Well.... It wasn't that the writing was all so very awful. It really wasn't. It was just all the stereotypical teen angst that was so annoying. Bianca is supposed to be in high school, but she certainly acts like a middle school aged brat. Then there's this: she has a brief encounter with a guy once and by the next day, he is her soul-mate - they are connected at the core. Their hearts beat as one. The suddenness of the overwhelming feelings these two almost immediately have for each other was unbelievable. I had to stop reading to take a glucose tolerance test. I really cannot stand that kind of nonsense. I thought I knew exactly how the rest of the story was going to pan out...

But then - BAM! - a surprising plot twist. Then I was glad I had not stopped reading. I thought to myself, "Self...this is getting good!" Then - little bam - disappointment. Just as the story started to get interesting, it fell back into the old teen angst and nonsense. Undying love for someone you just met - to the point of possibly choosing this person over your own family. I think the only characters I liked were Raquel and Vic - the two humans. Maybe I'm just not into vampire novels. To be fair, I don't normally read them. So, if you like vampire stories, you may enjoy this. It's an interesting idea - the vampire school that helps vamps acclimate to the world outside - the world of humans. There's also the "rarity" of the "born" vampire - Bianca. And then there are the members of "Black Cross" who are out to rid the world of the blood suckers. I suppose it could be interesting - I suppose I should have liked it. I just didn't. For me, there was too much super-sappy teen romance and not enough story. ( )

Evernight is a book that when I first saw the cover of it I ran away. It was such an obnoxious shade of reddish pink that my brain refused to let me even consider reading the blurb. When the second book, Stargazer, came out (in a lovely purple color) I picked it up and read through it (spoiling myself for the first book) and resolved to pick up Evernight. Except my brain kept rebelling. Luckily my friend thought I would like it and sent me a copy of both books to read (sans the DJ's), otherwise I'd still be trying to convince my stubborn brain that it was worth reading even if the cover gave me migraines (I wish I was joking).

There's a twist that I won't reveal, but if you've ever seen Are You Afraid of the Dark?'s episode 'The Night Nurse' you might be able to guess what it is. As it is I had to re-read the paragraph that gave it away (even after reading the blurb for book 2) since it kind of just made me go 'whaaa?'. The build-up is really good--so much is hinted at, but the truth explains most of it and hindsight is such a wonderful concept.

At first I was wary of Bianca's infatuation with Lucas, she bordered on the obsessive quite honestly and it made me want to punch something. Teen hormones and the thrill of first love cover only so much, but I'm glad she doesn't let herself become too absorbed with her misery. She makes a concerted effort to try and be content, if not happy (I doubt she'd be happy) at least.

The novel paces itself choppily--some sections go by quickly and others drag on and on, giving the reader no real sense of 'time'. From the beginning of the novel to the Autumn Ball its been two months I think, but it feels like it should have been longer (then again isn't that what High School feels like when you're stuck there?).

Most of the characters are given a wide brush for personalities--with Vic (Lucas' friend) the most interesting (really I want to see a surfer dude in a gothic castle...) and the varied members of the student body that are 'evil' (so to speak) doing childish, petty and cruel things. A lot of the reactions seem to assume they are explained once the plot twist is revealed, but I was still left feeling like I had missed out on a chapter of information. Presumably (from the second book blurb) some of the mystery is explained in book 2 at least.

Oh and the mid-way twist? Not the last twist. There's at least one more and the prologue takes on a whole new meaning also. ( )

I knew the main character was going to become a vampire from the start. There is no doubt about it; it follows the conventions of the genre, for example. I thought she would discover it, not that she already knew. The main character seemed to overlook the minor detail of being a vampire during the story. Of course, it was Miss Gray’s way of revealing it in the middle of the story.

This could have been an interesting book about a girl who knows she’s a vampire, one of only a few children born of vampires. Instead, the author attempted to trick us by hiding this from us at the beginning. It made little sense to me beyond that point. As much as I tried, my anger prevented me from reading further.

