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2.96 AVERAGE
2.96 AVERAGE
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3.5 Stars
Jane Williams was orphaned at the age of six and has been jumping from foster home to foster home ever since. When she is provided the opportunity to attend Birch Grove Academy, an elite all girl's school, on full scholarship, it is an offer she can't refuse. Upon arriving, she receives everything she has ever dreamed of. A roof over her head, a brand new wardrobe, living expenses and a chance at an amazing education. Jane soon discovers that things may not be as perfect at Birch Grove as she once assumed and that something sinister may be going on.
I enjoyed Jane as a main character for the most part, although I think she is a very wishy-washy character. I liked how she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and always stood up for herself.... for about half the book. Then when a boy shows 'interest' in her she takes a complete turn and turns to mush because someone said they 'need' and 'want' her. I wish she had stayed feisty the whole book and didn't pine over a stupid boy who was so obviously using her. It bothered me how judgemental Jane was to her friend Wilde though and I found her to be somewhat hypocritical in some of the things she said to her...but I liked how she was trying to help her get better. Mary Violet was BY FAR my favourite character and any scene she was in had me smiling like an idiot. She is so goofy, fun-loving and melodramatic and I absolutely loved her sarcasm and poems. I also really loved Jack, I thought he was so cute and I loved how he kept calling Jane 'pixie' and 'halfling'. Lucky irritated me right from the very beginning and I couldn't understand why Jane wanted to please him so badly since he always treated her so poorly. I found him to be extremely childish and annoyingly self-centred.
I was able to call the big 'Birch Grove Secret' pretty early on in the book, but there were multiple plot twists later on in the book that I did not see coming at all. I don't understand how Jane didn't freak out when she discovered the big secret though because honestly, if I did I would be SO OUT OF THERE and NEVER RETURNING. I liked the prologue a lot and it definitely made me curious about what was to come in the story.
3.5 Stars
Jane Williams was orphaned at the age of six and has been jumping from foster home to foster home ever since. When she is provided the opportunity to attend Birch Grove Academy, an elite all girl's school, on full scholarship, it is an offer she can't refuse. Upon arriving, she receives everything she has ever dreamed of. A roof over her head, a brand new wardrobe, living expenses and a chance at an amazing education. Jane soon discovers that things may not be as perfect at Birch Grove as she once assumed and that something sinister may be going on.
I enjoyed Jane as a main character for the most part, although I think she is a very wishy-washy character. I liked how she wasn't afraid to speak her mind and always stood up for herself.... for about half the book. Then when a boy shows 'interest' in her she takes a complete turn and turns to mush because someone said they 'need' and 'want' her. I wish she had stayed feisty the whole book and didn't pine over a stupid boy who was so obviously using her. It bothered me how judgemental Jane was to her friend Wilde though and I found her to be somewhat hypocritical in some of the things she said to her...but I liked how she was trying to help her get better. Mary Violet was BY FAR my favourite character and any scene she was in had me smiling like an idiot. She is so goofy, fun-loving and melodramatic and I absolutely loved her sarcasm and poems. I also really loved Jack, I thought he was so cute and I loved how he kept calling Jane 'pixie' and 'halfling'. Lucky irritated me right from the very beginning and I couldn't understand why Jane wanted to please him so badly since he always treated her so poorly. I found him to be extremely childish and annoyingly self-centred.
I was able to call the big 'Birch Grove Secret' pretty early on in the book, but there were multiple plot twists later on in the book that I did not see coming at all. I don't understand how Jane didn't freak out when she discovered the big secret though because honestly, if I did I would be SO OUT OF THERE and NEVER RETURNING. I liked the prologue a lot and it definitely made me curious about what was to come in the story.
I liked it a lot but there wasn't the best storyline ever.
The story of Jane Williams starts with her leaving her home city and being driven to her new school, where she will be a scholarship student. It's a renowned school, Birch Grove Academy for Girls. It feels quite contemporary, maybe even a little "Mean Girls". I kept expecting the girls Jane meets to lash out at her or to be mean to her. Except for the token bossy/bitchy girl everyone is super nice to our protagonist, though.
