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ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: IF YOU, THEN ME
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://yvonnewoon.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 240
http://www.usborne.com/deadbeautiful/ http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Dead_Beautiful_by_Yvonne_Woon
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1984, in MA.
EDUCATION:Columbia University, M.F.A., 2010.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist.
AVOCATIONS:Etymology, supernatural phenomenon, New England history.
WRITINGS
Dead Beautiful was adapted for audiobook, Brilliance Audio, 2010.
SIDELIGHTS
UPDATE SUBMITTED IN SGML FORMAT. Yvonne Woon was still completing graduate school when the first installment of her “Dead Beautiful” novel series was published. Although Dead Beautiful and its sequel, Life Eternal, tap into the current teen vogue for paranormal romance, Yoon “takes a new and unconventional look at the undead,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, “focusing on story and characters” rather than “gore and mayhem.”
In contrast to its dark subject, Dead Beautiful takes readers to sunny California, where Renée Winters is celebrating her sixteenth birthday. When her parents die mysteriously, she becomes the ward of her grandfather. From the West Coast, the grief-stricken teen flies to northern Maine and the boarding school that will become her new home. School does not seem to offer much: Gottfried Academy has a classics-based curriculum that seems academically archaic to the forward-thinking teen. Things look up when she meets and falls in love with Dante Berlin, despite the fact that he is hiding a strange and dramatic secret. As their relationship deepens the couple shares secrets, and soon they are joined in the search to uncover a series of strange murders that leads to the truth about their strange school.
“Detailed world building and setting contribute as much to the story as character and plot,” noted Cindy Welch in her Booklist review of Dead Beautiful, and in Publishers Weekly a critic described Renée as “an unusually analytical and composed narrator.” The first-time novelist “pulls off some interesting twists and captures readers with the romantic connection between René and Dante,” observed Emily Chornomaz in her School Library Journal review of the novel. “Well-written, intriguing and … different,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, Dead Beautiful “ends with much to explore” in Yoon’s promised sequels.
René returns in Life Eternal, but the lighthearted California teen seems much older than her chronological age might suggest. Since thwarting death due to Dante’s fateful kiss, she now studies in Montreal, at Saint Clément. In addition to coping with her own transformation, she must also deal with Dante’s absence and the fact that she might lose him altogether due to the inevitable death of non-life-taking vampires. As she researches the science of vampirism that is taught at Gottfried Academy, René learns about a group of scholars who have found a way to thwart their destiny and achieve permanent life. “Romantic, suspenseful, and far from over,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, Life Eternal “will leave readers wanting more,” according to the critic.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2010, Cindy Welch, review of Dead Beautiful, p. 72.
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2010, review of Dead Beautiful; December 1, 2011, review of Life Eternal.
Publishers Weekly, August 23, 2010, review of Dead Beautiful, p. 50.
School Library Journal, October, 2010, Emily Chornomaz, review of Dead Beautiful, p. 129.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2010, Stacey Hayman, review of Dead Beautiful, p. 360.
ONLINE
Yvonne Woon Home Page, http://yvonnewoon.com (February 25, 2012).*
Our intrepid heroine
is shy, freckled, feline, with a penchant for wearing robes late into the afternoon.
She grew up in Worcester, MA, in an old stone colonial flanked by woods, where she spent a lot of time wandering around outside, thinking up stories to keep herself occupied.
She’s written four books for young adults, five if you count the one she wrote in comic sans in fifth grade.
She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, which she mostly uses to concoct plots. She thinks of her best ideas in February, and loves winter, dim sum, and romantic comedies.
She lives in Atlanta, GA, with one husband, two children and two cats.
Yvonne Woon
USA flag
YVONNE WOON grew up in Massachusetts, where she attended Worcester Academy. She is currently a graduate student at Columbia University, obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction.
