (I even felt she dealt with the death of her parents in an acceptable way - she didn't become annoying by moaning all the time as I might have expected).

So what didn't I like? I really struggled to like this book after some really obvious (and I mean massively obvious) hints were dropped regarding the cause of death of the characters. It just ruined the story - we really didn't need massive hints and I would have much preferred to have worked it out for myself towards the end. BUT, because I figured it out within about 10 chapters the remaining chapters demonstrating Renee's confusion and how oblivious she was to the situation just irritated me. I wanted her to hurry up and figure it out. I also felt that the author shoved in quite a lot of information within the very last two or three chapters making the ending feel a little bit rushed.

Overall, I really did like the idea and I thought that the characters were interesting - each of them (even the minor characters) seemed to be layered and well developed. However, after finding out what was going on I just lost interest and struggled to stay engaged. Despite this, I will read the sequel because the very last page has me hooked already and I'm interested to see where the author will take us - I just hope it keeps me guessing a little more.