Night School - C.J. Daugherty | Review

Allie Sheridan’s world is falling apart. Her brother’s run away from home. Her parents ignore her. And she’s just been arrested. Again.
This time her parents have had enough. They cut her off from her friends and send her away to boarding school, far from her London friends.
But at Cimmeria Academy, Allie is soon caught up in the strange activities of a secret group of elite students.
When she’s attacked late one night the incident sets off a chain of increasingly violent events. As the school begins to seem like a very dangerous place, she finds out that nothing at Cimmeria is what it seems.
And that she is not who she thought she was.

I’ve always enjoyed boarding school books. I adored Malory Towers and St Clare’s as I grew up. I’m always drawn towards boarding school books. I think that equates for a lot of the reasons that I chose to pick up Night School.

I didn’t know too much about it going in, and I actually expected a paranormal novel of some kind. The synopsis and plot makes it seem that way, however it has no paranormal elements whatsoever. To be very honest, this was a nice change from my somewhat monotonous reading routine.

One of my main issues with the book is that Allie’s “rebellion” disperses pretty much as soon as she gets to Cimmeria. Before Cimmeria she is troubled, acting out and being arrested and expelled all over the place. While she is sent to Cimmeria to be “sorted out” if you will, her personality changes quickly and we lose the rebellious, feisty main character for one that is solidly average. While I like Allie more in later books in the series, much of Night School was made strong by the supporting characters.

Due to the nature of the school all the plots were so cloaked in mystery you got absolutely no resolution about anything that happened until the very end, which could be frustrating. Even then, due to the bigger story arc of the series, you’re left with more questions. It can be a frustrating experience, although that is ultimately what made me read the next one in the series almost straight away.

C.J. Daugherty’s writing is so smooth and beautiful, transitioning easily through different settings and scenes and this definitely made up for some of the somewhat flawed, content.

3/5 stars

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**This review was originally posted on collaborative book blog Blogger's Bookshelf**