Jane is smart. She has a had a hard childhood, moving from foster home to foster home. But she's smart and wants to do something with her life, despite having all odds against her. Now, which strikes me as weird is that Jane goes all stupid over Lucky. We know that sometimes happens in YA, but rarely when a girl is so obviously smart. She should have known better. Especially since I felt no chemistry between Jane and Lucky. In fact, the guy who was almost always nice to her immediately got into her bad books (because of ... something I can't remember right now) while Lucky continues to treat her like trash and she still adores him. If I weren't female myself, I would shake my head and mumble: "Girls."
One thing Dark Companion definitely has going for it is that I really like the mythology. If it can even be called that since the vampires are so nicely implemented into our world, with nice (if a little dubious, but hey it's Sci Fi!) explanations to almost every vampire symptom. However, this book is written for teens. And I think if you stretch the word "teen" I might still be one because while writing this review I'm nineteen years old. And I found the ... blood-letting ... feeding ... blood-scenes (I don't really know how to describe this. Vampires in Dark Companion don't have vampire teeth and they don't really need a lot of blood.) extremely icky. I don't know why it creeped me out so much that Lucky licked Jane's blood off her skin. Stuff like this doesn't bother me when the vampire has teeth. I occassionally read gore, so why did this bother me? Maybe it's because Lucky and his family are so human. There is hardly anything that marks them as remarkable. And if I were Jane and a guy cut me to suck the wound ... no.
Like you may have noticed, there is a little Twilight going on here. Two guys, vampires, a girls moving to a new town, etc. But this book is so much more reasonable. Jane does what every girl in her right mind would have done once she found out what was going on. Yes, she falls for Lucky's hotness for a while and that was stupid of her. Blame it on the hormones. But I still really enjoyed reading Dark Companion. It also reminded me of how nice books like this can be. It doesn't always need to be dystopian to be good!
Jane is smart. She has a had a hard childhood, moving from foster home to foster home. But she's smart and wants to do something with her life, despite having all odds against her. Now, which strikes me as weird is that Jane goes all stupid over Lucky. We know that sometimes happens in YA, but rarely when a girl is so obviously smart. She should have known better. Especially since I felt no chemistry between Jane and Lucky. In fact, the guy who was almost always nice to her immediately got into her bad books (because of ... something I can't remember right now) while Lucky continues to treat her like trash and she still adores him. If I weren't female myself, I would shake my head and mumble: "Girls."
One thing Dark Companion definitely has going for it is that I really like the mythology. If it can even be called that since the vampires are so nicely implemented into our world, with nice (if a little dubious, but hey it's Sci Fi!) explanations to almost every vampire symptom. However, this book is written for teens. And I think if you stretch the word "teen" I might still be one because while writing this review I'm nineteen years old. And I found the ... blood-letting ... feeding ... blood-scenes (I don't really know how to describe this. Vampires in Dark Companion don't have vampire teeth and they don't really need a lot of blood.) extremely icky. I don't know why it creeped me out so much that Lucky licked Jane's blood off her skin. Stuff like this doesn't bother me when the vampire has teeth. I occassionally read gore, so why did this bother me? Maybe it's because Lucky and his family are so human. There is hardly anything that marks them as remarkable. And if I were Jane and a guy cut me to suck the wound ... no.
Like you may have noticed, there is a little Twilight going on here. Two guys, vampires, a girls moving to a new town, etc. But this book is so much more reasonable. Jane does what every girl in her right mind would have done once she found out what was going on. Yes, she falls for Lucky's hotness for a while and that was stupid of her. Blame it on the hormones. But I still really enjoyed reading Dark Companion. It also reminded me of how nice books like this can be. It doesn't always need to be dystopian to be good!
Jane Eyre is, probably, one of my favourite books so I was excited to see how this was handled. The extracts from a range of Gothic fiction at the start of each chapter was an intriguing idea , and there were elements I enjoyed lots. Sadly, it just didn't quite work for me.
