"Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1)" by Yvonne Woon

"Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1)" by Yvonne Woon


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Published: August 23, 2011
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Genres: Romance, Young Adult, Paranormal
Pages: 455
Format: Paperback
Source: MeLCat


Read May 4 to 7, 2013



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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.

So pretty much everything was predictable. It was a mixture of The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, Mean Girls, Twilight, and New Moon.



When I first picked up this book, I was SO excited. Zombies? Heck YEAH!! Thing is, I had to wait til about the last quarter of the book for the zombies to come out. And he was like Stephenie Meyer's vampires. Dante, the zombie, was all perfect and incredibly handsome and every good characteristic wrapped into one pony-tail wearing teenager. I should mention that I hate it when guys have super long hair and put it into a pony-tail or bun. There was a guy at my school who had long hair at it looked nasty. There was another guy with long hair and he would wear a headband. EW.








Back to the book...



Renee's parents die a mysterious death, so she's sent to live with her estranged grandfather and must go to a private boarding school in Maine. Here comes the Harry Potter similarity!!!!!







Yes you did. It's because she has no creativity. Renee is whisked off to a new school that has secrets hidden under the old, castle-like exterior. Sound familiar?








Just a little. Then it gets all Twilight-y. Renee meets a boy, Dante, who is so mysterious and elusive and handsome and crap.

Renee when she meets Dante:







Ugh. She then becomes obsessed with him. She purposely fails her Latin tests so she can have private tutoring with him. Mean Girls, anyone?








No, but Yvonne does if she thinks we didn't see that she copied that, too. And then... Eleanor, Renee's new BFF, goes missing!



DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!!!!



Harry Potter... again? Wow. Someone must really look up to JK Rowling. I do, too, but that doesn't mean that I would copy her ideas.



Eleanor goes missing for a few days... and the teacher's start freaking out!! Well, Renee starts freaking out, and who does she turn to? Dante.



A bunch of other uninteresting stuff happens and Renee gets turned on by Dante. She REALLY wants to get it going on with him. Even after she finds out that he's a zombie. That's nasty. Why would you want to have sex with a dead guy? She eventually finds out who/what he is and asks him, Twilight style, how old he is and how long he has been that age.



Guess how old he is.








17. Surprise, surprise...



Dante gets in trouble and almost dies, so she risks her life to save him. She risks her life because he died the same day she was born, so she has his soul. If I were her, I'd be like "Eh, you're already dead. I can find someone better who isn't dead and won't kill me if I kiss him." When she wakes up afterwards, she finds out that Dante has disappeared and that she must go to a new boarding school. She doesn't think she can go on. I smell a little New Moon right here...

Get over yourself!!! You had a great boyfriend who was ALIVE that actually cared about you! And you dropped him like dog crap!!!!



I've gone on enough of a rant I guess.



Renee
Has a thing for dead guys. I COULD NOT stand her. She complained the entire time and... I'm not sure what else to say other than that I wanted her to shut up. She's wimpy just like Bella from Twilight. I hope she eventually gets a back bone.



Dante
I hope he dies. Completely honest. He leads Bella... I mean Renee on and then is like, oh hey! I'm a zombie. Let's still be together. He is so much like Edward it's gross. He also has really long hair. Can he not cut it? He wears it in a pony-tail and a bun. EW. NASHTAY.



Overall, it was a good idea, I just don't feel like it was executed well. As much as I couldn't stand this book, I think I'm gonna continue the trilogy. What can I say? I have no self control.