Though Evernight wasn't as flawed as other YA books, it still promotes foolish teenage love as real love. I don’t think the concept is original. The book is a Twilight version of Vampire Knight, except written by someone who actually researched and developed her characters.

I didn’t even finish it because I had better things to do... The book was boring and unreal, even though it was a fantasy. Wish it would be more enjoyable for other people... ( )

At first i thought this book was going to end up like all those other YA books with star-crossed lovers, boarding school, and vampires. But it didn't completely follow what happens in those plots of other books. And i liked the main twist of story setup. I'm not going to say what it is, but it was nice. ( )

J’étais vraiment très excitée à l’idée de lire ce livre, j’avais prévu de le faire juste après Twilight mais j’avais eu ma dose de vampires en ce temps-là.

Evernight contient plusieurs éléments qu’on rencontre très souvent dans les livres : école privée, vampires, amour interdit, héroine qui manque d’assurance et le beau et mystérieux nouveau gars. Cependant, je pensais sérieusement que l’auteur allait manier ces éléments d’une façon originale et me surprendre. Je ne savais pas à quel point j’allais être surprise !

Le livre se sépare en deux parties distinctes :

J’ai beaucoup aimé la première partie, l’histoire se déroule comme dans n’importe quel livre YA : une jeune fille entame sa première année dans une école prestigieuse du nom de Evernight où ses parents exercent tous deux comme professeurs, les élèves sont quelques peu bizarres avec leurs beauté extravagante et leur intelligence mais elle arrive à s’intégrer, elle se fait des amis comme Balthazar et Courtney et elle réussit même à trouver l’amour dans les bras de Lucas. Même s’il réagit bizarrement en présence des autres étudiants, il se montre très gentil et aimant avec elle, jusqu’au soir du bal où les choses basculent et qu’elle mord Lucas et par « mordre » je veux dire « vampire-morsure ».

C’est là que commence la deuxième partie du livre qui commence par le moment où j’ai crié WTF ???!!!

En lisant le synopsis on peut facilement deviner que Evernight est une école pour vampires qui, un peu à la Vampire Knight, fait cohabiter les créatures de la nuit avec les humains (qui ignorent leur vraie nature) dans une sorte de trêve de paix. On devine aussi que Lucas est un vampire qui va tomber amoureux de notre héroïne mais détrompez vous mes chers ! C’est bien tout le contraire car c’est Bianca le vampire ! Et devinez quoi ? elle le sait !

Je n’ai jamais autant choquée durant toute ma vie de bouquineuse, j’étais obligée de mettre le livre de côté pour me remettre du choc ; qu’elle le morde sans en avoir conscience, que ses pouvoirs se réveillent dans un moment de haute tension sexuelle j’aurais pu le comprendre, mais que depuis tout le début de l’histoire mademoiselle nous fait croire que le tout le monde autour d’elle agit bizarrement et qu’elle n’a pas la moindre idée de ce qui se passe, alors là !! Il n’y a même pas eu de petits indices susceptibles de semer le doute ! Rien ! Nada !

C’est ce grand moment de confusion qui a gâché le quelque peu de plaisir que j’éprouvais en lisant, soudainement Bianca se mettait à parler de son vampirisme naturellement, de ce que ses parents lui racontaient quand elle était petite, des changements qui allaient se produire et affecter son organisme et surtout sa relation avec Lucas car il n’était pas un vampire (comme je le croyais) ni un simple humain mais un chasseur de vampires.

Malgré le grand WTF l’auteur a réussi remettre son récit sur les rails et à le rendre très intéressant même si vampire/chasseur fut exploitée plusieurs fois, je repris goût à l’histoire et je suis même parvenue à aimer Lucas (pas autant que Balthazar) mais assez pour vouloir en apprendre plus sur les Black Cross et lire la suite des tomes.
( )