Book Review- Beautiful Dead, Book 1: Jonas

I just finished reading Beautiful Dead, Book 1: Jonas by Eden Maguire for Sourcebook's Teen Fire.

From Goodreads:

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?

Ok, I have to say that I had a hard time getting into the book, but was glad I stayed with it.  The beginning seemed a little jumpy to me.  I had to keep going back to see if I missed something and there were times where I didn't understand what was going on.  But then once I got used to the writing, I got more into the story.

I liked the premise of the book.  Who wouldn't want an opportunity to be reunited again with a loved one who had passed away?  And who wouldn't want a chance to get to help figure out the mystery of a fellow high school friend's death? 

While I'm not sure that I liked many of the characters (I did like Phoenix), I know that I would like to know more about them.  I guess we don't really seem to get to know the Beatiful Dead, because they are just that-dead.  I am hoping that as the series goes along, we will get a closer look at each of them. 

I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

This book fullfills items for the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 35
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 25
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 24

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Beautiful Dead Book 1: Jonas - Chapter 1 Excerpt

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book from Sourcebooks Teen Fire for an honest review.