This weekend began my big move across the country! 

We left Saturday morning from the endless winter weather in New Hampshire,

and we're hoping to be in the endless summer weather of Arizona by late Tuesday afternoon.

We're well on our way now.

My mother, in her infinite generosity, is making this journey with me,

and we made it to Memphis, Tennessee last night.

If all goes well, we should be in Abilene, Texas tonight!

I know you don't really need to know any of this, but the point is that I'll be MIA today and tomorrow.

I'm kind of busy, you know, driving my car…

oh, and shepherding two very unhappy cats across the country.

It's a blast.

I'll be back Wednesday with a great new WoW,

and I'll be sure to hop all over your blogs!

Until then, pretty please be patient with the lack of posts here!

Oh, and pray for us…it's snowing in freaking Tennessee.

I took the red-eye back from Phoenix to Boston on Monday night into Tuesday, and I've spent the rest of my week working (or attempting to do so), catch up on sleep because my body is in seven million time zones and trying to get enough crossfit workouts in. So, finally this evening, I've had some time to reflect on my trip to see my sweet, and I have to say it was one of the best times together yet. I miss him when we're apart, and he's stationed too far away, but I know it will be worth it in the end. Plus, every little trip is made better by the fact that it's a perfect holiday with him. Some tidbits of my trip...

Title: Summer (Beautiful Dead #3)
Author: Eden Maguire
Publisher: Hodder Children's
Published: May 6, 2010
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 274
Source: Publisher

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 Darina's love for Phoenix continues to beat ...

Summer is dead, and she wants to know why. Brought back from limbo, she’s on the track to solve the mystery surrounding the random shooting that killed her in her prime, but she’s frustrated, and it seems like every time she thinks she’s getting close to figuring out the truth, something else pops up and throws a wrench in it all again. As Summer begins to fade into an everlasting limbo, Darina must discover the truth about Summer’s death at all costs, but it might be more than she was expecting, and without a clear suspect or even a place to start, discovering the truth about Summer’s death might just be too much for the Beautiful Dead this time.

Ok, if you haven’t read the series, Summer is book three in the Beautiful Dead series about the Beautiful Dead, souls chosen to return from limbo, marked with angel wings and given unique powers, to discover what happened to them and why they died. Following the same general premise as the first two books, Jonas and Arizona, Summer starts with a bang – literally picking up with Summer’s sudden death. Eden Maguire has created a rich series with an interesting and fluctuating cast of characters that adds depth to each installment of the Beautiful Dead story.

I read the first two books in the series a good while ago, and I quite enjoyed them, so I was excited to tackle Summer. As with the previous books, I enjoyed the dynamic between Darina and Phoenix, her (un)dead boyfriend, but I have to say that Darina’s voice got to me a bit this time. She was so jealous all the time, and I felt that almost hindered the story of Summer. I wanted to know what happened to Summer, but I felt it was weighted down by Darina’s insecurities. That said, I do love that the plot wasn’t so cut and dried this time. I enjoyed the twists and turns that came with a lack of a suspect in Summer’s shooting, and I thought that really propelled the mystery of Summer forward.

All in all, Summer is a good third installment in the Beautiful Dead series. It definitely kept me guessing despite my issues with Darina this time. I give it a strong 3.5 out of 5, and I’d recommend it to YA fans of the series (you should read books one and two first, or you’ll be lost), as well as those who enjoy fantasy and paranormal novels.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.