Review | Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1) by Yvonne Woon

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.

      I was shocked at how much I loved Dead Beautiful. I read it in one day because I couldn't let it go. Renee is headstrong and smart and a wonderful character to read about. The writing of the book descriptive and interactive, like you're there to witness. Renee goes to Gottfried and she knows that something is wrong and she going to find out. The paranormal aspect is the best part of this book. The concept is something completely new, at least to me. Dante is suspicious, but so very sexy. Renee has a smart mouth and he can take it when she gives it. He is so caring and.... calm. His surety of himself flows from the pages. The entire time I was read Dead Beautiful, I was in an entirely different world, visiting the school, seeing Dante, and defeating evil. Believe me, it was out of this world beautiful.