I liked this gothic mystery more than I thought I would. Yes, it is true that the main character is a somewhat willing victim to a rather charming pretty boy. I agree that this YA trend is disturbing and very often mishandled so that it sends terrible messages about gender and power to readers. That said, I actually thought this novel handled this rather well. The main character, a foster kid who has been awarded a scholarship to a fancy but mysterious boarding school, makes some pretty foolish choices (i.e., allowing herself to be pretty literally used by a pretty boy) but it is clear that she makes these choices because of her very strong wish to be accepted and loved and to have a family. Those desires temporarily outweighed her strong sense of self-preservation and survival instincts. I found that refreshingly real; many young women, even smart ones, make dumb choices about relationships and eventually figure out how to make better decisions. Yes, some of the characters were a bit wooden but I found the central story to be different and compelling. I really enjoyed this book. It was a really interesting real like paranormal read. It was rather creepy at times and there was some great foreshadowing going on near the beginning of the novel. I loved the real creepy "what the hell is this guy up to" feel of the book. It was a cool take on vampires because they had most of those classic vampire traits but it was described as more of a sickness rather than the whole undead vampire that was passed down though genes. they are still hunted like vampires and treated like vampire but they aren't really vampires.I liked the main charter, Jane's story about were she came from and how she got there. She was a prissy girl that got into the school by fault but worked her little "mousie" butt off to get there. The girl came from nothing and now she can have what ever she wants. Her personality was a mix of god and bad. At times she was great and did things like a normal person and other times she got really angry, I didn't really like this about her but I guess it added to her background and coming from the "hood" but still didn't enjoy it very much. Now if you really dislike annoying, rich, stuck up boys who like to use girls you will find this book hard to read because of one of the other mains, Lucky. He is literally the definition of stuck up rich boy and he drove me mental. But Jack on the other hand, who is Lucky's brother was great. I loved jack he was easily my favorite character in the books. he was sassy, funny and had a great fairy tale obsession.The romance in this book was to die for. Its everything I look for in a YA romance. He did cute things like sleep near her cottage to make sure she was safe(now that I write that down it sounds kinda creepy, but I swear its cute) and he kept trying to tell her but she never understood untill the end. She didn't even get that the song he wrote about her was about her. so yes cuteness over load.Over all I loved this book and just had a few issues with some of the characters. It was an interesting creepy read with some cute romance. I would recommend this to those who like the above. and I have to say that I wish It was a series rather than a stand alone.
What do You think about Dark Companion (2012)?
I honestly love it, a dark but great story about Vampires shocker, and fairy's.
—liz
it was an awesome book! probably one of the best books ever! in my opinion.
—Chelsea
