Book Review and Give Away-Beautiful Dead (Book 1 Jonas )

By Eden Maguire

Published by Source Books Fire (US)

To Be Released March 2010 (US)

*UK edition was released in April 2009

by Hodder Children's Books*

Source: from SourceBooks

2.5 stars

Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances.
Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina,Phoenix's grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can't escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina.

Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a 'death mark' - a small tattoo of angel's wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to Earth. Darina's mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?

Both the cover and the premise of the book really pulled me in. They both caught my attention and make for a dark, mysterious read. I really, really wanted to get lost in this book and really like it, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to.

Darina is a strong character who's dealing with the grief of the death of her boyfriend of two months. She's having a hard time coping with not only his death, but that of of three other school mates in less than a year, when she escapes to an old run down barn outside of town. There she not only sees Phoenix, but Jonas, Summer and Arizona, among other people she doesn't know, who are all dead. She soon learns they are a group of souls unable to rest, who have been brought back by a trapped soul named Hunter, who has given them 12 months to right the wrong of their deaths. They are called the Beautiful Dead. They must protect their existence from others. Darina is the only one outside of their group who holds their secret. In order to keep from losing Phoenix again, she helps Jonas right his wrongful death and protects the secret of the Beautiful Dead, which isn't easy. Jonas's dad knows something is going on, as do some of Darina's friends.

Darina herself comes form a broken home and is a very resilient character as she's coping with her home life, and the loss of a boyfriend. She is trying to help her best friend Zoey, who not only lost her boy friend Jonas in a terrible accident, but completely stole the life she once knew from her. In order for Darina to help Jonas, she has to help her best friend Zoey remember what happened when she and Jonas crashed. What they find out not only unveils the secret one of their friends has been hiding, but it puts Darina in danger. Darina is the only one who can help both Jonas and Zoey.

The story itself does a great job at showing how family and friends cope with the loss of losing a loved one. I really like that love doesn't end in death, but continues on for both those still living and those who had died. Both Darina & Phoenix, as well as Jonas & Zoey's stories are about love and friendship in life and after death. Wrapped into a story with characters who are all learning to cope with losing someone close to them and how you move on. Some things were a little far fetched, like the fact we never learn why Darina is the only one who help The Beautiful Dead. There's a lot of characters involved in the story that I'm sure we'll get to know more about in the next three books, as Darina has vowed to help Summer, Arizona and Phoenix.

While I didn't get into Beautiful Dead as much as I wanted to, I will definitely read the next book in the series.

We're giving away a copy of the Beautiful Dead ARC. To enter, all you have to do is be a blog follower, and leave a comment with a valid email address. The winner will be drawn using random.org and announced on the blog. Our contest ends Thursday Feb. 25th at midnight CST. Good luck!