When we first meet Jane she is about to take up a scholarship position at an exclusive boarding school. She is keen to embrace this new opportunity, but it soon becomes clear that things aren't quite what they seem.
Jane makes some great new friends, and is asked to tutor Lucky, the elder son of the headmistress. However, there are hints that there's more to this set-up than anyone wants to reveal.
It felt slow to get going, and some of the details within the story just seemed unlikely.
When we first meet Jane she is about to take up a scholarship position at an exclusive boarding school. She is keen to embrace this new opportunity, but it soon becomes clear that things aren't quite what they seem.
Jane makes some great new friends, and is asked to tutor Lucky, the elder son of the headmistress. However, there are hints that there's more to this set-up than anyone wants to reveal.
It felt slow to get going, and some of the details within the story just seemed unlikely.
I really wanted to like it more. It was an OK read. I just wished it had been way more eventful.
Jane Williams takes advantage of a marvelous opportunity to go to a private all-girls school and escape her life of poverty and abuse in the foster home system. As she begins her new life there, she befriends the Radcliffe family: Mrs Radcliffe, headmistress of Birch Grove Academy; Mr Radcliffe, a calm and quiet businessman; Lucky, a gorgeous womanizer; and Jack, an artistic musician hell-bent on confusing Jane with his riddles. But as stories about previous foster students’ deaths and disappearances crop up, Jane cannot hide from the truth any longer, and looks to the Radcliffe family for answers.
This review will contain three parts: a book review, a literary review, and a spoiler section. Disclaimer: this book is considered a “chick-lit update” of Jane Eyre and Twilight.
Book Review
At first, Jane came across as a tough and stern girl anxious to prove to others that she can be independent and take care of herself. Any fan of Jane Eyre can also see similarities and differences between Eyre and Williams, and even who the characters represent from the original. But as the story progressed, Jane no longer seemed like an independent person. She lost personality, too. One moment she appeared to be in some sort of abusive relationship with Lucky without even realizing it — a smart girl from the streets would know the signs immediately, so why didn’t she? The next she’s throwing herself at Jack while simultaneously accusing him of hating her, when there is no sign of that whatsoever in the book.
The vampire storyline was imaginative and I appreciated this fresh new look to it — but then it became too strange, too odd, too discomforting. It was as if Acosta didn’t know what she wanted these characters to be, more vampire-like or more human-like. This is where comparisons to Twilight come in. Meyer at least was solid on what she wanted from her vampires: they were immortal, they could not go out in the sun, and they could drink any kind of blood. But Acosta did not come across as sure in her footing with the characters, and it left the story wanting.
There were so many excellent opportunities for this book to shine. I was open to a Jane Eyre-vampire twist, but the characters were weak, the plot even weaker, and the dialogue and descriptions told rather than showed. That’s the art of writing: showing, not telling. Acosta did not master this concept at all.
Literary Review
I was very hopeful at the beginning. Acosta provided quotes from the top Gothic novels to help set the tone of each chapter. I could see Jane as Jane, Lucky and Jack combined as Rochester, and there was even a crazy Mason in the story for Bertha. There was a fire in an old building, a rough past childhood, and the desire to keep emotions down and hidden rather than exposing them and becoming vulnerable. All the elements for a gothic novel were there as well, with the setting, the horror and terror, the uncanny and fantastic…
But it was horrible. The name “Jane Williams” is not plain, it’s very Anglo-Saxon aristocratic. “Jane Eyre” is plain for its all-vowels, no-consonants, one-syllable name. If we wanted a modern Jane to be plain, she could be Jane Smith or Jane Moore, something so common and so soft to say that she would go unnoticed. The description of her appearance is more exotic than plain, as well. She is part Mexican, has beloved light brown skin and dark brown hair and eyes. In this all-white town she transfers to, she would be the most beautiful and exotic person there, not plain like Jane Eyre was to her friends.
