School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Bianca has been uprooted from her happy, uneventful life to start anew at an elite boarding school where her parents will now be professors. Even though Bianca doesn't feel that she is the Evernight type-rich, beautiful, or gifted-she knows that her parents feel this is best for her. She and Lucas Ross share a special connection from the moment they meet and he, like Bianca and a few others, is an outsider. He is a rebel who is on a mission to discover the secret behind Evernight Academy. As the weeks progress, their relationship heats up. What they don't realize, however, is that they each harbor a great secret that could divide them forever. Can their love survive the truth? Gray's writing hooks readers from the first page and reels them in with surprising plot twists and turns, and the open ending will keep them guessing and waiting on the edge of their seats for the next book in the series. A must-have for fans of vampire stories by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Stephenie Meyer, and the like.-Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Bianca's creepy new school is full of sharply beautiful students with unsettling habits. Turns out they're vampires. The twist is, so is she (sort of), and the only one who doesn't know is her boyfriend--an undercover vampire hunter. The tale of star-crossed lovers unfolds with predictable angst, but Gray makes clever use of the school-story and vampire formulas. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Star-crossed lovers, vampires and a passive heroine populate this first in a projected four-book series. When Bianca's parents accept teaching jobs at gloomy, gothic Evernight, she considers running away, but instead meets handsome fellow student Lucas. Their absorbing love grows rapidly despite his shady behavior. But both are hiding important truths: She's a vampire and he's a vampire hunter. The problem is Bianca's first-person narration. Why does she hide her vampirism from the reader for half the book? The mysterious foreshadowing and hints about "Evernight type" students seem disingenuous at best once readers realize Bianca knew everything all along. Thin characterization, a need to state the obvious and constant iteration of Lucas's name quickly grow old. Some fun details (a modern technology class where vampires learn to use iPods), the inexorable clash between the vampires and their Black Cross hunters and the open question of what will happen next make this enjoyable enough, particularly for fans of that other vampire series who need something to read while they wait for Breaking Dawn (Meyer, 2008). (Fantasy. 12 & up) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Well-dressed, private-school vampires are a growing trend in teen horror lit. Bloodsucking Gossip Girls have shown up in Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series, Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books, and now in this debut, set in a spooky, exclusive boarding school. Sixteen-year-old Bianca is dreading her first day at Evernight Academy, where her parents have taken teaching positions. Then she meets handsome outsider Lucas, for whom she falls with quick intensity. Everyone at Evernight has secrets, even Bianca, and as her romance deepens, she risks revealing the otherworld identity of Evernight's glamorous population, even as she wonders if Lucas, too, is hiding something. Some logistical questions about the student body, composed of both vampires and humans, are left unanswered, and a few story threads, particularly about Evernight's headmistress, are left dangling; the ending leaves room for a sequel that may tie everything together. Still, Stephenie Meyer fans will find similar rewards in the flashes of humor; the terrifying battle between ancient, supernatural societies; and the steamy romance in which love bites aren't just a euphemism.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2008 Booklist