Stargazer by Claudia Gray

Bianca is the daughter of two vampires who are teachers at the prestigious Evernight Academy. As such, she goes there herself, but in her first semester at the Academy she met and fell in love with Lucas, a young man who turned out to be a Vampire Hunter. At the end of the year, he became convinced that she was innocent and that not all vampires are or were monsters, but he was forced to flee after what he was was discovered by the woman in charge of the school, Miss Benedict.

But both Lucas and Bianca want to know why certain human children can also attend the school. What is it that makes Miss Benedict allow some kids into the school, and sends others away or doesn't let them attend in the first place? With no other choice, Bianca tries to search the school, starting with Miss Benedict's house on the one night she is away.

However, no matter how hard she looks, she can't find anything that shows what reason Miss Benedict uses to choose to refuse or allow entry to the school to humans. Except that this year, humans and vampires are going to be rooming together. Bianca, although she hasn't come into her vampire characteristics yet, is already rooming with the same human girl she was paired with last year. And she has hopes to be able to sneak out to see Lucas by pretending to be going out with another vampire, her good friend Balthazar, which delights her parents.

But as she and Lucas sneak around to be together, she becomes aware that his group the Black Cross, is stepping up its attacks against other vampires, including a young woman who Bianca meets one night, Charity, who is Balthazar's sister. But as Bianca tries to delve into the school's agenda, as well as that of Miss Benedict, she becomes aware that ghosts called wraiths have been spotted around the school, and she is seeing them, too. They seem interested in the school, but also in her, and she can't figure out why.

But all too soon, she realizes that she is being lied to, and that the ones who lied to her the most are the ones she is closest to. As she begins to fall victim to the same weaknesses as the other vampires and her hunger for blood increases, she wonders how long Lucas will remain interested in her and whether they are really meant to be together, since he will die while she remains young and beautiful, and he has no interest in becoming a vampire. Is her friend Balthazar the man for her? Or is vampire existence merely lies, and while most lie to others, he lies to himself?

When the forces of the Black Cross attack the school, Bianca must make a decision as to what her life will be. But what decision is truly right for her, and does she have any choice in the decision whether or not to be a vampire?

This book, despite its size, reads like a short book. I could have sworn I'd read the first book in the series, but as I kept reading this one, I realized I hadn't. But then, there have been a lot of vampire school sort of books lately, from the "Sucks to be Me" story and onwards. I can't say that this book would have stood out much for me, even if Evernight Academy serves more as a re-education for Vampires rather than an actual high school, given that some vampires sleep away the centuries and go to Evernight to learn what they missed and how to fit in to modern culture.

That's an interesting twist, and this book brings more of them. Bianca was lied to a lot by her parents, who claimed that even vampire couples can have children, but they are exceedingly rare because the times they can happen are also exceedingly rare. But this is a lie. Bianca was concieved with the help of the wraiths, the other part of vampires. If a vampire is an undead body, a wraith is an undead soul. However, when Bianca learns how she was concieved, she is so angered by her parents lying to her that she cuts off contact with them completely, thus leaving unsaid how it happened or how it was even possible.

The end of the book sees Bianca having to survive the loss of her parents and the school. Now, she is stuck with the Black Cross and having to hunt her own to survive. But since she is already having craving for blood and becoming heir to the weaknesses of vampires, how can she keep her true state from becoming known? Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be around to read it, because while this series had interesting ideas, I found the execution of those ideas somewhat boring. I read it, but the book didn't have much substance, sad to say. There are better series out there. Give this one a miss.