glitterbomb47's review against another edition
3.0
It's an original premise, with some tired content. The ending felt very abrupt.
lindaunconventionalbookworms's review
2.0
*I received a free ARC of Dead Beautiful from Disney-Hyperion via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Dead Beautiful is pretty much a predictable YA story, where not that many things happens. I was not drawn in neither by the characters nor the story.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
Dead Beautiful is pretty much a predictable YA story, where not that many things happens. I was not drawn in neither by the characters nor the story.
This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews
marielaiko99's review
4.0
I thought it was a good book, but it was a just a tiny bit too morbid in my opinion. However, it's still worth reading. Some parts are a bit predictable as well.
booksabrewin's review
5.0
Sometimes I choose books completely based on the genre tags that are applied to them on Goodreads. This one one of those cases. It is no secret to any who have read my reviews or know me personally that I have a thing for zombies. I will read anything that even mentions zombies in passing. I think it's the whole loophole to death situation that intrigues me. When you die, you imagine you stay dead. With zombies, that's not the case. Interesting, no? I seem to have a fascination with death and the reanimation of the dead.
Dead Beautiful is almost entirely composed of the questions of death and mortality. Renée used to be the typical California girl who was more concerned with relaxing by the beach than finding out the origins of burial proceedings. That all changed once Renée stumbled across her parents dead in the forest surrounded by coins and with gauze stuffed in their mouths. Renée's world gets shaken to the core from that point on.
Her disconnected and long-lost grandfather becomes her legal guardian and starts implimenting various changes to Renée's life, starting with a move to Maine and the enrollment in Gottfried Academy. Renée says goodbye to her best friend, Annie, and the boy she could possibly have fallen in love with and moves to a unusual school unlike any she has ever known.
It is there at Gottfried Academy that Renée meets Dante. Dante is the token mysteriously handsome boy that seems to plague every single young adult book ever written. The difference is, there is a reason he keeps his distance that has nothing to do with simply being cool. Dante and Renée are uncontrollably drawn to each other in almost a love at first sight type of scenario. Along the way, Renée realizes that there are just some things about the staff, students, and school in general that seem off. Donning her investigator's hat Renée sets out to learn why the school has such a hazy past and how that has some how effected the students and staff. What she finds out, is something she never would have imagined.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Beautiful and it wasn't even minutes after I closed the book, ran my hand over the cover affectionately, and set it aside to return to the library, that I was on my library database requesting the next book, Life Eternal, to be picked up on my next visit. I am not normally a morbid person, so the subject of death being so prevalent in this book should have turned me off to it completely. However, for some unknown reason, I found myself enthralled by the history of death and burials, the forbidden love between Renée and Dante, and the mysterious deaths of some of Gottfried's students. It was well written and had me guessing all the way through. The ending does leave off on a cliffhanger which is probably why I was so desperate to request the next book to read. So be prepared.
Dead Beautiful is a story of self discovery, the trials of love, and the realization of death being inevitable, although for some, not permanent.
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caitlin_bparsley's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. I loved the blurb, and the cover looked interesting, though my initial thought was witches or vampires... but it turned out to be Undead/zombies, though not like zombies we know.
Warning: Spoilers might be around
These undead aren't craving for brains, but are looking for their lost soul. Also they are only limited to those under 21 who aren't buried/cremated. So yeah, creepy factor, that you know that a little kid might just kiss and eat your soul. *shivers*
I loved our lead girl, she was really sweet and though she was oblivious to a lot of things, in the end she turned out to be alright.
I also loved Dante. *swoon* He was sooo cute and hot, I expected something was wrong with him, with all the: He doesn't eat, sleep or feel cold. I was really cheering for both our lead girl and Dante to be together and that everything would work out, since they have enough problems. Him being and she being . And that being that, they can't kiss on the lips.
The lessons they got at the school were great, I wish I could learn Horticulture when I was at school.
The book had lots of suspense, romance and I would recommend it to all. :)
Warning: Spoilers might be around
These undead aren't craving for brains, but are looking for their lost soul. Also they are only limited to those under 21 who aren't buried/cremated. So yeah, creepy factor, that you know that a little kid might just kiss and eat your soul. *shivers*
I loved our lead girl, she was really sweet and though she was oblivious to a lot of things, in the end she turned out to be alright.
