Gray about how to pull off a clever twist. Night Shyamalan could learn a few things from Ms. When Bianca describes her entrance into the school hall for orientation you FEEL what she’s feeling- that awful, twitchy shyness, when you are the NEW KID, and you know you’re making it worse in your mind, but you can’t HELP it!!!Īlso, M. It’s one of the most well-written fantasy books I have ever read. I’m so sorry.”Ĭlaudia Gray, will you teach a class on how to write an awesome first book? Because that is a class I would take. It’s not spoilerific, but skip to the next section if you don’t want to know. I’m going to post a little excerpt, because when I read it, I did a happy dance while pulling the knife out of my gut that Ms. You know that Bianca and Lucas fall in love from the prologue, but it happens torturously slowly, and I was begging for them to just go ahead and get together, already!!! But don’t fret, sweet, sweet kissy time abounds, so the payoff is worth the wait. When she falls in love for the first time, she lets it consume her- like ya’ do- but she isn’t a heroine looking to be rescued, and she stands up for what she thinks is right, even when she has to stand up to the boy she loves. From her sheltered/yet super cool upbringing- her parents raised her on Duke Ellington and Rosemary Clooney, and she has a crush on Cary Grant, (girl after my own heart!) to her near debilitating shyness at times, to the way she follows her heart no matter what. Oh, and also that she shouldn’t really like him, which of course, she completely can’t help.ĭrawn together by a force beyond them, Bianca and Lucas fall in love and discover secrets and lies about the school, and about each other, that could doom their relationship… and at the very least bring Bianca to doubt everything she ever knew.īianca won my bff charm instantly. Lucas, the brooding, chiseled-jawed, sometimes hostile mysterious loner dude who warns her to be careful, because something is wrong at this school beyond the mean girls in class. So not only does she stand out for not having her school uniform tailored, but everyone knows the only reason she got into this school in the first place, is because of her parents.īianca does make some friends, though, in fellow misfits Raquel- to whom clearly SOMETHING VERY BAD has happened, and Vic- a happy-go-lucky surfer dude, and Balthazar, the nicest, cutest, most popular guy in school.

So why did her loving parents decide this was a good time to uproot their 16-year old daughter and plunk her in the middle of this place of uberposhness? Oh yeah, because they both got teaching jobs there. She does not fit in, and the other students- and most of the teachers- remind her of that fact daily.

Bonus Factor: Mysterious Loner Dude, Duckie, Boarding Schoolīianca Olivier is starting her first term at Evernight Academy, an eery, gothic boarding school where everyone is very rich, very bored, and very cooler-than-thou.

Evernight book series