REVIEW - Night School by C.J. Daugherty

Title: Night School 

Author: C.J. Daugherty

Series: Night School #1

Publisher: Atom

Published: January 5th 2012

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
Links: Goodreads / Amazon
Source: Bought paperback

Summary:
Allie's world is falling apart...

She hates her school. Her brother has run away. And she's just been arrested.

Again.

Now her parents are sending her away to a boarding school where she doesn't know a soul.

But instead of hating her new school, Allie finds she's happy there. She's making friends. And then there's Sylvain, a suave French student who openly flirts with her. And Carter, the brooding loner who seems to have her back.

Soon, though, Allie discovers Cimmeria Academy is no ordinary school. Nothing there is as it seems. And her new friends are hiding dangerous secrets.

4/5 

OK so there is very little I can say about this book without giving away huge spoilers so I'll just keep it short. This book was really intriguing. Not at all what I thought it was going to be. It kept be guessing throughout nearly the entire book as to what exactly was going on. And boy was it not what I thought it was. Normally I am able to guess pretty much straight away what the whole big secret is that everyone is hiding. It's usually pretty obvious. But not with Night School. This book threw me one hell of a curve ball. One minute I think "Oh no this is definitely what is going on, I know what they're hiding" and then the next minute the author just takes the story off in a completely different direction. I was left almost disorientated from the sudden change. Snaps to the author for keeping me on the edge of my seat and completely dumbfounded as to what was happening. Not easy to do. 

Now on to the characters. I liked Allie. She had a backbone and stuck up for herself. I always hate characters that just roll over and take the abuse. But not Allie. She knew when to fight back and not let people walk all over her. She's had a tough time since her brother disappeared and I felt really sorry for her. I could understand why she went so off the rails and my heart broke for her when she was telling us how she got to such a low point in her life.  When she gets to Cimmeria she makes some new friends. Rachel I liked the most I thought she was a great friend to Allie and was there for her when she needed a friend the most. Jo I don't know what to think of. At first she was so lovely and funny and a great friend but then it all when down hill. I can kind of see why she did what she did but I don't know if I'd be able to forgive her for it. We also have Lucas and Jules and Gabe and of course the bitch of the book Katie. 

But then we have the dreaded love triangle. Oh goody gumdrops -_- *sigh* I know that probably nearly every YA book I'm gonna pick up is gonna have a love triangle at some stage in it and that I should just learn to accept that but they just annoy me so much. I really don't see the point. Why is it always that as soon as there's a new girl in school she becomes an instant boy magnet? Especially when boys never paid her this much attention before. The odd love triangle I can stomach. But not this one. I am definitely Team Carter on this one. Sylvain, I dunno, I did like him at first I thought he was really nice but then I got a bit wary. He was just too slick and smooth. And then after what he did I was 100% against him. Toward the end he seemed to really regret what he did and he did seem to genuinely care about Allie but I still can't forgive him for what he did. Carter on the other hand was the perfect brooding, angry male that I fall for every time. Him and Allie were great together and I really hope the author doesn't mess up their relationship too much in the next book. Just please let them be? Pretty please with cherries on top? I don't want a horrible love triangle dragging out over the entire series. I get that from enough books (Born at Midnight series I'm looking at you). 

So to sum up this is a fantastic mystery/thriller that will have you guessing as to what the bloody hell is going on right up to the end.  There are so many questions left unanswered so I can't wait to get my hands on book 2 to see where the author will take us next.