Dark Companion by Marta Acosta book review

 

Dark Companion is the story of one lucky orphaned teen by the name of Jane Williams who is scooped out out the hood or ghetto and transferred to a great town , great school , given a place of her own to live , money to spend and all because of her great academics. While preparing to attend this fabulous new school she is taken under the wing of the head mistress and her family. A family having two sons both attractive in their own way but Jane is drawn to the youngest of the two Lucky for reasons she can't understand even though not so much at the beginning but as time went on we discover is a total rich snobby jerk. There is a connection between Jane and Jack the older of the two sons but Jane refuses to acknowledge it because Jack is not as cute as his brother and was a jerk to her upon their first meeting and continues to be a enigma through out the telling of this story. Jane does make some friends in this academy but is constantly comparing them to her best and old friend that she left behind to come to this school. There are also some side characters like a top drug dealer, a head b*tch of school, some teachers, a pimp, a dead friend , the head of a group home and many more characters that help make up this story. But when Jane discovers the true reason she was brought to her new school is when the story truly starts to take off. Ok I have to say that I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters , I loved the way it was written , the setting both the place Jane originally came from and where she went the only thing I didn't care too much for was the down play of the whole vampire thing. It was obvious from the way Acosta described most of the residents of this new town that they were vampires. And then then when she went on to describe their abilities I was further pushed into thinking that this is a vampire book but then Acosta backs out of it by saying “no these people just have some weird condition going all the way back their European ancestors that just makes so pale , have a need and crave for blood and have some special abilities. As quoted by me “Huh?” I'm like sitting there thinking they are so totally vampires and not even the newer age ones were it's kind of hard to tell because they don't need blood as much or have that pale vampire look but these were like the normal as described vampires. And I'm thinking maybe Acosta backed out of the vampire thing because it's been so over done but it makes feel some kind of way when a writer committees the reader to think one thing and then makes that thing so obvious and then because of what that thing is they try to tuck their tales between their legs and say “oops sorry didn't mean to make another vampire book but since I did I just going to say they have some weird condition” I yes I know vampire books are getting a little played out and over done but be proud of what you wrote . Have the courage to stand up and say “hey world yes I did make another vampire book and anyone who doesn’t like it can kiss my a**”. Anyone now that I'm done rating it's time for my own personal ratings. Yea! Whoo! *crowd cheering * The setting(s) a 10 out of 10 stars because no matter where the MC=main character was it was described in such a way that I felt like I was there. The characters a 10 out of 10 stars . Why? Because I felt like every character had a purpose and everyone was exactly who they said they were and I loved it! The plot ...ok 9 out of 10 only because the person that turned out to be the real villain in the story was someone wasn't really there throughout the story and when you have a villain like that unless you create a spin off just for them so that they can tell their side of the story you can't fully understand their motives. Cover art 10 out of 10. And the overall book experience a 7 out of 10 only because of the vampire/ not vampire thing and that it ran a little longer than expected, Acosta had plenty of moments where she could had ended the book after it's climax but didn't and kind of felt like she was just trying to fill pages at some point. Would I read a part two if there's a part two …....h*ll yes!