Evernight (Evernight, Book 1) [Paperback]

Claudia Gray (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 10, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen; 1 Reprint edition (February 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061284440
• ISBN-13: 978-0061284441
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (220 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Claudia Gray has worked as a lawyer, a journalist, a disc jockey, and an extremely poor waitress. Her lifelong interests in old houses, classic movies, vintage style, and history all play a part in creating the world of Evernight.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable genre-bender July 4, 2008

By Frederick Eli Nelson

Format:Hardcover

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!

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Who are these strange people at evernight academy? So beautiful, so rich, so...different. July 23, 2008

By Madame X TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, But Not a Standout in the Genre August 14, 2008

By Nicole H. VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I haven't been a teenager for quite a few years now, but I do love a good vampire story. That's the reason I selected Evernight as one of my Amazon Vine picks.

I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't blown away by this tale of a teenage girl who is dragged to Evernight Academy, a gothic boarding school, by her parents when they take positions as teachers there.

Bianca, the main character and narrator of the book, wasn't a particular deep, insightful, or unique character. It is pity that the book is from her point-of-view. The author tries to pull off a surprise twist in the middle of novel, but instead of being a shocking revelation my reaction was more "uh, okay, that really doesn't work with what's happened already in the novel." It was not a good reaction.

I believe this is the author's first novel, and I do see promise in the setting, supporting characters, and the writing style. I will likely read future books by her to see if some of the issues with this novel can be avoided in those.