Genres: Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Romance
New Books
July 2021
(hardback)
If You, Then Me
Series
Dead Beautiful
1. Dead Beautiful (2010)
2. Life Eternal (2012)
3. Love Reborn (2014)
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Novels
If You, Then Me (2021)
Mimi Koehler·Writers Corner·July 4, 2021·5 min read
Q&A: Yvonne Woon, Author of ‘If You, Then Me’
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We chat with Yvonne Woon, acclaimed author of the Dead Beautiful series and the YA contemporary If You, Then Me, that gives an exclusive insight into the seemingly impenetrable Silicon Valley. We got to ask Yvonne all our questions surrounding her newest release, favourite coding characters and much more!
Hi, Yvonne! Thanks for joining us! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Thanks for having me! I grew up in Massachusetts, but moved to New York for college, where I stayed for a decade, so I still have strong opinions about bagels, pizza, and public transportation. I got my MFA in fiction there, then moved to Palo Alto with my boyfriend, who was starting law school. While he went to class, I worked a bunch of odd-jobs, including dog walker, which is how I got to know my way around Silicon Valley, where my book is set. Let’s see, what else? I’m half Malaysian Chinese, half white. I love cats and dim sum and cold beaches in the winter. I live in Atlanta now, where I’m still getting used to the heat and the driving.
With everything going on in the world right now, what are some things that make you happy? Any new hobbies you picked up or new things you’ve tried out during the pandemic?
Well, I had a baby during the pandemic, so I’ve actually only lost hobbies (sob!). Pre-baby, I spent a lot of lovely evenings watching old episodes of the Great British Bake Off and then attempting to make a baked good from the show (they all came out delicious but incredibly ugly). Post-baby, I got very into Madeline Miller’s books (Circe and Song of Achilles) and now consider myself a superfan. I’ve also listened to the You’re Wrong About podcast, which kept me company through many sleepless nights with a newborn and a toddler. I attempted gardening very briefly, but everything I planted died except the parsley, which took over an entire garden bed, so we’ve been eating a lot of parsley-forward meals. (If anyone reading this has any slamming recipes that use parsley, please get in touch).
Now, tell us about If You, Then Me! What can readers expect?
IF YOU, THEN ME is a story about a teenage girl, Xia Chan, who gets into an elite tech school where she’s given *a lot* of money, exposure and unlimited access to the spoils of Silicon Valley, and then discovers that her anonymous crush is there, too. There’s an artificial intelligence character named Wiser, a charismatic female founder, and a party scene at a venture capitalist’s office that was my personal favorite scene to write. I hope, at the very least, that it’s a book that makes readers laugh.
What inspired you to write Xia’s story?
I lived in Palo Alto for three years and have always wanted to write about it. Coming from the East Coast, it really felt like I was stepping into an alternate dimension where everything was perfect, everyone had money, and the days were always sunny and beautiful. While I lived there, I kept hearing these stories about teenagers who dropped out of school to move to California and start a tech company, and they all seemed too rosy to be true. I thought it would be fun to explore what would really happen if you gave teenagers a lot of money, power, and responsibility.
I was hooked by the premise and execution of this book! It’s so rare to see women, especially young girls, shining in STEM-related subjects and as fellow programmer, I loved this exposure to the tech world! What do you want readers to take away from If You, Then Me?
Thank you so much! Though I did a lot of research, I’m not a programmer, so that means a lot to me coming from one! What I remember most about being a teenager is constantly trying to figure out who I was and what kind of person I wanted to be. I kept trying on different versions of myself, seeing which one felt the best. Though the book is about a girl being thrown into the glittery and often exploitative world of tech, at its heart, it’s about how we decide what kind of people we want to be. If there is a takeaway it’s that you don’t have to get it right the first time, and actually, most people don’t.
If you had the chance to ask your future self (AI or not) two questions, what would they be and what would you hope the answers to be?
Such a great question.
1. Of the myriad worries I have right now, which are worth worrying about and which aren’t?
I hope she’d say: You’ll continue to write books that bring you joy, your kids will be just fine, and you’ll eventually have time to spend the weekend reading books again. Just wear more sunscreen, keep flossing, and everything else will work itself out in the end.
2. What does the world look like in the future?
I hope she’d say: Gentler and more compassionate, with a climate that’s no longer spiraling out of control.
Without spoiling too much, what was your favorite scene to write and which one gave you the most trouble?