Lucky and Jack, combined, were complete caricatures of Rochester. Rochester is rugged — considered ugly in Victorian times, where delicate men were beautiful, and attractive in modern times, where the burly and scruffy are seen as manly — and speaks in riddles. Everything he says has two meanings: one that Jane and the reader misinterpret, and the other that is revealed to be his true intentions and true meaning. Lucky and Jack do not fit that. Lucky is gorgeous, stunning, pale and blond and an Adonis, who treats Jane like scum despite all she does to make him happy. Jack exaggerates Rochester’s insistence that Jane is a pixie or an elf. Rochester believed Jane to be a quiet, all-knowing, delicate being, and joked that she came from the land of “little green men.” But Jack is constantly talking to Jane about fairies and pixies and halflings, to the point that their conversations aren’t real at all. It became annoying and saddening.
SPOILERS — DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED
Once again, her lack of personality and characterization conflicted with this neat not-quite-paranormal concept, and both fell through entirely.
This review will contain three parts: a book review, a literary review, and a spoiler section. Disclaimer: this book is considered a “chick-lit update” of Jane Eyre and Twilight.
Book Review
At first, Jane came across as a tough and stern girl anxious to prove to others that she can be independent and take care of herself. Any fan of Jane Eyre can also see similarities and differences between Eyre and Williams, and even who the characters represent from the original. But as the story progressed, Jane no longer seemed like an independent person. She lost personality, too. One moment she appeared to be in some sort of abusive relationship with Lucky without even realizing it — a smart girl from the streets would know the signs immediately, so why didn’t she? The next she’s throwing herself at Jack while simultaneously accusing him of hating her, when there is no sign of that whatsoever in the book.
The vampire storyline was imaginative and I appreciated this fresh new look to it — but then it became too strange, too odd, too discomforting. It was as if Acosta didn’t know what she wanted these characters to be, more vampire-like or more human-like. This is where comparisons to Twilight come in. Meyer at least was solid on what she wanted from her vampires: they were immortal, they could not go out in the sun, and they could drink any kind of blood. But Acosta did not come across as sure in her footing with the characters, and it left the story wanting.
There were so many excellent opportunities for this book to shine. I was open to a Jane Eyre-vampire twist, but the characters were weak, the plot even weaker, and the dialogue and descriptions told rather than showed. That’s the art of writing: showing, not telling. Acosta did not master this concept at all.
Literary Review
I was very hopeful at the beginning. Acosta provided quotes from the top Gothic novels to help set the tone of each chapter. I could see Jane as Jane, Lucky and Jack combined as Rochester, and there was even a crazy Mason in the story for Bertha. There was a fire in an old building, a rough past childhood, and the desire to keep emotions down and hidden rather than exposing them and becoming vulnerable. All the elements for a gothic novel were there as well, with the setting, the horror and terror, the uncanny and fantastic…
But it was horrible. The name “Jane Williams” is not plain, it’s very Anglo-Saxon aristocratic. “Jane Eyre” is plain for its all-vowels, no-consonants, one-syllable name. If we wanted a modern Jane to be plain, she could be Jane Smith or Jane Moore, something so common and so soft to say that she would go unnoticed. The description of her appearance is more exotic than plain, as well. She is part Mexican, has beloved light brown skin and dark brown hair and eyes. In this all-white town she transfers to, she would be the most beautiful and exotic person there, not plain like Jane Eyre was to her friends.
Lucky and Jack, combined, were complete caricatures of Rochester. Rochester is rugged — considered ugly in Victorian times, where delicate men were beautiful, and attractive in modern times, where the burly and scruffy are seen as manly — and speaks in riddles. Everything he says has two meanings: one that Jane and the reader misinterpret, and the other that is revealed to be his true intentions and true meaning. Lucky and Jack do not fit that. Lucky is gorgeous, stunning, pale and blond and an Adonis, who treats Jane like scum despite all she does to make him happy. Jack exaggerates Rochester’s insistence that Jane is a pixie or an elf. Rochester believed Jane to be a quiet, all-knowing, delicate being, and joked that she came from the land of “little green men.” But Jack is constantly talking to Jane about fairies and pixies and halflings, to the point that their conversations aren’t real at all. It became annoying and saddening.