I also loved Dante. *swoon* He was sooo cute and hot, I expected something was wrong with him, with all the: He doesn't eat, sleep or feel cold. I was really cheering for both our lead girl and Dante to be together and that everything would work out, since they have enough problems. Him being
Spoiler
undeadSpoiler
a monitorThe lessons they got at the school were great, I wish I could learn Horticulture when I was at school.
The book had lots of suspense, romance and I would recommend it to all. :)
novelheartbeat's review
3.0
From my blog Auntie Spinelli Reads
What is it with cheesy romances lately? Ugh. Honestly, this book could have easily been a 4 or 5 star if the instaluv hadn't ruined it for me. I'm going to get my complaints out of the way first, because the premise for this one was AWESOME.
First of all, before I even met Dante I was bracing myself for a cliche romance. Eleanor was talking about him and saying how he was devastatingly gorgeous, keeps to himself, and everyone is secretly obsessed with him, perhaps a little afraid of him. Sound familiar? At this point I was rolling my eyes and thinking, Oh, boy, here we go...
Also, he can't trust himself around Renee because he doesn't want to lose control. CAN WE PLEASE JUST DROP THAT HORRIBLE CLICHE ALREADY?!?!! It is vastly overused and I'm getting quite tired of it. But thankfully those were the only Twilight-ish parts. Actually, for the majority of the book it reminded a bit of House of Night. And the Horticulture part had me thinking of Harry Potter.
I didn't care for Renee very much. She was a bit petulant at times, and fairly selfish. Not to mention desperate. She actually messed up Latin on purpose to fail a test, just so she could continue to be tutored by Dante. Lame. Dante tells her from the start that he's dangerous and she tells him it doesn't matter, yet when she finds out exactly how dangerous he is, she runs away and ignores him. Seriously? Then he tells her he needs to talk to her and it's important, and this is her reaction: I tried to imagine what it was he wanted to say to me. He'd profess his undying love. "Renee," he would say, "I love you. Run away with me. We'll go north into the wilderness and live desperately, dangerously."
Me:
Please keep in mind that this was halfway through the book. The mention of the L word anywhere before the last 50 pages in any book typically makes me gag. Not enough time passed for that word to be used and it irritates me how it gets thrown around so much and it just becomes meaningless and people don't even know what the word means and RAWR!! *gasps for breath* Okay, I'll stop ranting now.
Although I now see the reason they were drawn together so much, it still doesn't make the instaluv acceptable. It would have been a way better romance (if you even want to call it that) if she had resisted him. *coughcoughObsidiancoughcough* Because, by the time something finally happened, I would have been mentally threatening to chase them both down with pitchforks if they didn't relieve the tension. But, no...they barely had any interaction and they were magically dating. Not really sure where that came from.
And actually the terrible part was, I was sort of wishing that he would kiss her...but not for the reason that you'd think (because I could care less about the botched romance). If you've read it you understand why. Yeah, that's how much Renee was annoying me. Terrible, isn't it?
Then there were parts like these:
It no longer mattered that I didn't understand the way I felt around him, or the way he felt around me. One touch from him and everything inside of me blossomed with emotion: excitement, nervousness, anxiety, desire. I had never been in love before. Was this what it felt like?
NO, you idiot, that is NOT what it feels like, because you just freaking met him. That's what you call lust.
To the rest of the class we looked like a boy and girl sitting side by side. But beneath the surface, everything within me was trying to burst out into a swirling cloud of particles, ephemeral and constantly changing, like stardust.
Ughhhh.
On that note, on to things I did like...
The air of mystery! All of the coincidental and unexplained deaths had me wondering what the hell was going on. I was totally intrigued! Strange things keep happening at the Academy, and Renee seems to be drawn to death. I was dying of curiosity by the time things finally got explained (in a bit of an info dump), so when they did my mind was reeling. I loved the idea of the story - the Monitors, Romulus and Remus, the reason for burials - it was so fascinating!!
Side note, this is how I pictured Mrs. Lynch:
Favorite character: Probably Eleanor. She didn't annoy the crap out of me like Renee did, and Dante was just too 'perfect' to be convincing.
ASSESSMENT
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing style: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
World-building: 5/5
Pace: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
It's pretty and eye-catching, but the cover model bothers me for some reason.
What is it with cheesy romances lately? Ugh. Honestly, this book could have easily been a 4 or 5 star if the instaluv hadn't ruined it for me. I'm going to get my complaints out of the way first, because the premise for this one was AWESOME.
First of all, before I even met Dante I was bracing myself for a cliche romance. Eleanor was talking about him and saying how he was devastatingly gorgeous, keeps to himself, and everyone is secretly obsessed with him, perhaps a little afraid of him. Sound familiar? At this point I was rolling my eyes and thinking, Oh, boy, here we go...
