I copy an advanced reading copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program for review. It was a decent YA paranormal read. There are some creative aspects to the story that make it outshine some of the YA out there; most of the characters though leave a lot to be desired.
Jane Williams has been bounced between foster homes and group homes most of her life. She works very hard on her academics and is granted a scholarship to Birch Grove Academy for Girls. There she enters a life better than anything she could have imagined. The longer she is there though the more mysteries she unravels and she finds that Birch Grove has a dark side to it.
This book suffers from some very typical YA themes; there is a love triangle and the heroine suffers from beautiful boy insta-love stupidity. The plot is also fairly predictable.
Jane was one of the worst parts of this book for me. Upon arriving at Birch Grove she instantly falls for two brothers; one light and perfect named Lucky and one dark and wild named Jack. Despite the fact that Lucky is creepy as all get out...Jane is drawn to him. This made me sigh, why are these heroines always inexplicable drawn to these creepy dudes? Jane is very stupid where Lucky is concerned. Jane is so responsible and steadfast in most aspects of her life, but when Lucky enters the room she looses all self-respect and becomes a doe-eyed idiot. I hate, hate, hate that.
Jack is a better character and the witty banter between him and Jane was fun to read.
By far the best character in the whole book is Mary Violet, who is super funny and super over the top. Mary Violet is a curvaceous girl who celebrates all things girly, is more insightful than she at first seems, a better friend than Jane deserves, and loves to make up crazy words to describe strange situations. I loved her, she added so much creativity and light and fun to the story.
The other redeeming quality to this story was that its take on vampirism was different than that normally seen in YA. Vampires arent romanticized but they arent evil either.
The story is incredibly predictable. I could have told you how it ended right from the beginning. That being said there is a decent mystery supporting the gooey eyed romance, which is nice. The writing at points gives the story a slightly gothic feel.
The writing is a bit inconsistent. Parts of the book are beautifully written and lovely to read, creating wonderful imagery. Other parts of the book are pretty basic YA writing. All in all the book ends up being a decent light YA paranormal read. Not the worst Ive read, but not the best either.
Overall an okay YA paranormal romance. I enjoyed some of the side characters. I also thought Jane was a good character except when it came to her absolute stupidity about Lucky. The plot is incredibly predictable and the writing is a bit inconsistent, but there are some beautiful patches of writing that give the novel a dark and gothic feel. I did enjoy that the way vampirism is dealt with was a bit different from typical paranormal YA. I would tentatively recommend to those who love YA paranormal romance books.
Jane Williams has been bounced between foster homes and group homes most of her life. She works very hard on her academics and is granted a scholarship to Birch Grove Academy for Girls. There she enters a life better than anything she could have imagined. The longer she is there though the more mysteries she unravels and she finds that Birch Grove has a dark side to it.
This book suffers from some very typical YA themes; there is a love triangle and the heroine suffers from beautiful boy insta-love stupidity. The plot is also fairly predictable.
Jane was one of the worst parts of this book for me. Upon arriving at Birch Grove she instantly falls for two brothers; one light and perfect named Lucky and one dark and wild named Jack. Despite the fact that Lucky is creepy as all get out...Jane is drawn to him. This made me sigh, why are these heroines always inexplicable drawn to these creepy dudes? Jane is very stupid where Lucky is concerned. Jane is so responsible and steadfast in most aspects of her life, but when Lucky enters the room she looses all self-respect and becomes a doe-eyed idiot. I hate, hate, hate that.
Jack is a better character and the witty banter between him and Jane was fun to read.
By far the best character in the whole book is Mary Violet, who is super funny and super over the top. Mary Violet is a curvaceous girl who celebrates all things girly, is more insightful than she at first seems, a better friend than Jane deserves, and loves to make up crazy words to describe strange situations. I loved her, she added so much creativity and light and fun to the story.
The other redeeming quality to this story was that its take on vampirism was different than that normally seen in YA. Vampires arent romanticized but they arent evil either.
The story is incredibly predictable. I could have told you how it ended right from the beginning. That being said there is a decent mystery supporting the gooey eyed romance, which is nice. The writing at points gives the story a slightly gothic feel.
The writing is a bit inconsistent. Parts of the book are beautifully written and lovely to read, creating wonderful imagery. Other parts of the book are pretty basic YA writing. All in all the book ends up being a decent light YA paranormal read. Not the worst Ive read, but not the best either.
Overall an okay YA paranormal romance. I enjoyed some of the side characters. I also thought Jane was a good character except when it came to her absolute stupidity about Lucky. The plot is incredibly predictable and the writing is a bit inconsistent, but there are some beautiful patches of writing that give the novel a dark and gothic feel. I did enjoy that the way vampirism is dealt with was a bit different from typical paranormal YA. I would tentatively recommend to those who love YA paranormal romance books.
I received the ARC of this book from a friend. The tag on the front says "Recommended reading for teen/gothic vampire fiction fans as well as for Jane Eyre fans of any age." I do love vampires and I do love Jane Eyre. When I started reading this book though some of that did not apply but it is still a very interesting read.
Jane is a poor, foster kid who has lost her best friend and getting by the best that she can in the hood. She is watching her other friend fall deep into drugs and prostitution and the only way out for Jane is her education. She gets accepted to the exclusive Birch Grove Academy. Suddenly all of her dreams are coming true. She has money, a nice home, and wonderful new friends. Seems too good to be true.