There’s a party scene at a venture capital firm that was by far my favorite to write and is still my favorite to read. It’s written as a broken memory, with Xia piecing together fragments of what happened that night. Writing it was so fun, and felt like a process of discovery.
See also
Writers Corner
Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of “Fake News”
The hardest scene to write was the scene at Mike’s house (another party scene!) (I promise, the book has much more to it than party scenes!). There were so many components to that scene, with so many characters interacting, and then a big event at the end, that I found it tricky to balance all of the moving parts.
Who are your favorite coding characters in books and movies?
This isn’t exactly a character since she’s a real person, but I was fascinated by Elizabeth Holmes from the podcast The Dropout. All of the characters on the show Silicon Valley, though Jared Dunn made me laugh the most. Like everyone else in the world, I loved The Social Network and was fascinated by its characters. I’ve also been meaning to read the Secret Coders series by Gene Luen Yang.
And speaking of movies, if If You, Then Me were to be adapted for the big screen, what scene would you be most excited to see played out?
So much of Xia’s personality for me is in her humor and her inner dialogue. I’d love to see how that translates to a movie, and how Wiser, her AI tool, would translate. I’d also love to see the makeover scene and Mitzy’s house.
With If You, Then Me releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a sneak peek with us?
I am! I’m working on a young adult mystery novel about a teenage “fixer,” or disaster consultant, in a competitive Washington DC-area high school, where she confidentially solves problems for her wealthy classmates that they can’t ask their parents to fix for them. But when she’s hired to investigate her ex-best friend, she witnesses an incident that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her school and herself.
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I just read Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany Jackson and loved it. Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong.
Will you be picking up If You, Then Me? Tell us in the comments below!
PROFILES
A YA Author Tours the Dark Side of Silicon Valley
BY LAURA SIMEON • JULY 20, 2021
A YA Author Tours the Dark Side of Silicon Valley
Photo of Yvonne Woon by Shira Borthwick; background photo by Roozbeh Eslami on Unsplash
In Yvonne Woon’s If You, Then Me (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins, July 6), Xia Chan, the Worcester, Massachusetts, daughter of a Taiwanese immigrant single mom, is one of 20 teen app designers chosen from thousands of applicants to attend the Foundry. This exclusive Silicon Valley high school program, run by legendary game company founder Lars Lang, grants one winning coder $1 million in seed money. For lonely, introverted Xia, whose mother works long hours to (barely) keep them afloat, this is an unimaginable opportunity. She’s invented Wiser, an AI app that harvests an individual’s data to advise them in the guise of their older self. Her only other confidant is ObjectPermanence, an anonymous boy she’s fallen for online.
Xia is at first overwhelmed by the Foundry’s luxuries, her wealthy classmates’ poise, and California’s Technicolor pleasures. Things get more complicated for Xia when tech bigwig Mitzy Erst discovers her. She also starts to suspect that ObjectPermanence is attending the Foundry, too: But which boy is he? Sleuthing to uncover his identity and keeping up with glamorous Mitzy throw her off kilter. The blend of romance, intrigue, social commentary, and high-tech themes make this novel an absorbing, thought-provoking, and timely read. Woon spoke with us over Zoom from her home in Atlanta, Georgia; the conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
This is your fourth book for teens following your Dead Beautiful paranormal romance series. What do you enjoy about writing YA?
I got an MFA thinking I would write for adults; I still want to, but here I am, and I like it. When I was a teen, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who I was. It’s such a formative time in a person’s life: You’re trying on different personalities and trying to figure out what kind of person you want to be. I like writing for teens because they’re in that stage, but I also like writing about teens [because] they are both the most confident people in the world and the least confident. I had way more confidence [as a teen] than I will ever have in the rest of my life, but I also was so scared and didn’t know my place in the world.
Teenage girls are fascinating because we attribute so much power to them. We oversexualize them, we put all these pressures on [them]—it’s totally inappropriate—but then we give them no power. I find that dichotomy really interesting. Also, teenage girls [are] the ones who are playing with language; they’re the consumers and the fans of art; they’re the makers and the consumers of music; they are what drives popular culture. Teenage boys are interesting to me in a different way, in that we police [them] in ways that are less talked about. What is the appropriate way to be a man? What is an appropriate way to be masculine? So much of how we treat teens leads to what adults become.
