Mary’s review of Night School 
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.
This was my first Blood Coven novel (this is the fifth novel in the series) but, as the book starts with a “My story thus far…”, it’s pretty easy to catch up. Blood Coven novels switch points of view between the two sisters and this time, it was Rayne’s turn to tell the story. We start out with a quick recap of what’s been happening in the two sisters’ lives and, well, it’s quite a bit. Rayne was always the Goth chick, into the arcane and paranormal while Sunny was completely the opposite. When Rayne decided she wanted to be a vamp, she took the classes, got certified and, instead of the vamp, Magnus, biting and turning Rayne, he bit Sunny. Sunny was pissed and so she went off to get un-vamped by way of the Holy Grail. Along the way, Sunny and Magnus fell in love, though Sunny still reversed the transformation and went back to being a normal human. Rayne, on the other hand, did eventually get turned but only after she found out she was a vampire slayer. So now, she’s a vampire/vampire slayer. With a vampire for a boyfriend.
Now the girls have just found out that their parents are both fairies—royal ones—which makes Rayne a vampire/vampire slayer/fairy princess. Sunny’s just a fairy princess but, turns out, the fairies want her to be their queen and they’re willing to kidnap her to do it. So, Sunny and Rayne are shipped off to this remote vamp slayer school for their own protection. Once there, Rayne realizes she has no blood and no way to get it (despite some rather obvious hints from someone on campus). Crazed with bloodlust after an attack by the fairies (how did they find the girls?), Rayne entrances and bites Corbin, one of the Alphas (supposedly the best slayers the school has to offer). Then she figures out her sister actually was kidnapped and they left a changeling in her place so they all have to escape the school, get to Fairyland, and save Sunny. (Oh, and there are also really bad things going on in this building on campus, nicknamed “Night School”, but we’ll just leave that for another book, shall we?)
Maybe I’ve drunk my fill of vampires (pun intended) but I just wasn’t a fan of NIGHT SCHOOL. Don’t get me wrong—the writing is fast-paced and the action never stops but, for once, I wanted it to stop just so I could catch my breath. I mean, we jump from a kidnapping attempt to a creepy new school to a confrontation with the Alphas to Rayne becoming a fairy for real-zies (the girls weren’t “official” fairies until they did an incantation) to another kidnapping attempt to near-death and on and on. It was just too much.
Plus, it just wasn’t realistic. Okay, I realize “realistic” is maybe the wrong word, since fairies and vampires and the like don’t really exist. But to have one character be a vampire slayer AND a vampire AND a fairy princess AND to have a vampire boyfriend AND a (sort of) vampire slayer boyfriend? It was too much for me.
Then there’s Corbin, the new guy in Rayne’s life. He’s a jerk. An asshat. An arrogant douche who also happens to hate vampires since one killed his parents, which makes him exceedingly dangerous for her (a vamp) to be around. But he’s just so cute! And, of course, Rayne’s drawn to him and sucks his blood, which makes him think he’s in love with her. Gah! Please give this girl some common sense. Plus, doesn’t she already have a boyfriend who she claims to love? Come on, Rayne. Get it together.
I know this series is loved by many and, maybe if I’d started with the first one and worked my way through them, I would have liked this one. Become a convert to the Blood Coven, even. But, to me, this book wasn’t cute or quirky, as it was written to be; it was a long slog through an outlandish story.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
The Series:
This book is available from Berkley Trade. You can buy it here
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