By Eden Maguire
Published by Source Books
Released March 2011 (in the US)
Source- ARC from publisher to review
3 stars- It's a Good Read
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 ... (quoted from Goodreads).
I've struggled with really wanting to like this series, and I haven't been able to get into the stories as much as I want to. With Summer's story I feel the series picked up more for me. I'm not sure if it's because they're more plot twists or what, but I liked it more than the previous books from the series. Just like the first two stories in the series, Darina must solve the mystery behind one of her dead friend's deaths. The Beautiful Dead only have so much time and Darina will find solving Summer's death will be harder for her than it was in solving Jonas, and Arizona's, and it also brings her that much closer to losing her undead boyfriend Phoenix.
Eden throws in a few unexpected twists and turns with Summer's plot as her killer is hard to find, or should I say not having a clear suspect makes solving this case rather hard for Darina. I was much more frustrated with Darina this time around as she became a lot more jealous of Phoenix. I could understand that if this was the first book in the series, but it seemed more out place being in the third book in the series. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy seeing more of Phoenix and Darina together and I understand how much she misses him, but I don't get the whole jealously bit.
Summer's story is a sad complex puzzle to solve with an ending I didn't see coming. Since this is the 3rd book in the series, I would recommend picking up the first two and reading them before reading Summer's story. I do think this could be a stand alone, though it would be stretching it since Eden doesn't give much of a back story from the two previous books. Though that works with the story as each book carries on from where the last book leaves off, it may be a little frustrating to someone who wants to just read this book.
If you have enjoyed this series I would definitely recommend picking up Summer's story. It's definite the most interesting one yet. I'm looking forward to reading Phoenix's story next which I'm sure will be a bit of sad story. I really want to know how he died, but at the same time I have a feeling his story will be the most complex and saddest one out of the series.
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