I understand you were a dog walker in Silicon Valley. Did that experience plant the seeds for this book?
Dog walking got me in people’s houses and [in] their lives—not that I was doing any kind of investigative undercover reporting, but it was an interesting way to get to know a place. I moved with my boyfriend, now husband, who got into law school there. I was writing on the side, and dog walking was one of many jobs I had, but it was by far the best. I knew when I moved to Silicon Valley that I wanted to write about it in some way, but I wasn’t sure how. I wasn’t working for Mark Zuckerberg, but I was working down the street. It was fun to see the tech executives’ houses, to meet them, to see how they lived. I had never spent any time on the West Coast. It really felt like entering a portal to a different dimension: the weather, the optimism, how everyone was just about to sell an app. It felt like money grew on trees, like a man-made paradise. Everyone [there] is trying to save the world, but you can tell who they are by what they think is important to fix and save; so many are White, male, wealthy people. As in every field, women aren’t in positions of power and controlling money. Tokenism creates this competitiveness where you feel like there’s only one space for a bunch of you; especially [for] women of color, the tokenism is extreme.
Did you start with a character or the concept? Xia is such a vivid, unexpectedly hilarious, and truly memorable personality.
I started with the concept: You always hear the story of a person who dropped out of school and made it big in Silicon Valley, but if you really think about it, it’s a teenager who’s given vast amounts of money and responsibility and expected to know what to do. I was trying to think about what character would be most interesting to see in that setting. Part of the allure of tech is this sort-of lie that anyone can enter based on merit: If you have a good idea, if you’re a young genius, you can make it there—and it isn’t untrue, but as [with] the idea of meritocracy in America, it’s not completely honest. I thought it would be most interesting to explore someone the tech world wasn’t built for: a woman and, also, a non-White woman. I’m Chinese American, so it just felt natural to write about an experience that was close to my interior life; she’s not me, but there’s overlap.
The Wiser app is so compelling. If it really existed, what would older Yvonne tell her younger self?
As a teenager, I spent a lot of time trying to be and wishing I were someone else. I grew up in a very White community. There was one other Asian American person, and we were always getting mistaken for each other even though we looked nothing alike. I grew up trying to be more White, less Asian—trying to be someone that I could not ever be. If I had Wiser, I hope that she would tell me that trying to please other people is never going to work. Trying to create a version of yourself that fits with what other people want you to be is not going to be an authentic version of who you are. I would also hope that she would tell me that lots of people try on different versions of themselves, and it’s OK to not get it right the first time; keep trying to find the best version of yourself even if you stumble on the way and make some mistakes. [In] a lot of books that I read about teenagers, it seems that the characters are so fully formed, and that never seems true to my experience. I never felt that I had a strong sense of who I was and my place in the world, and so I would hope that Wiser would tell me that that was normal, to keep trying.
Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.
WOON, Yvonne. If You, Then Me. 416p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. Jul. 2021. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780063008649.
Gr 8 Up--Silicon Valley meets high school romance in this original novel. Xia Chan is a coding wiz and she has developed an app called Wiser which mimics an older version of herself that gives her advice. The only child of a Taiwanese immigrant, Xia is lonely and confides often with a boy on a programmer's chat page. When Xia earns a scholarship to go to a prestigious tech school in California, she thinks her dreams have come hue and she'll learn in the mecca for coders and developers. However, she quickly realizes that Silicon Valley is a male-dominated, cutthroat environment where all bets are off until tech visionary and mogul Mitzy Erst takes her under her wing. The fact that she is falling for classmate Mast but has feelings for her online friend complicates things even further. Can Xia stay true to herself or will she be swept away by a competitive world she barely understands? This novel starts slow but quickly picks up pace. Xia is a well-developed character whose arc is believable for a 16-year-old. This book explores friendships, love interests, and struggles in the world of tech prodigies. Readers will see what it takes to persevere. VERDICT An inspiring story of grit and resilience, ideal for students thinking of what lies ahead right after high school.--Carol Youssif, Taipei American Sch., Taiwan
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib.ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Youssif, Carol. "WOON, Yvonne. If You, Then Me." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 7, July 2021, p. 76. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667846398/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=100ba9ef. Accessed 16 Oct. 2021.
