Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon
I was completely obsessed with this book as a tween. Too young to be reading it? Definitely, but I remember the day my mom bought me it so it’s very special to me. Honestly, I picked this up because the person on the cover reminded me of Amy Pond from Doctor Who. Yeah, I was that person.
I think part of why I loved this so much was because it was quite mature. I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I read a kissing scene. I was like 10, maybe younger, so it was pretty wild at the time. Older me finds that hilarious now considering the books I’ve read over the years.
I’m definitely interested in re-reading this at some point and actually continuing the series. Which I didn’t know it was until years after I’d read the first book. However, I didn’t see the point in keeping the physical books. Packing up all of my belongings to move house made me realise that I didn’t want to keep a huge collection of physical books. Slightly blasphemous to say as a book lover, but I’ve well and truly become a Kindle girlie.
Synopsis: On the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Renée Winters was still an ordinary girl. She spent her summers at the beach, had the perfect best friend, and had just started dating the cutest guy at school. No one she’d ever known had died. But all that changes when she finds her parents dead in the Redwood Forest, in what appears to be a strange double murder.
After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.”
It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.
Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.
Midnight Sun by Trish Cook
The biggest reason why I decided to get rid of this book is because it sat on my shelf for a good number of years and I never once thought about picking it up. I’m not entirely sure why. It looked pretty short and contemporaries are usually very quick reads for me.
If you’re from the UK, you’ll likely understand why a book with a main character called Katie Price is kinda unreadable. I don’t think I could get past it if I’m being completely honest.
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Katie Price has a rare disease that makes exposure to even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. Confined to her house during the day, her company is limited to her widowed father and her best (okay, only) friend. It isn’t until after nightfall that Katie’s world opens up, when she takes her guitar to the local train station and plays for the people coming and going.
Charlie Reed is a former all-star athlete at a crossroads in his life – and the boy Katie has secretly admired from afar for years. When he happens upon her playing guitar one night, fate intervenes and the two embark on a star-crossed romance.
As they challenge each other to chase their dreams and fall for each other under the summer night sky, Katie and Charlie form a bond strong enough to change them – and everyone around them – forever.
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