A Reader's Heart

You know I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was expecting, with a name like Night School, for it to be paranormal/fantasy. Well, if it is, I missed it.

Night School is a mystery, full of secrets and lies. It also has a reasonable amount of action, death, suspense and drama. I loved that it was set in a large, seemingly never-ending, Gothic mansion. The aura was dark and the people in it just as weird. The setting was just fantastic for a story of this type.

It all starts off with Allie being arrested for defacing school property. Her parents have lost hope that she will ever get back on the straight and narrow. As a last resort, they send her to Cimmeria Academy, a school no one had ever heard of. Yeah, that was a little 'it's been done before', but I still enjoyed it. To the other students at Cimmeria Academy, she was a mystery. She had no link to the school and the other students were 'legacies'. Descendants from those who had attended the school for centuries.There's two boys she meets - ones that are central to the plot.

First of all there's Carter West, who has lived at Cimmeria Academy all his life and Sylvain (who mysteriously doesn't have a last name that I can recall, but whose parents are ridiculously wealthy). In fact, almost all the students who attend the school are rich. Anyway, both boys take her interest, but something changes her mind about one of them. Not saying what because that would be a spoiler.So would telling you what Allie discovers about herself and her family.

I must admit that if there was a 'team Carter' or a 'team Sylvain' going on, I'm definitely 'team Carter'. He's a very cliched boy character, but there's something I really love about the 'I'll push you away because I'm too scared to fall for you' type of boy. Daughterty doesn't really go into great detail about what the Night School actually is at first, or what they do, but she does in time - not enough to satisfy my curiosity though.

It's more a general description of what those in the 'Night School' can aspire to be, more than anything else.The mix of characters are really interesting and, I never realized until I read on, a definite good and bad vibe. The reason for that comes out towards the end of the book. There are a lot of minor characters who I really loved, mainly girls, and they are Jules, Jo, Ruth and Rachel. Isabelle, the headmistress, is one of my favorites. On the boys' side - not so much.

This book isn't a five star book, well, not to me, but I really liked it a lot. And I really hope there's a sequel because I really want to know more about that school.