Review: Evernight

Evernight
By Claudia Gray
Published 2009 by HarperTeen

The last ALA preparation book that I managed to sneak in before I left for the conference, I was hesitant about this one. I knew it was about vampires. I have always loved vampires and the supernatural, but I don't think I'm alone in saying it's not hard to get burned out on teen supernatural novels nowadays. But I remember being intrigued by this when it first came out. I have to say - I didn't think it was possible for a vampire book to surprise me anymore. But I was wrong! About halfway through this one, I can honestly say I didn't see the vampires coming. I was totally surprised by the twist in this and thought it worked wonderfully. I don't think the world Gray has created with the vampires is necessarily all that original, so I'll be excited to see how the series progresses now that the big secret has been revealed. I think I like the secondary characters, like Bianca's parents, more than the primary ones so far. But Bianca is not nearly as boring or whiny as she could be and Lucas is a nice hero for her. I'll definitely be reading the next one in the series!