Dead Beautiful

Dead Beautiful

by Yvonne Woon

On her birthday, Renée Winters spends time with her best friend, swoons over the guy who finally noticed her, and discovers the bodies of her parents.

A week after her birthday, Renée's grandfather forces her to move across the country to attend an exclusive boarding school in Maine. 

At Gottfried Academy, Renée studies Latin, Horticulture, Crude Sciences, and other subjects not normally seen in a high school curriculum.  There are also students not normally seen in high school like the extremely exclusive group of students who almost always speak fluent Latin to each other despite it being a dead language.

As Renée begins to get used to her classes, she also gets used to the presence of Dante.  He's the school recluse who speaks Latin like he was born to it, but also speaks to Renée like he can't stay away from her.

But Renée soon learns that there are many secrets at Gottfried and Dante may have the biggest one of all.

Final thoughts:  There's something that draws you in to this book, but nothing that really sticks when you're done.  It's messy, especially at the end.  There's a quote about soul mates at the beginning of the book, which actually has nothing to do with the relationship between Dante and Renée. (SPOILER:  They attracted because she was the person reborn with his entire soul, NOT because they share a soul.  That's COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than what is stated at the beginning and that opening is designed to confuse the reader, not add to the overall reading experience.SPOILER ENDED)  The last page was just weird and it felt like the author just wrote it after waking up one day and then forgot to edit it later.

Rating: 2/5