Summer (Beautiful Dead #3) by Eden Maguire

Paperback, 274 pages

Published May 6th 2010 by Hodder Children's Books (first published February 4th 2010)

ISBN

0340988630 (ISBN13: 9780340988633)

edition language

English

original title

Summer (Beautiful Dead, #3)

series

Beautiful Dead #3

 

Six months have passed since the last Ellerton teenager died, but Darina is still traumatized by the stabbing of her own beloved Phoenix. But there's work to be done as Darina must now turn her attention to the shooting of Summer Madison - the beautiful and gifted, singer-song-writer with a heart of gold. It's been nearly a year since the random shooting in a shopping mall caused Summer's meaningless death.
Summer left behind recordings of her wonderful songs and a deep sadness amongst high school friends. Now Darina must act as Summerās agent to track down the psychotic killer in a clear search for justice. With the sound of Summer's music constantly playing inside Darina's head, recalling the wonderful months when she was alive and performing her first gigs, Darina, Phoenix and the Beautiful Dead are determined to catch the crazed killer. And all the while Darinaās love for Phoenix continues to beat ...

 

 My Review

The novel brought tears to my eyes, for the emotion in this book of the series was powerful, grasping and truly moving in many different ways. Its almost as if the author really wanted her readers to become fully connected to the characters in the novel this time, almost as if there was to be a huge climate at the end that they needed to prepare themselves for. this has become one of the most grasping series that I have come to read, and I have to say that I am enjoying it, because it is a series where you learn about the characters, their past lives and their personalities. Its almost as if this was the authors plan, that she wanted her readers to really get to know the characters so that she could understand the story properly. In this book we get to find out more about Summer.

 

The author does well to paint an image of Summer in the readers mind, A girl who is sweet, caring, considerate, but also determined and faithful. You really get to envision this girl and in many ways I could see her as being one of those types of girls that are friends with everyone and anyone regardless of what they look like or how they act. However, what she went through when she died was tragic and powerfully emotional because you know that it is something that does just happen out there in society, where people are shot for no reason at all. However, unlike the first two books in the series, the novel doesnt revolve entirely around Summer, in fact its almost as if you get to know her through Darinas actions rather than their conversations.

The whole jealousy scene between phoenix and darina though is becoming a little tiresome. A huge part of me just wants to shout at them, to make them realize that actually they will never ever be together again and that no matter how much they wish for it, they are going to have to get over it. I suppose this was kind of why I was hoping that something between logan and Darina, but when Logan dies, I found tears forming in my eyes. Although he seemed like a bit of a jerk at times, you could see that this was merely the frustration of not getting the girl he loved to realize his feelings. However, the cause of death also hit a little hard and a little close to home. 

What I love about these series of books, is that if you really get into them and enjoy them, you understand them and connect to them. To any reader who enjoys this series, I am sure they will agree with the fact that you find yourself become a part of the story yourself, makin your own guesses and assumptions about what has happened, how, when and why. I truly do love these novels and hope that the library has the next one soon!!!

My rating