Woon, Yvonne IF YOU, THEN ME Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins (Teen None) $17.99 7, 6 ISBN: 978-0-06-300864-9
Sixteen-year-old Xia Chan’s latest creation, Wiser, is an innovative AI program that earns her a spot at the Foundry, an elite school in Silicon Valley that develops the next generation of technology leaders.
Although Xia is thrilled at the thought of being among teens who share her passion, she quickly discovers that racism and sexism among the Foundry students, called fellows, and in the tech industry at large put her at an unfair disadvantage. Some of the fellows are especially vexing—for example, Benjamin “Mast” Matsuo, a cute AI programmer who’s interested in getting to know Xia better but gets under her skin. Xia can’t help feeling something for Mast but isn’t sure if he’s the right guy for her since she’s also grown close to an anonymous boy she met on a forum for teen programmers who goes by the username ObjectPermanence. Romance is the least of Xia’s worries, though. Between demanding course work and social sabotage by entitled fellows, she’s nearly ready to go home. Then a serendipitous encounter with her idol, Foundry alum Mitzy Erst, changes everything. This page-turner offers a peek into the dark side of Silicon Valley through the eyes of an earnest newcomer and sheds light on issues hidden beneath the glitz of startup culture, including old-boy networks, unsustainable lifestyles, and the lure of promises that are too good to be true. Xia is Chinese American; Mast is half Japanese (the rest of his heritage is not specified).
A riveting cautionary tale. (Fiction. 13-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Woon, Yvonne: IF YOU, THEN ME." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A661545829/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=38b3d402. Accessed 16 Oct. 2021.
f You, Then Me
Yvonne Woon. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-300864-9
Sixteen-year-old Xia Chan, who is Taiwanese American, is bored with life in snowy Worcester, Mass., where she interacts primarily with her busy professor mother and her only IRL friend, neighbor Gina. The programmer combats loneliness by chatting with self-made intelligence app Wiser, which "pretends to be you in the future and gives you advice," and messaging with online crush ObjectPermanence, also a programmer. Xia thrills at the idea of change when she is accepted into the Foundry, an elite Silicon Valley school/competition for tech prodigies in which 20 scholarship students compete for $ 1 million in seed funding. But she begins to doubt her prowess upon arrival, navigating difficult classwork and myriad aggressions that target her gender and race, until a Foundry alumna takes a keen interest in Wiser. As Xia dons a new image, and chases her dream of funding her app, her grip on what she really wants starts to slip. Even worse is having to choose between her mysterious online crush and a real-life connection she didn't expect. Though pacing drags in the middle and rushes toward the end, Woon (the Dead Beautiful series) aptly explores real obstacles that women of color face in tech through Xia's voice, detailing Silicon Valley as fast-paced, chaotic, and sometimes shallow. Ages 13-up. Agent: Ted Malawer, Upstart Crow Literary. (July)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"If You, Then Me." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 21, 24 May 2021, p. 86. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A663666163/LitRC?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=6e2c398c. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Woon, Yvonne Life Eternal: A Dead Beautiful Novel
394 pp. Hyperion ISBN 978-1-4231-1957-9 $16.99
(3) Renee (Dead Beautiful) continues her training as a Monitor of the Undead while secretly searching for a way to keep herself and Dante--her Undead soulmate--from dying for good. As dangers and mysterious deaths increase, Renee becomes distrustful of Dante. An original take on the undead, this series continues to offer plenty of both spine tingling suspense and romantic tension.
(KLB) Katie Bircher is marketing and editorial assistant for The Horn Book, Inc.