Also, he can't trust himself around Renee because he doesn't want to lose control. CAN WE PLEASE JUST DROP THAT HORRIBLE CLICHE ALREADY?!?!! It is vastly overused and I'm getting quite tired of it. But thankfully those were the only Twilight-ish parts. Actually, for the majority of the book it reminded a bit of House of Night. And the Horticulture part had me thinking of Harry Potter.
I didn't care for Renee very much. She was a bit petulant at times, and fairly selfish. Not to mention desperate. She actually messed up Latin on purpose to fail a test, just so she could continue to be tutored by Dante. Lame. Dante tells her from the start that he's dangerous and she tells him it doesn't matter, yet when she finds out exactly how dangerous he is, she runs away and ignores him. Seriously? Then he tells her he needs to talk to her and it's important, and this is her reaction: I tried to imagine what it was he wanted to say to me. He'd profess his undying love. "Renee," he would say, "I love you. Run away with me. We'll go north into the wilderness and live desperately, dangerously."
Me:
Please keep in mind that this was halfway through the book. The mention of the L word anywhere before the last 50 pages in any book typically makes me gag. Not enough time passed for that word to be used and it irritates me how it gets thrown around so much and it just becomes meaningless and people don't even know what the word means and RAWR!! *gasps for breath* Okay, I'll stop ranting now.
Although I now see the reason they were drawn together so much, it still doesn't make the instaluv acceptable. It would have been a way better romance (if you even want to call it that) if she had resisted him. *coughcoughObsidiancoughcough* Because, by the time something finally happened, I would have been mentally threatening to chase them both down with pitchforks if they didn't relieve the tension. But, no...they barely had any interaction and they were magically dating. Not really sure where that came from.
And actually the terrible part was, I was sort of wishing that he would kiss her...but not for the reason that you'd think (because I could care less about the botched romance). If you've read it you understand why. Yeah, that's how much Renee was annoying me. Terrible, isn't it?
Then there were parts like these:
It no longer mattered that I didn't understand the way I felt around him, or the way he felt around me. One touch from him and everything inside of me blossomed with emotion: excitement, nervousness, anxiety, desire. I had never been in love before. Was this what it felt like?
NO, you idiot, that is NOT what it feels like, because you just freaking met him. That's what you call lust.
To the rest of the class we looked like a boy and girl sitting side by side. But beneath the surface, everything within me was trying to burst out into a swirling cloud of particles, ephemeral and constantly changing, like stardust.
Ughhhh.
On that note, on to things I did like...
The air of mystery! All of the coincidental and unexplained deaths had me wondering what the hell was going on. I was totally intrigued! Strange things keep happening at the Academy, and Renee seems to be drawn to death. I was dying of curiosity by the time things finally got explained (in a bit of an info dump), so when they did my mind was reeling. I loved the idea of the story - the Monitors, Romulus and Remus, the reason for burials - it was so fascinating!!
Side note, this is how I pictured Mrs. Lynch:
Favorite character: Probably Eleanor. She didn't annoy the crap out of me like Renee did, and Dante was just too 'perfect' to be convincing.
ASSESSMENT
Plot: 4.5/5
Writing style: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
World-building: 5/5
Pace: 4/5
Cover: 3/5
It's pretty and eye-catching, but the cover model bothers me for some reason.
mary_r_m's review
4.0
Thank you to netgalley.com and Disney Book Group for allowing me access to this title.
This was very fun to read. I liked the characters and could relate well with them. This story started out a little too much like Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," but as I kept reading it did develop into it's own story.
Highly recommended to readers who liked "Twilight," "Beautiful Creatures" and "Unearthly."
This was very fun to read. I liked the characters and could relate well with them. This story started out a little too much like Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," but as I kept reading it did develop into it's own story.
Highly recommended to readers who liked "Twilight," "Beautiful Creatures" and "Unearthly."
rosekk's review
3.0
Loved this book. It had an interesting take on the undead, and it's inclusion of philosophy and latin added extra interest. There were parts of the plot that were quite obvious, but this added to the story as they distracted from less obvious twists, so you always thought you knew where it was going, but never quite got it right. The idea of physically being unable to kiss also adds interest.
meira_elena's review
5.0
Super sad ending! why oh why! (not gonna give away any more than that...)
Oh I hope there's a sequel!
Oh I hope there's a sequel!