Jonas

Jonas, Arizona, Summer and Phoenix, all went to the same high school and all died within a year. The author calls them zombies but they aren't your typical stinky, rotting, terrorizing zombies. These four teenagers are neither dead or alive; they are in limbo. They each have been given a year to find justice and closure regarding the circumstances revolving around their own deaths. And that's where Darina comes in. Darina had been dating Phoenix for two months when he died from being stabbed in a fight. She discovers the Beautiful Dead, the "society" the four teenagers in limbo belong to, and offers to help them in their mission in turn for spending more time with Phoenix.

The premise of the book sounded interesting. It really did. I liked the concept of Darina helping the Beautiful Dead find closure and moving on but in my opinion the book didn't deliver. It didn't live up to its potential.

I felt no character connection. The characters were vapid and dull; I didn't get to know them, who they are, who they were, nothing. Darina and Phoenix were only dating for two months yet she's completely and utterly in love with the guy...? She will do anything to spend more time with him, but that's never justified. There's no background to their relationship; were they even that serious? How can two teenagers be in that serious of a relationship when they've only been together for two months? I don't get it. I didn't get to know Darina or the relationship she had with Phoenix prior to his death. Maybe the author is holding out on us until we get to Phoenix's book but I don't want to wait until book #4 to get to know the main character and her boyfriend.

It was also disturbing to me the way Darina treated her mother; calling her and referring to her on a first name basis (who does that?!! or better yet, who does that and gets away with it without any repercussions?!!). It was a little bit too far-fetched for me. Obviously Darina has no respect for her mother. And how was it that Darina could be out at all hours of the day and night without answering to her mom? How does that happen?

I found the writing in this book to be lackluster. It didn't grab my attention. When I started reading this book, I kept waiting for something to happen, something to capture my attention and it never happened. I didn't enjoy this book. I didn't hate it but I was thisclose to putting the book down never to be picked up again. I thought (and hoped) that maybe the story might pick up so I decided to keep reading. I finished the book was left disappointed.

You can find this review, and many more, on my blog The Book Vixen. ( )

Eh, I expected a whole lot more from this book, to be honest. It wasn't bad.. but it just wasn't good. It was SO over-dramatic that found myself cringing half the time. The names also annoyed me, to be honest. Phoenix, Arizona, Jonas, Summer? Just didn't feel very ''typical high school'' to me and I found it hard to take a lot of the characters seriously. Overall, it was okay. I will be reading the sequel.. out of curiosity more than anything. ( )

Though it took me several chapters to forgive the author (her character names included Phoenix, Arizona and Summer for one), I did end up enjoying this book. The blend of romance, tragedy and mystery was wonderful. I look forward to reading book two in the series. ( )

“Not alive. Not dead.
Somewhere in between lie
the Beautiful Dead.”

In the past year, Jonas, Arizona, and Summer, Ellerton High teens, all died myseriously. Phoenix is the latest one, victim to street-fighting and a knife in the back. Rumors of ghosts are running rampant through this small, spooked community as it begins to try to heal from their shared tragedy.

Darina, Phoenix’s girlfriend is, understandably, grief-stricken. While out walking, she becomes lost in memories and heartache – and lost in where she is. As she walks, she hears a barn door banging in the wind. She thinks to stop the banging and, as she peeks in the door, sees an astonishing sight – Jonas, Arizona, Summer, and her beloved Phoenix, standing in a circle in the barn. Chanting. And very much alive.

Delighted to find the love of her life “alive,” Darina is drafted into helping the Beautiful Dead. Each “zombie” (their description) has exactly one year to find out what really happened to them – and get justice. Jonas doesn’t have much time left, and, to help Phoenix, Darina must first help Jonas, Arizona and Summer.

Intriguing premise yes? Execution? Well…there are some good parts and some not so good parts. Good. Yes, the interesting premise. I can’t quite remember ever reading something quite like this before. Some of the characters were pretty well written. As typical to the genre, Darina is “oh no IN LOVE with Phoenix and will DIED without him” but she’s also smart, tenacious, and slightly crazy. Which describes a lot of teenage girls I know!

Not so great…the Beautiful Dead are described as pale, beautiful, and dead. Sound familiar? At least these dead, gorgeous teenagers don’t sparkle. And they come with an expiration date.

Also, I was not thrilled with the ending. I don’t feel that I can go into much detail here, as I don’t want to give it all away, suffice to say I feel like the ending sends the wrong message to anyone reading this book, teenagers and older readers alike. I do not feel that what happened was acceptable and it feels like the message here is that it is. And it’s not. To say anything further would be spoiler territory; if you’ve read it, I would love to hear your opinion of the ending.

Still, there are enough good parts that I would like to at least read the next book in the series, the one about Arizona. Despite a few freshman problems, Eden Maguire has a way with a story. I’ll be interested to see how she grows as a writer. ( )

It took me a while to get into this book but eventually I did, though not as much as I hoped I would. It wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't insanely delicious either.

Eden's take on the zombie legend was fantastic, however. They are not the grotesque, mindless decaying corpses you see in horror films, but the walking dead of revenant legend and sentient. I did kind of grimace when Darina was kissing aforementioned dead boyfriend—just couldn't get past the whole zombie thing—and yet I have no qualms about vampires, weird I know.

Eden's writing was heart-breaking and easy to relate to, though I feel the book had way too many characters for a novel this size. The author's conveyance of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) was very well done. Jonas is also great at showing how families with teenagers deal with losing a loved one. Though, I did find the romances to be horrendously full of fluff, and these girls to be incredibly torn up over guys they had barely dated. But I guess that's high school for you. Emotions are a gazillion times more felt in those days, whether real or not. It's reasons like this I give it a lower rating, and also why I think this is a book teens would prefer over adults.

I am, however, looking forward to the other books. ( )