Product Description

Bianca wants to escape.

At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas, he warns her to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9034 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-01
• Released on: 2009-02-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061284441
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up—Bianca has been uprooted from her happy, uneventful life to start anew at an elite boarding school where her parents will now be professors. Even though Bianca doesn't feel that she is the Evernight type—rich, beautiful, or gifted—she knows that her parents feel this is best for her. She and Lucas Ross share a special connection from the moment they meet and he, like Bianca and a few others, is an outsider. He is a rebel who is on a mission to discover the secret behind Evernight Academy. As the weeks progress, their relationship heats up. What they don't realize, however, is that they each harbor a great secret that could divide them forever. Can their love survive the truth? Gray's writing hooks readers from the first page and reels them in with surprising plot twists and turns, and the open ending will keep them guessing and waiting on the edge of their seats for the next book in the series. A must-have for fans of vampire stories by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Stephenie Meyer, and the like.—Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Well-dressed, private-school vampires are a growing trend in teen horror lit. Bloodsucking Gossip Girls have shown up in Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy books, and now in this debut, set in a spooky, exclusive boarding school. Sixteen-year-old Bianca is dreading her first day at Evernight Academy, where her parents have taken teaching positions. Then she meets handsome outsider Lucas, for whom she falls with quick intensity. Everyone at Evernight has secrets, even Bianca, and as her romance deepens, she risks revealing the otherworld identity of Evernight’s glamorous population, even as she wonders if Lucas, too, is hiding something. Some logistical questions about the student body, composed of both vampires and humans, are left unanswered, and a few story threads, particularly about Evernight’s headmistress, are left dangling; the ending leaves room for a sequel that may tie everything together. Still, Stephenie Meyer fans will find similar rewards in the flashes of humor; the terrifying battle between ancient, supernatural societies; and the steamy romance in which love bites aren’t just a euphemism. Grades 8-11. --Gillian Engberg

Review
"Stephenie Meyer fans will find similar rewards in the flashes of humor; the terrifying battle between ancient, supernatural societies; and the steamy romance in which love bites aren’t just a euphemism." -- Booklist

"Teenage love, ancient hatred and a Romeo and Juliet-style feud fuel the fires in this compelling first-person drama." -- Romantic Times BOOKclub

Customer Reviews

An enjoyable genre-bender
My previous forays into teen and vampire books have always left me feeling cheated. It's too easy to fall into the sap trap with the former, and devolve into effete and self-conscious inanity with the latter. Not so with Evernight. It is a perfect story for the adolescent set, or anyone else willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy a good tale for a few hours read.

Evernight is a refreshingly entertaining and interesting take on some tried and true themes - coming of age, not fitting in, dealing with the undead. Obviously, there's a lot of flight of fancy here given the premise, and Ms. Gray does a superb job of taking us right into the story of Bianca. She does not get distracted with superfluous back stories, ponderous musings on why things are the way things are, or pointless expositions of how cool her characters are. She jumps into the world as her engaging and wholly likable protagonist sees it, complete with uncertainties and a decidedly modern perspective, and just runs from there. Ms. Gray is adept at dropping little morsels of conflict here and there, whetting our appetite for the inevitable showdown. She does this without being overtly manipulative - the suspense builds very gradually and organically. In fact, I was content just to read about how Bianca interacted with the odd and rarefied world of Evernight - no conflict necessary.

Of course, there is conflict - plenty of it. You get the sense that no one is quite what (or who) they seem, and their agendas are likewise masked. The twists are welcome and make the ride all the more enjoyable, although one or two were a little abrupt and hard to swallow given the way the story played out, but our heroine is so likably normal that these were minor disturbances in an otherwise completely enjoyable experience.

Evernight is a great story, and there are plenty of tantalizing loose ends and "what ifs" that leave me anticipating the next book. Get it and enjoy!

