Evernight (Evernight #1), Claudia Gray
327 pages
paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Started 4/16/12
Finished 4/18/12
3.5 STARS
Sorry to say that Evernight failed to captivate me, at least at first. It did have some redeeming qualities, however, it was like pulling teeth to get to them.
Our story opens with Bianca planning to run away from her new boarding school. She lives there now with her parents who are teachers, and she's really chapped about the whole situation. While she's hoofing it through the forest, she literally runs into Lucas, a cute new student like her. He talks her into going back and starting the school year with him. Bianca likes him, but he throws off mixed signals. The night of the school dance (which Bianca attends with Balthazar, the third element in our typical love triangle), Bianca and Lucas share their first kiss, and then she bites him in the neck. Yup. She's a vampire. Things get complicated from there for she and Lucas, as one might expect.
First off, I was quite annoyed to find out that Bianca knew the entire time she was a vampire. I thought it would be, like this big revelation. Like, "Holy crap! I like blood! I had no idea! Why didn't mom and dad tell me??" But, the reader finds out that Bianca was born a vampire, so she's known she's one her whole life. Obviously, her parents (and 90% of the school staff and students) are also vampires. It really confused me as a reader, when I think the intention was supposed to be cleverness.
A little while after we find out Bianca is a vampire, the story vastly improved. Until that time, the plot was slow, sometimes plodding along at what seemed like a snails pace. After Bianca and Lucas have it out and all the cards are laid on the table, the story quickens and I was finally engaged. The end was good, which I guess is the most important thing, since it left me wanting to read the next book in the series.
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