Book Review: Jonas by Eden Maguire

Title: Jonas (Amazon)
Series: Beautiful Dead, #1
Author: Eden Maguire
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Source: Around the World ARC Tours
Published: March 2010 by Sourcebooks Fire

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?

My Thoughts:
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.

The Book Vixen's Rating