Bircher, Katie
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 The Horn Book, Inc.
http://www.hornbookguide.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
Bircher, Katie. "Woon, Yvonne: Life Eternal: A Dead Beautiful Novel." The Horn Book Guide, vol. 23, no. 2, fall 2012, p. 119. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A306755990/LitRC?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=b6d6665e. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Woon, Yvonne Love Reborn
360 pp. Hyperion ISBN 978-1-4231-7120-1 $16.99
(4) Dead Beautiful series. Pursued by murderous Undead and scheming Monitors, Renee and Undead Dante, who share a single faltering soul, follow anonymous letters and an esoteric map across Europe in search of rebirth. The fantasy logic here is weaker than in previous entries (particularly regarding the Netherworld's guardians and the cost of rebirth), but the novel's fated love, betrayal, and suspense are engaging.
Bircher, Katie
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 The Horn Book, Inc.
http://www.hornbookguide.com
Source Citation
Source Citation
Bircher, Katie. "Woon, Yvonne: Love Reborn." The Horn Book Guide, vol. 25, no. 2, fall 2014, p. 135. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A385996538/LitRC?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=e0a19093. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Love Reborn by Yvonne Woon – review
‘after finishing this book I can say that the Dead Beautiful trilogy has been the best trilogy that I have ever read and no, I am not exaggerating’
Ayesha
Wed 23 Dec 2015 15.00 GMT
Love Reborn is the final book in the Dead Beautiful trilogy and in all honesty after finishing this book I can say that this trilogy has been the best trilogy that I have ever read and no, I am not exaggerating. Love Reborn continues from where Life Eternal left off and we see how Renee Winters and Dante Berlin (an Undead who is slowly decaying away) are struggling to find the secret to eternal life in order to save Dante.
4 reasons why you NEED to read Love Reborn:
The genre
If you’re looking for a gripping, romantic, thrilling, dark, interesting and surprising read then this book is just for you. I started reading this trilogy when the first book, Dead Beautiful, was published a few years ago and ever since then it has remained my all-time favourite series and if anyone asks me to recommend a trilogy to them then I always say the Dead Beautiful trilogy because it really is that good. Love Reborn has the most epic conclusion to the story that I promise you won’t regret reading it. The genre of the book is dystopian/fantasy and if you like reading that then this book is just for you.
2. The characters
What I love the most is that the two main characters are very likable and both of them have very different personalities but are inseparable. Renee is a teenager who had her life snatched away from her when her parents were killed on her 16th bithday and the only person she feels safe with is her boyfreind Dante, who is dying. Dante Berlin is the very handsome Undead who doesn’t have long to live so together they must find the Netherworld to extend Dante’s life. From the first book to the third, both of these characters have always stood out to me because their actions are unexpected and despite being seperated so many times, they always find each other again.
reborn
Other characters like Anya and Theo who also join them on their quest are very memorable characters too because each have a different reason for wanting to extend their life. And of course there are characters that the reader will hate such as the elder monitors who kill the Undead or ‘put them to rest’, and the Liberum, very powerful Undead who take the souls of the living to elongate theirs. Everyone has the same goal: to find the Netherworld, but they fail to realise how difficult of a task that proves to be.
3. The history
This trilogy relies a lot on its philosophical history which truly adds to the charm of the story, making it a lot more interesting. Rene Descartes, a philosopher and writer who lived in the 1600s, is a big part of Love Reborn because his riddle is the one of the only clues to finding the Netherworld. His riddle is an interesting one, explaining that the seeker must visit five points and with each point they visit, they will lose one of their senses until the very end which is when they reach the Netherworld.
4. The plot twists
This book has so many plot twists that the reader doesn’t know who to trust anymore. The series of events are so unbelievable and so unexpected that it just leaves you wondering what on earth just happened. Yvonne Woon spins the story is many different ways so that the reader is thoroughly satisfied throughout the book and continues to read on.
Overall
If you’ve read the first two books in the series and haven’t read Love Reborn yet then you must be out of your mind because this is definitely the best book out of the three in my opinion. Also I would like to add that if you haven’t read the first two books then I highly recommend that you do because in order to really enjoy and appreciate this book is if you read the whole trilogy. Or else you’ll just be really confused.
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Get ready to go on a crazy rollercoaster ride as you find out whether or not the netherworld is found and whether or not Dante lives. This is an easy read and I recommend it to everyone. Just read it. This series is too underrated and more people need to know about it.
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