Monday, February 20, 2012

Night School by Mari Mancusi

Published January 4, 2011.

Vampires, Slayers and…FAIRIES? Sunny and Rayne McDonald are about to get SCHOOLED.

After their parents’ shocking revelation about their fae heritage and an attack on their lives, the McDonald twins find themselves on the run—forced to hide out at Riverdale Academy , a boarding school for vampire slayers, deep in the Swiss Alps. With no cells, no internet, and no way to contact their vampire boyfriends—the twins are on their own.

Being a vampire stuck in a school full of slayers isn’t easy. Especially with no blood substitute stocked on campus. Soon Rayne finds herself succumbing to her bloodlust and losing control—especially around the arrogant, but devastatingly handsome Corbin Billingsworth the Third—who isn’t sure whether he wants to kiss her…or kill her.

But when Sunny starts acting strange, Rayne realizes Riverdale Academy may be hiding some deadly secrets of its own—leading to a showdown in Fairyland that may cost the twins their lives.
(goodreads.com)

I've read this series in what is probably the most schizophrenic way possible, and mostly not on purpose. The first three I read out of order simply because I didn't know their order and apparently my ability to Google failed me. I skipped the fourth one because it was a Sunny POV and she's not my favorite head to dwell in. BUT based on the excerpt at the end of NIGHT SCHOOL I may be willing to pick up the next one. She appears to have matured and her voice doesn't sound so insipid anymore. And because I adore Mari, and we do have that Lost Boys bond, I may just do it for her.

Anyway NIGHT SCHOOL was a great addition to the whole BLOOD COVEN series and even though I didn't read BAD BLOOD I didn't feel like I was missing out on much. There were some allusions to events in that book at the beginning that I was a little lost on but they didn't play too much of a role in the bigger plot so they were easy to get over. Rayne is still Rayne, Sunny is still Sunny and the shenanigans are still shenanigans. And I'm glad.

Overall the plot is pretty silly but it's silly in the way that Supernatural is silly. Yeah, there are some serious moments but they're surrounded by sometimes absolutely outrageous things that even the characters are going WTF? You know, like when Sam and Dean came in contact with the faeries in Season 6 and Dean was all like, nipples?


Yeah, it's like that. It's a silly story but it knows its silly and that's why its so great. Rayne and Sunny get their butts handed to them by faeries and the faeries are so freaking ridiculous that you can't help but laugh. And Rayne's inability to get Apple Pancake's (Apple Cider? Crisp?) name right just tickled me the right way every time. If NIGHT SCHOOL were trying to take itself seriously it'd completely lose its charm. It strikes a good balance between the insanity and the serious just enough to get its point across but keep it a totally entertaining read at the same time. Rayne's need to feed? Serious. Disney World? Not so much. Read it to get what I'm talking about.

Oh, did I mention it mocks TWILIGHT? Yeah, it does that too. You'll have to read it to pick up the references. I won't spoil that fun for you! A giggle-filled word search!

There are just so many things right with Mari's work that it's hard to pick up on anything that's wrong. If you haven't read any of the BLOOD COVEN books yet, I highly recommend you do. Don't judge them by their covers and think they blend in with your Blue Bloods or Coffin Kisses or whatever else is out there. BLOOD COVEN, and its latest release, NIGHT SCHOOL, stand so far out from the rest that their covers should light up and poof out pink sparkles. Because it would make Rayne go insane and I like it when she gets cranky about pink and glitter. It amuses me. I'll even tell you to read the Sunny POV stories too, just to get the whole story. I'm seriously considering going back to read BAD BLOOD just to fill myself in. Really, Sunny isn't THAT bad. Most of the time.

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