SPOILERS — DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED
Spoiler
These vampire-like people come from a small tribe in Romania that have a genetic anomaly, where they need to have human blood every once in a while to survive…according to Acosta. Okay, sure, that would work for a good plot, a nice scientific twist to it — but the need to have Companions that give the blood and are bound for life, all the money for people’s loyalty, the strange ceremonies, the perfect night vision and strength and speed? The way they look at normal people as if they’re food? That’s not normal. If someone needed human blood to survive, wouldn’t that be considered a weakness? The concept of this bothered me, and the lack of information given to Jane prior to her accepting to become Lucky’s Companion made everything so unbelievable. Why would this incredibly intelligent, scientific-minded, logical girl immediately accept something so bizarre without having questions of her own? Wouldn’t she want to know why they needed blood? Why they needed Companions rather than dealing with modern medical science? Why it had to be her and not someone else?
I really tried to like this book but in the end I just couldn't. There were so many times I wanted to toss it aside but I usually try to finish every book I read. It was one of those books where the cover looked good but the book sucked.
Interesting and creative gothic YA that will appeal to adults as well . Intriguing heroine and some wonderfully snarky dialogue. One of those wonderful books that you can curl under a warm blanket, and just lose yourself in make-believe. Jane is an excellent heroine and I highly enjoyed the scenes with her and Jack. Once or twice I thought her actions didn’t mesh with her character, but hey smart girls do stupid stuff when it comes to pretty boys.
Favourite Quotes
“But whoever wins battles gets to write history, so history is the winner’s version.”
“Why can’t both religion and science be true?”
“Money doesn’t solve loneliness, Jane. It makes it harder for me to figure out who my real friends are.”
Favourite Quotes
“But whoever wins battles gets to write history, so history is the winner’s version.”
“Why can’t both religion and science be true?”
“Money doesn’t solve loneliness, Jane. It makes it harder for me to figure out who my real friends are.”
I thought this book was predictable, the twist not that interesting, and the characters unrealistic and one dimensional.
Jane Williams is excited – she’s worked long and hard and managed to win a scholarship to the prestigious Birch Grove Academy, on a beautiful campus far away from the foster homes she grew up in. The headmistress is nice and welcoming. She gets her very own cottage, and makes friends. And there are boys – cute boys – around.
Then Jane notices a few things that don’t seem quite right. And finds a few topics nobody wants to talk about. And develops a crush on the headmistress’ gorgeous son Lucian, which takes her attention off the things that don’t seem quite right… Too bad Lucian’s brother Jack isn’t quite as nice to her – she might like him just a bit more if he were.
When Jane finds a group of people chanting in a ceremony in the middle of the grove, she doesn’t know what to think. So she runs. And finds that sometimes what you used to know isn’t better than what you don’t know now.
Dark Companion is a different take on vampires, though not so different as to be completely unique or groundbreaking. But I liked the setting, I liked Jane, and I want to know what’s in store for her next. Because there has to be a sequel to this, right?
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
Then Jane notices a few things that don’t seem quite right. And finds a few topics nobody wants to talk about. And develops a crush on the headmistress’ gorgeous son Lucian, which takes her attention off the things that don’t seem quite right… Too bad Lucian’s brother Jack isn’t quite as nice to her – she might like him just a bit more if he were.
When Jane finds a group of people chanting in a ceremony in the middle of the grove, she doesn’t know what to think. So she runs. And finds that sometimes what you used to know isn’t better than what you don’t know now.
Dark Companion is a different take on vampires, though not so different as to be completely unique or groundbreaking. But I liked the setting, I liked Jane, and I want to know what’s in store for her next. Because there has to be a sequel to this, right?
drey’s rating: Pick it up!