Who are these strange people at evernight academy? So beautiful, so rich, so...different.
EVERNIGHT starts out as a fish-out-of-water story. Bianca's parents have sent her, for her own good, to Evernight Academy - an elite New England boarding school complete with an imposing faux-Gothic campus and privileged student body. Her parents think Bianca is too shy, too withdrawn, and they hope the competitive and glamorous world of Evernight will shake things up and force Bianca out of her cocoon.

Her parents are right, at least to a point. The other students are world-travelers, sophisticated, used to incredible luxury. Bianca is a small-town girl, inexperienced and naive, and it's a challenge for her to adapt to all this change, let alone fit in. She finds allies among the other mifits, the assorted students who don't quite fit the Evernight "type", especially a handsome, angry young man named Lucas.

Pretty soon, there are two big questions in the novel: One, does Bianca really want to fit in at Evernight - even if she could? And two, what's behind Lucas' strange behavior - why is he so aggressive and overprotective?

I really liked EVERNIGHT, but I had a couple of pretty serious problems with it. One is that the author saves a big revelation for halfway through the book, when she should have let the cat out of the bag in the beginning - because it's Bianca, the first person narrator, who's been keeping secrets. After the reveal, all of Bianca's narration includes constant reference to the knowledge she's had all along, which makes her previous silence feel especially false.

My other problem was with Lucas. Bianca falls hard and fast for him, thinks it's true love, yada yada. But Lucas picks fights, he tries to isolate Bianca socially and to monitor her physically, and he follows her around - one of Bianca's best friends even warns her that he's an abusive boyfriend waiting to happen. I would have been more willing to buy into their volatile, on-again-off-again relationship if it hadn't been for Boy Number Two: Balthazar, who's thoughtful and courteous and, yeah, super handsome. I never understood why Bianca stuck with angry Lucas when someone so much better was waiting in line.

That being said, I'll definitely pick up the sequel when it appears. The revelations about what life at Evernight is really like - and I'll give you a hint, vampires are involved - and Bianca's very unique place there are interesting, and as much as I dislike Lucas I do love a tortured love triangle. Bianca's close relationship with her parents is one of the strongest parts of the novel and I look forward to seeing how they grow and change as a family.

I'd recommend EVERNIGHT to readers who like Stephanie Meyer, P.C. Cast, or Richelle Mead.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Evernight Academy is a secluded boarding school, tucked away in the woods where its secrets will not be uncovered. Its secrets are prolific, lasting since its founding centuries ago. While it may seem like simply an elite boarding school, Evernight is much more than that, serving as a haven for some of the world's most hated and hunted. Vampires.

Bianca is none too happy when her parents become teachers at Evernight and enroll her in the spooky school. There is something strange about the other students; they are all too poised, too confident, and too beautiful to be real. Bianca knows that she will find no true friends in that crowd, and she resigns herself to a lonely year spent with her books.

When she meets Lucas, a fellow student who defies the mainstream, Bianca knows that she has found a rare friend. Lucas is gallant, courageous, and friendly. Soon, the two grow close, and Bianca can see herself falling head-over-heels for Lucas, with nothing she can do about it. Mostly, their relationship is tender and caring, but the occasional spat foreshadows a danger lurking in their future. Lucas and Bianca are no ordinary students, and both are hiding secrets from the other. When their differences surface, their love appears doomed. The forces conspiring against them are far more powerful than Bianca and Lucas could ever imagine.

Lies upon lies abound, and Bianca does not know who to turn to as she finds herself caught between a life she has always known and a chance for love. Who can she trust? One rash decision could change her life and the lives of those she loves forever.

Claudia Gray spins a gripping Gothic romance, weaving in threads of the supernatural and the modern. Bianca is a complex character, juggling her responsibilities to her family while trying to follow her heart. Those who enjoy vampire tales will be thrilled with EVERNIGHT for painting a comprehensive picture of vampires, showing vampire life from Bianca's unique perspective and not relegating vampires to a strictly villainous position. Gray does not stereotype her characters or pigeonhole them into traditional roles, letting the reader decide for themselves what it means to be "good" and "evil."

EVERNIGHT is an excellent drama that will leave readers longing for more, but some secrets may never be revealed.

Reviewed by: Amber Gibson