The Beautiful Dead: Jonas
Eden Maguire
March 2010
279 pg
Darina is devastated. Four people she knows has died in the past year. And one of them was her new boyfriend, Phoenix. Darina is drawn to the area around Angel Rock; and that's when she see's him. Phoenix. Alive. She thinks...
Then she gets to see and talk to him. Only he's not alive and he's not alone..
All of the recently dead ones are there and they need Darina. She can help them complete their missions and pass out of limbo. There are questions surrounding their deaths; were they murdered? Darina is their link with the mortal world or the far side as they call it. Darina accepts the challenge because it means she will get to spend more time with Phoenix. Even if he isn't really alive.
All of the recently dead ones are there and they need Darina. She can help them complete their missions and pass out of limbo. There are questions surrounding their deaths; were they murdered? Darina is their link with the mortal world or the far side as they call it. Darina accepts the challenge because it means she will get to spend more time with Phoenix. Even if he isn't really alive.
I really wanted to like this book but The Beautiful Dead is written in an overly dramatic way and is full of cliches. Many times I forgot that the characters were supposed to be teenagers.
"Will she think the worst?" He was still grinning, turning a little bit sheepish but also amused...
He embraced me one more time.
"My friends pussyfooted around me."
"He's our overlord, and without him we'd be out of here without a trace."
I didn't really get into the book until about 200 pages in. You don't really get to know any of the characters and therefore you don't really care what happens. Even the big scene when part of the group time-travels seemed unnecessary. I didn't see why Darina needed to be there since the group can erase people's memories. They can also hear everything. So, they should actually already know what's going on without her help. I'm hoping the next book gets better. Each book will focus on a different one of the four teens. I also didn't like Wuthering Heights, so maybe that's why I didn't get into this one...
About the Author
Eden Maguire lives part of the time in the US, where she enjoys the big skies and ice-capped mountains of Colorado.
An abandoned farmstead two hours south west of Denver gave her the perfect setting for The Beautiful Dead. "It was as if time had stood still," she says of her first chance visit to the ranch. "The kitchen still had the old rocking-chair and iron stove, the ancient barn door really did blow open and shut in the wind."
It was here that the seed for a series of paranormal romance mysteries was sown. Eden Maguire's lifelong admiration for Emily Bronte's timeless classic, Wuthering Heights, ties in with her fascination for the dark side of life and informs her portrayal of the restless, romantic souls in The Beautiful Dead.
Away from her interest in the supernatural and the solitary pursuit of writing fiction, Eden's life is lived as much as possible in the outdoors, thanks to ranch-owning friends in Colorado. She says, "Put me on a horse and point me towards a mountain - that's where I find my own personal paradise."
Read the First Chapter
Beautiful Dead Book 1: Jonas - Chapter 1 Excerpt
Beautiful Dead Trailer
Beautiful Dead on Facebook
Beautiful Dead on Tour - there are so many bloggers doing this tour! It's pretty amazing.
Join The Beautiful Dead Ning
ARC provided by Sourcebooks Fire
It sounds ok. I don't have any desire to read it though. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteOuch K! no wonder you didn't send me the review!
ReplyDeleteJust kidding :) Thank you so much for taking the time to read it, and your thoughtfulness in putting up the trailer and the opening pages for people to read, despite your initial impression. No one makes a bad review look as nice as you do!
-Paul