Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon

Author: Yvonne Woon
Publisher: Usborne
Release Date: 21st September 2010
Pages: 505
Rating: 5/5

Desire. Danger. Destiny.
Little did I know that this is what I would find at Gottfried Academy.
Coming from sunny California, the mist-shrouded Academy was a shock, with its strange customs, ancient curriculum and study of Latin - the language of the dead. Then I discovered that the school has more than one dark secret...
I also discovered Dante. Intelligent, elusive and devastatingly gorgeous, most people can't decide whether they love, hate or fear him. All I know is that when we're together, I've never felt more alive - or more afraid.
Does finding your soulmate mean losing yourself?

Dark. Thrilling. Romantic. Scary... AMAZING! I can't believe I haven't read this book sooner! I absolutely loved everything about it: the story, the characters, the setting, the mystery, the twists and turns, it has definetly become one of my favourite books of all time!

Let me just start by saying that for some reason I absoutely love books with a boarding school as the main setting. I really don't know why but I do! If anything I enjoyed this book even more because straight from the beginning the school was... unusual. Especially since the author left us guessing what infact was unusual about it for at least half of the book!

I really feel I ought to talk about the "mystery" but don't worry, I won't give anything away! Even though I kind of guessed some of the twists in this novel (which didn't take away any of the enjoyment one bit!) I didn't expect the one at the end! It was also quite fun finding out what part the characters played in it all, and most importantly, who was behind it! The whole lead-up to finding out the real mystery was so full of suspense... I could barely stop reading for a second! Literally. I stayed up quite late on a school night (shocking, I know!) and even got up earlier to read before school, and since I'm not a morning person that was quite spectacular really! I read this in two days because I couldn't put it down! I haven't done anything like that for a book in ages (and if you haven't caught on yet, I only do that with really good books!) so if that doesn't convince you to read this book then I don't know what will!

You are enveloped and engrossed in the story from the word GO! Need evidence? Well here it is, the first line: I didn't know anything about death until I began studying philosophy. Intrigued yet? You ought to be! Straight away you are whipped up into a dangerous and breath taking adventure that will have you fustrated, in awe and wondering how on earth Yvonne Woon managed to create such a masterpiece!

The characters were all perfect. The main character, Renée Winters was very realistic and I'm glad the story was told through her. She's confident, brave, stubborn and fiery, a typical teeange girl with just a little more than meets the eye... At the start of the book I thought she'd possibly turn out to be one of those characters that flaunts of their popularity but after a while I realised that was not the case. Overall I found her a very likeable character! However, she wasn't my favourite character. Dante Berlin was. It wasn't just Renée that reacted to him, I did too (another example of how great the story and characters were portrayed by her being the main character)! He was so mysterious and intriguing when he first came on the scene and when we started getting insights into his life I just warmed up to him even more. He was a great love interest for Renée!

Dead Beautiful is a captivating, enjoyable read with an amazing setting, story line and characters! Just to tempt you some more, here's my favourite quote from this novel: The secrets that aren't found out are buried well. And probably for a reason. I hope I've managed to stress out just how much I love this book! I really hope you'll read it too!

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo