Recently, I've been reading Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon.
"Just one kiss will take your breath away..."
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 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?
---- The Blurb.
*****
On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renee 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, Renee'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 Renee 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.
*****
This book is a MUST read. I'd recommend it to everyone, especially to teenage girls, as Dead Beautiful is both a compelling romance and thought-provoking read, bringing a shocking new meaning to life, death, love, and the nature of the soul.
Personally, I give this book a rating of 5/5.
"Riveting and different... a real page-turner." --- SLJ
