Review: Evernight by Claudia Gray

Book Description from Goodreads:

Bianca wants to escape.

She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight type" either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.

"I couldn't stand it if they took it out on you," he tells Bianca, "and eventually they would."

But the connection between Bianca and Lucas 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.

Source: Won from June (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

Upon picking up Evernight, I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe in the back of my mind, I expected something like Twilight or Vampire Academy. But when I started reading, I found an addicting novel. Claudia Gray wrote smoothly with words freshly dripping with the emotions of Bianca. I adored it. Reading her lines gave me a sense of enjoyment that I haven’t found in other books. She weaved the story with tension and surprise, bringing together Lucas and Bianca in the midst of guilt and lies.

Bianca was pulled out from the world she knew – from her home, her place, her school, and her friends. And when she’s enrolled at Evernight, she didn’t fit in. I guess this is understandable since Evernight gives her a feeling of uneasiness. Bianca is probably the most unvampiric vampire that I ever read about. She doesn’t seem like one to me until her inner vampire unexpectedly surfaces. And when it did happen, a deep hunger strikes her since, giving her fire that burns her heart.

Lucas is one of the few students that don’t fit in. He assumes the role of a protector, looking out for Bianca and warning her about Evernight Academy. His hot temper and his strength is a risky combination that gets him in fights. But I guess when you have a mom like Lucas did, who has ingrained in your mind that people are divided into two: predator and prey, you will probably end up like him. He softens because of Bianca, feeling something so strong that makes him forget his being and his purpose.

The other characters were amusing as well. Bianca’s parents were both endearing teachers. And I really liked the way Bianca’s mom bounced on the balls of her feet when she gets excited. To me it was something so human. And of course, Balthazar the centuries old vampire is swoon-worthy. I hope I’ll get to see more of him in Stargazer, the sequel.

Although it took quite a while for the author to show the vampire in Bianca, I found myself not caring about it. She writes too well that I realized I was simply reading for one purpose only: to enjoy myself. And I did. But the author did make up for the slowness with a thrilling and heart pounding race that leads to a hopeful ending.

Evernight is an addicting vampire novel that follows Bianca as she witnesses the merging of truths and lies, the good side and bad side of being a vampire and the surfacing of her thirst for blood and for love.

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