This post will be the review only. I will post the contest this weekend as I am having a crazy week.Stargazer (Evernight Academy, Book 2) by Claudia GrayHarperTeen (March 24, 2009)329 pages (Hardcover)Originality: 19!Characters: 20!Writing: 19!Setting: 10!Plot: 19!Passion: 10!Grade: 97/100!NEW! Cover Bonus Points: 2/5!99/100!Inside flap description:The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all--vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.But Bianca fell in love with Lucas--a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school.Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross--or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies.Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .Read an excerpt HERE!Originality:The plot was very original in this book. Ghosts, vampires, humans, teens, adults, extremely old vampire teens. It has it all. Everything worked well together in this recent installment by Claudia Gray.Characters:Bianca and Lucas's love holds strong even thought they are forced apart. We learn more about Bianca, her parents, and her roommate Raquel. We also learn a bit more about snob Courtney. And a major character this time around is one of my favorite characters: Balthazar. We also meet his sister in this book, who turns out to be a major character.Writing:Claudia did such a better job on the writing this time around! I remember reading Evernight feeling confused and a bit ahead of where the reader should have been or something like that. Not with this book. I felt right at home. Everything matched and met up at the correct times. There was no confusion about the storyline, the characters, or even where it was all leading to. It was very well done.Setting:Well, the setting is Evernight Academy. A giant stone building with towers and gargoyles. The setting is setup very well. A lot takes place within Evernight and the details needed to convey the setting were there, not aggressive but not lacking either. We got to travel a bit in this book and each new setting was welcome and presented just great.Plot:This book was chock full o' badassness! There was lots of action, lots of planning, lots of collaboration between characters. Overall, I had tons of fun reading this. Everything worked out in the end with little-to-no loose ends, well except for the ending, but that's to be expected!Passion:Wow. The passion is totally there. Between Lucas and Bianca and even Bianca and Balty. Lucas and Bianca have a very close scene that they both ended up confused by what the other wants and it ends terribly, terribly bad. I wanted to cry and beat someone up. I felt totally sad for Bianca but I also understood where Lucas was coming from. And what makes it even worse is that Balthazar is such a nice guy, vampire, whatever, and he and Bianca would work great together. They share a moment that was so hot it was freezing....for a moment I thought I was reading one of my adult romances.Cover:The cover isn't that great. They stayed true with the artwork of the first book with a contrasted pic of a girl but I don't get it. I do love the font that Stargazer is set in though. And the purple is cool too.Overall:This was a great book. I totally loved it and I was soo sad with the end. Because I didn't want it to end. Here's the closing line:"Yeah." I looked at Lucas as I took his hand in mine. "I'm with you."So, needless to say, I WANT MORE!The next book titled Hourglass will probably be a whole year away.There are some cool wallpapers and avatars on Claudia's website!Stay tuned for my contest of a BRAND NEW copy of Stargazer! I'll be posting it sometime later this week!http://bookreviewsbyjess.blogspot.com/2009/03/stargazer-evernight-academy-book-2-by.html ( )

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

As her second year at Evernight Academy begins, Bianca wants nothing more than to see her boyfriend, Lucas, again. But the distance between them - she the daughter of two vampires, he a trained vampire hunter - makes her wonder if they'll ever be together.

So when Lucas manages to get a message to her, arranging to meet in secret, she's willing to do anything to make that happen. Even if it means sneaking around the school trying to discover the secret Lucas's family so desperately wants to discover. Even if it means pretending to date Balthazar, Lucas's rival, as an excuse to leave school grounds.

As if all that didn't complicate her life enough, Bianca realizes there's something scarier than vampires lurking within Evernight's walls. Something that has a particular interest in her. Soon, Bianca finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew: about vampires, about her love for Lucas, and about who and what she really is.

Fans of EVERNIGHT will be delighted with this sequel, which offers the same passionate romance and Gothic mystery as the first book, combined with intriguing new characters and conflicts. Bianca continues to struggle to take control of her destiny, balancing strength and vulnerability. Supporting characters like Balthazar and Raquel, Bianca's human friend, reveal more of their complex histories.

Readers may find that, for everything that happens, rather little is resolved, but that will only make them all the more eager for the third volume of this intense and suspenseful series. ( )

Stargazer lived up to all my expectations I had for it! It was a phenomonal continuation of Bianca's story that carried on Evernight's initial plot, with relationships between characters becoming much more complex. The characters become so much more defined, and really just jump off the page at you.

I loved how in class, the things they discussed with Ms. Bethany totallly was symbolism for what happened with different characters in the book. In parts of Stargazer, Bianca got on my nerves. Some of her plans were so obviously going to go wrong, yet she agreed to go on with them.

I never was quite sure where Stargazer was going to go next, and found myself pondering past events as I read forward. The end was definately something you wouldn't expect, which made it all the better.

I was depressed when I got to the end, as I now have to wait until next spring for Hourglass, and hear more of Bianca's story. ( )

Once again Claudia Gray has written a fabulous book! Stargazer picks up shortly after Evernight, the first book in the series. Immediately I knew that as much as I loved Evernight, this book was going to top it. This time around we learn more about Balthazar, and also about Lucas and Bianca's love story.

Gray's characters are strong, no sitting around, pining for each other with these guys! The action starts early on in the book, with a strange occurrence happening in the school which turns out to be a big mystery to solve along the way.

For fear of giving too much away, I really don't want to go into too much detail. But I will say that I LOVED LOVED LOVED Stargazer, and would recommend the series to anyone looking for an exciting, interesting series to pick up. ( )

I really REALLY did not like Evernight and I'm unsure why I bothered to read Stargazer. Suprisingly, it was better than Evernight, but some of the concepts and plot lines were still stupid. Not the biggest fan of the writing style either, but overall, better than Evernight, which made the read almost worth it. ( )