Jane finds herself drawn to the headmistress gorgeous son Lucian, but wonders why the other son Jack wants nothing to do with her. I smell a love triangle here. Jane discovers that things are not always what they seem. After witnessing a shocking scene, Jane runs back to the hood to find nothing waiting for her. Her only hope is to go back to Birch Grove and finish her education.
I have never read any book by Marta Acosta and I enjoyed this one very much. The characters are wonderfully written with just enough information but not too much. I absolutely love Mary Violet. We have all had loud and fabulous friends like her. I laughed out loud at some of her poems. There may be more room for another book about Jane. I hope so.
Jane is a poor, foster kid who has lost her best friend and getting by the best that she can in the hood. She is watching her other friend fall deep into drugs and prostitution and the only way out for Jane is her education. She gets accepted to the exclusive Birch Grove Academy. Suddenly all of her dreams are coming true. She has money, a nice home, and wonderful new friends. Seems too good to be true.
Jane finds herself drawn to the headmistress gorgeous son Lucian, but wonders why the other son Jack wants nothing to do with her. I smell a love triangle here. Jane discovers that things are not always what they seem. After witnessing a shocking scene, Jane runs back to the hood to find nothing waiting for her. Her only hope is to go back to Birch Grove and finish her education.
I have never read any book by Marta Acosta and I enjoyed this one very much. The characters are wonderfully written with just enough information but not too much. I absolutely love Mary Violet. We have all had loud and fabulous friends like her. I laughed out loud at some of her poems. There may be more room for another book about Jane. I hope so.
Its hard to describe the type of book that DARK COMPANION is. It seems to contain paranormal elements, yet never entirely crosses over into the realm of the supernatural. One thing, though, is for sure: DARK COMPANION explores the grittiness of life in foster care, the glamour of a delightful new life in boarding school, and the drastic decisions one may be forced to take in order to determine ones future.
DARK COMPANION has interesting characters going for it. The protagonist, Jane, has had a rough childhood, which manifests in how she deals with things: she is suspicious about things that sound too good to be true, slow to open up to others, and pragmatically looks after her own affairs. Jack is particularly appealing in how he uses a teasing nature to cover his deeper thoughts and concerns. However, Mary Violet, Janes cheerful close friend at Birch Grove, steals the show, with her adorable (mis)use of vocabulary and her remarkable ability to bridge intelligence with endearing optimism.
It comes as a disappointment, then, that DARK COMPANION struggles under a distracting number of writing issues and clichéd aspects. This tome could have easily been cut in half with tighter editing and more attention paid to whether conversations, descriptions, or scenes are really necessary for the progression of the story. DARK COMPANION contains a lot of unnecessary dialogues that usually sound like something along the lines of: Want to have dinner at our place tomorrow night? Yeah, sure, that sounds great. Great! When should I pick you up? Um, I dont know, when is good for you? How about 7? Seven sounds perfect. Great! Ill see you then. See you! when all of that couldve easily been expressed with the sentence, He invited me to have dinner with his family tomorrow night.
Furthermore, despite Janes claims of pragmatism and maturity, she falls into the all-too-convenient trope of supposedly smart female MC going stupid over an undeserving boy. Sure, I can understand the fact that all people will act in a retrospectively idiotic way when they are in limerencebut Janes doormat behavior for the supposed love of her life was so inconsistent with her independence-as-a-result-of-a-miserable-upbringing that I could never entirely stomach it.
DARK COMPANION does have its commendable aspects: condense it by about a third, and you have a story thats real enough for readers to connect with the characters, yet strange enough to keep your attention. If this is a setup for more in a series (and it certainly reads like it), I would be curious to see what more strange and fantastical scenarios Marta Acosta will create for readers.
DARK COMPANION has interesting characters going for it. The protagonist, Jane, has had a rough childhood, which manifests in how she deals with things: she is suspicious about things that sound too good to be true, slow to open up to others, and pragmatically looks after her own affairs. Jack is particularly appealing in how he uses a teasing nature to cover his deeper thoughts and concerns. However, Mary Violet, Janes cheerful close friend at Birch Grove, steals the show, with her adorable (mis)use of vocabulary and her remarkable ability to bridge intelligence with endearing optimism.
It comes as a disappointment, then, that DARK COMPANION struggles under a distracting number of writing issues and clichéd aspects. This tome could have easily been cut in half with tighter editing and more attention paid to whether conversations, descriptions, or scenes are really necessary for the progression of the story. DARK COMPANION contains a lot of unnecessary dialogues that usually sound like something along the lines of: Want to have dinner at our place tomorrow night? Yeah, sure, that sounds great. Great! When should I pick you up? Um, I dont know, when is good for you? How about 7? Seven sounds perfect. Great! Ill see you then. See you! when all of that couldve easily been expressed with the sentence, He invited me to have dinner with his family tomorrow night.
Furthermore, despite Janes claims of pragmatism and maturity, she falls into the all-too-convenient trope of supposedly smart female MC going stupid over an undeserving boy. Sure, I can understand the fact that all people will act in a retrospectively idiotic way when they are in limerencebut Janes doormat behavior for the supposed love of her life was so inconsistent with her independence-as-a-result-of-a-miserable-upbringing that I could never entirely stomach it.
DARK COMPANION does have its commendable aspects: condense it by about a third, and you have a story thats real enough for readers to connect with the characters, yet strange enough to keep your attention. If this is a setup for more in a series (and it certainly reads like it), I would be curious to see what more strange and fantastical scenarios Marta Acosta will create for readers.
