Dark Companion by Marta Acosta
- Pub. Date: July 3, 2012
- Publisher: Tor/Forge
- Pages: 368
When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent urban neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She's even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper's cottage in the center of the birch grove.
Something's not quite right about the school -- or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She's also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.
The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.
Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school...and be bound to Birch Grove forever?
Something's not quite right about the school -- or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She's also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.
The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.
Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school...and be bound to Birch Grove forever?
Review:
Dark Companion had a Gothic dark vibe to it, which was able to capture my attention instantly. We are introduced to Jane who lives in a shady very violent type neighborhood called Helmsdale. She applies her self in school and is offered a scholarship to Birch Grove Academy an elite school for girls. She couldn't be more thrilled about her change of luck but she has this feeling that there is something very off about the school.
I wasn't able to really connect to any of the characters but I still liked Jane for the most part. She has lived a hard life but is determined to succeed in life. What made me annoyed with her character was how she let Lucky who is abusive and very possessive to treat her so cruelly and kept making up excuses for him. We are told from the beginning how tough she is and she doesn't take crap from no one but then she lets Lucky walk all over her, it just didn't make sense. I was actually contemplating to stop reading the book at that point. There was one character I did like a hundred percent and that was Mary-Violet. She is Jane's friend and the girl has such a big personality it's hard to forget her. She made things fun and very lively.
Also another surprising but pleasant surprise was this wasn't really a paranormal read like I thought it would be. There was a logical explanation on everything that was going on. I really thought they were vampires but there was scientific reasoning behind it all. I did like the mystery surrounding the school, nothing was revealed too quickly which kept me interested and turning the pages. The ending wrapped up nicely although it felt a little too perfect.
Overall I have a feeling this will be a hit and miss type of book. Either you will love it or not. I'm glad I stuck with it because Acosta did a great job of keeping up with the mystery and Gothic vibe that you could feel throughout the entire novel.
