A Review for Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

Posted by Donna
Published Date: May 1st, 2011
Finished Date: August 1st, 2011
Publishers: Usborne Publishing 
Source: For Review from Publishers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 512
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The blurb from Goodreads: At Gottfried Academy, just one kiss will take your breath away. After Renee discovers her parents dead in what appears to be a strange double murder, she is sent to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious high school dedicated to philosophy, 'crude sciences', and Latin: the Language of the Dead. Here she meets Dante, a dark and elusive student who harbors a deadly secret, but to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. Despite himself, Dante cannot control his attraction to Renee either and their desires gradually deepen into a complex and dangerous romance. But Dante's not the only one with secrets...Gottfried Academy has a few of its own. When Renee begins to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a former student, she begins to realize just how deadly these secrets are...Dark romance meets haunting murder mystery in this captivating tale of love, death and destiny.
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The Review: 
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... In love, everyone does things that hurt the other person, so there really is no "Right" and "Wrong". You just have to decide what you're willing to forgive"

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I read this book, with not knowing much about it and reading some mixed reviews before hand but honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by it and I ended up really liked it.

Renee Winters was an ordinary girl, that is until her sixteenth birthday where she finds her parents dead in the woods. How did she find them; she was drawn to there bodies and that’s something Renee can’t explain. With no other family to speak of, Renee is taken in by grandfather who sends her to Gottfried Academy, a boarding school in Maine were she finds herself studying the dead language; Latin. While at school, Renee comes across the gorgeous Dante Berlin, who for some reason she feels drawn too. When he offers to tutor her in Latin, she realises there is more to Dante that means the eye and that he may be apart of a deadly secret that is happening at Gottfried Academy.

Wow! For some reason I though this book was about Ghosts! Well, you can believe my shock when I found out it’s not about Ghosts but dead people, I guess there kind of like Zombies but better. From page one you’re thrown into a whirlwind of surprises, suspense, mystery and honestly, this isn’t your average paranormal book. The story has exciting twist and turns and the storyline wasn’t predictable at all.

I found myself engrossed from the beginning, I mean come on, you’re thrown into Renee’s life and you instantly feel bad for her situation, losing her parents the way she did. Renee is such a likeable character, one that is well developed, head strong, determined to uncover the truth and that makes her a kick ass heroine in my books. I hate girls that are whiney but no matter Renee’s situation, she’s never lets it drag her down. And Dante is one hell of a guy, a total babe in my book. He made the undead seriously cool and if I found a guy like him, I wouldn’t want to let him go either. I also loved finding out his backstory and the mystery that involved him at the Gottfried.

The only reason I didn’t rate this book 5 stars was because I felt there was some information where Renee was with her classmates was a bit slower than the rest of the book. The book was 500 pages long and I think it could have been cut down a bit. Nonetheless, as you can tell by my review, I still enjoyed it.

Overall, Yvonne Woon has created an exciting new series and one I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next.