Evernight (Evernight, #1)

by Claudia Gray

A lonely girl, a beautiful boy and a load of terrifying vampires. Think you've seen it before? Well get ready for a shock, because this is paranormal romance with a twist... and a razor-sharp bite.

Welcome to Evernight school. Don't chew gum. Don't feed on humans. Try not to die...

Bianca is devastated when she finds herself uprooted from her small town and sent to Evernight Academy, an elite boarding school. Hidden in the woods, there's something more than a little creepy about her mysterious new home... Soon Bianca discovers she could never fit in with the Evernight students - they're just too sleek, sophisticated and beautiful to be real.

Just when Bianca has resigned herself to being lonely forever, she meets Lucas - an outcast like Bianca, even if he's way too hot to possibly be interested in her. Lucas is on a mission to uncover the secret behind Evernight Academy - but he has his own secrets, and so does Bianca. Both of them are about to discover that secrets can be very dangerous things, and that a simple kiss can change your life forever... or end it.

• ISBN10: 0061972649
• ISBN13: 9780061972645
• Publish Date: 6 October 2009 (first published 27 May 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

"Our secrets protect us, Bianca. Someday you'll understand that."

Evernight has elements that make for a great guilty-pleasure read - a boarding school, wealthy preppy teens, romance and vampires.

Bianca, the main character, starts her first day at Evernight Academy and is immediately an outsider. She can't make friends easily and is picked on by the stereotypical mean girls. Bianca is one of those characters who sees herself as plain and she doesn't think she's as beautiful as everyone else in Evernight. She is also the same person who describes herself as beautiful, is continuously told by other characters that she's beautiful and ends up finding romance after the first 20 pages. Evernight becomes even more original when cringy instalove and a love triangle are added to the mix. 

At about the halfway mark, there's a plot twist that literally comes out of nowhere and suddenly Bianca casually provides information that she either should have found weird or should have informed the reader about before the plot twist was revealed, instead of blindsiding. Examples are (show spoiler)[the fact that she drinks blood from the butcher with every meal and the information and stories that her parents told her. If Bianca knew about vampires before coming to Evernight, then she stupid for not guessing that most of the students are vampires.] (hide spoiler)

The second half is more interesting and readable than the first half because of the action and supernatural elements as well as an an interesting plot twist (show spoiler)[the appearance of vampire-hunters like the Black Cross] (hide spoiler) , which is also the only plot twist that I remembered before my reread, so it was more interesting than shocking.

Bianca is a relatable character. She's shy and smart and able to make her own decisions and her actions are understandable. She's also extremely close to her parents and has a genuine relationship with them. It's great to see present parents in YA. Another great thing is that Evernight is still a boarding school and there's classes, homework and tests and Bianca still has to put the effort in by doing homework and studying. 

The instalove is terrible and 43 pages into Evernight, Bianca is already saying, 

"Already I wanted Lucas to belong to me."

I like that the romance element is gender-bending from its usual stereotypical portrayal (show spoiler)[because Bianca is the vampire and Lucas is the human/vampire hunter] (hide spoiler) . The love triangle is annoying and unnecessary, but it isn't a prominent part of Evernight. What makes it worse is that Balthazar is the more swoony gentleman, while Lucas is the typical unattainable, problematic love interest. Lucas and Bianca are suitable for each though and Balthazar can do way better. 

It's like the author had a checklist with all the extremely popular tropes and elements in YA and vampire fiction while writing Evernight so it ended up being cliché. If only the first half of the book held my attention as well as the second half did...

"What had seemed like love was betrayal."

[elysium]

When sixteen year old Bianca’s parents decides they’re moving to Evernight Academy where they are starting as teachers, Bianca is horrified. Being extremely shy, bit of a loner and living in the same place her whole life, she’s not looking forward to this.

The night before the school starts she makes an attempt to run away and runs into Lucas who is also starting at the Evernight Academy. Lucas is a loner, and not to mention good-looking, and they start to spend time together.
But then one night Bianca nearly looses control and nothing is like it seems.

Girl goes into new school where everyone are rich, snobby, beautiful and bunch of vampires and a hot guy and there’s basically everything that goes on in this book.
I’ve read worse books but this wasn’t great either. But at least it was enjoyable.

Bianca makes some idiotic choices like trying to run away with nothing but flashlight. I mean who does that? And of course fall head over heels with the first boy she meets.

And what is with vampires going into school? Especially when this is a school where nearly everyone is a vampire then why about 400 year old goes into school? I admit that I laughed when teacher tries to explain ipod to a guy from 7th century but still.

The first half was pretty slow paced but action started to pick up in the second half. I’m still in two minds what to think about this but it was quick and enjoyable read.

[inlibrisveritas]

I did like this more than other young adult vampire romances because it's a bit different. For one the main character is vampire, and even though I can't stand how the author chose to tell the reader it's still different. Also it's set in a boarding school so that's a tad different too. Overall it's still the same, with the young love that's most definitely true love even though the likelihood of that is slim and the girl still falls in love with someone who people say she shouldn't and blah blah blah. But it is a little better.