Old Sins Cast Long Shadows: Books Jonelle Made Me Read 6 -- EVERNIGHT

Series Introduction

In this occasional series, I will be discussing books that a teenage girl (now a fourteen-year-old), Jonelle, instructed me to read. And when I say "instructed me to read," of course I mean "commanded me to read." For those of you who don't know her, she is a highly intelligent, sweet, precocious and fairly bossy young lady.

A large part of the reason why I read this book, and the other works that will be discussed in this blog series, is that I want to understand how teenagers think. These posts will not be a review of the book per se as much as an exploration of my random thoughts on the book.

How did I get myself into this?

***

I took his face in my hands and pressed my lips softly to his mouth, his chin, and his neck. I could see his pulse throbbing just beneath the skin, and then the hunger was too much to hold back.
I bit into Lucas's throat, hard. I heard him gasp in pain and shock, but in that moment the blood rushed over my tongue. The thick metallic taste of it spread through me like fire, hot and uncontrollable and dangerous and beautiful. I swallowed, and the feel of Lucas's blood in my throat was sweeter than anything else I'd ever known.
Lucas tried to push away from me, but he was already weak. As he began to slump backward, I caught him in my arms so that I could keep drinking deeply. I felt as though I was drawing his soul into me along with his blood. We had never been closer than this.
Mine, I thought. Mine.

***

Books Jonelle Made Me Read

Evernight (Evernight, Book 1) by Claudia Gray.

I have read a good number of books Jonelle suggested to me, though I have not blogged about each of them. On February 7, Jonelle recommended I read

Published in 2008, Evernight is the first in a five-part series called Evernight by Claudia Gray. After I read the first chapter or so, I thought Evernight might be one of those I read but don't blog about. I did not have high hopes for this book. It seemed to me that it was struggling to find its stride. As it turned out, I was very glad I stuck with it. After my initial concern with the opening chapters – Wow!

Bianca is part of the "not cool" students. She is okay with it, having nothing in common with the "cool" kids and not liking them, anyway. Later in the novel, she is eventually accepted into the "cool" kids group. Due to circumstances outside her control, Bianca must walk a fine line between accepting who (or what) she is and continuing to associate with those she still cares for.

At its root, Evernight is a variation on the Romeo-and-Juliet theme or young star-crossed lovers. Throw in an Underworld-movie-franchise vibe and, viola! Evernight. Without the werewolves – yet, anyway.

A strength of this work, I believe, lay in the plot device that would lead me to say "Wow!" It first occurred around Chapter 7 and 8 when the author has the storyline flip completely topsy-turvy! Then, did it again! And then, one more time! By this, I mean the plot first morphed, from the initial state of innocent girl and brooding boy, into vampire girl and smitten boy. Then shifted again to vampire girl and vampire-killer boy – one drank blood for life, one hunted for duty. The final plot-shift in this novel revealed a girl and a boy, inexorably drawn to each other.

What follows is a transcript[i] of a short (~3 min.), early interview with Claudia Gray just prior to the release of Stargazer. It was produced by HarperCollins Video Studio and posted to Youtube on February 4, 2009.[ii] The interview is one of the earliest conducted following Evernight's success. In it, Gray discussed the inspirations and influences on her that resulted in Evernight.

The idea for Evernight Academy came from the character, the main character, Bianca. Because when I first thought of the story, what I thought of first was her. And I almost saw her in my mind's eye wearing this school uniform. So, of course, I knew that she went to the school and I had questions about the school right away and that was what the story came from. This idea of a place that is sort of dark and mysterious; very isolated up in the hills where she would encounter all sorts of things, including vampires.
The idea I had about vampires, particularly vampires who were teenaged in appearance was that they were stuck forever as teenagers. And, for all that we sort of glamorize being that young, it's not the most enjoyable time of your life. And I thought, if you had these people who had all these powers and they were young and beautiful forever but they're also stuck being teenagers forever. And they can never completely gain perspective and they can never completely get over the intensity of the emotion that you have at that age. And I thought that that was a really interesting way to look at vampires and at high school.
Was I rebellious as a teenager? No. I should have been much more rebellious than I was. I wasted a lot of time not rebelling. So, when I wrote Evernight, I knew that Bianca was going to be much more headstrong and do things her own way a little bit more.
How did I decide when to reveal the different plot twists and secrets in Evernight? And basically, I sat down and asked myself what would be the most evil? What would really surprise and disturb the reader the most? And that's what I went for.
Do I have any superstitions?
Do I have any superstitions? I am a little superstitious about the number 13. If I realize that people have only left 13 comments on my blog, for instance, I get really nervous.
Are there vampires walking amongst us?
Are there vampires walking among us? I have not run into any in New York. When I used to live in New Orleans, sometimes I wondered.
Do you want to live forever?
Would I want to live forever? I don't think that I would, because it would all feel very liberating maybe for the first hundred years or so, but then you begin to lose the people that you care about.
My next book is Stargazer, which is the second book in the Evernight series, and that is going to be coming out in March.

By the time, I was able to ask Jonelle a few questions about Evernight, Jonelle was already working her way through next in the series, Stargazer – A good sign.

My first comment to her, while I was still reading the book, regarded the plot turnabout occurring in Chapter 7 and 8. As I gesticulated wildly, she commented with a knowing grin, "I know, right."

A few weeks later, I talked to her further about this book. In particular, how Evernight was not like any of the previous books that she recommended I read. For instance, I asked her what she thought of the increased violence and blood-shed in Evernight. Her only response to this was a slight, chilling smirk.

Evernight is the most mature of the works Jonelle has asked me to read; more for a teenager than a youngster.

I enjoyed Evernight very much.

My thanks go out to Jonelle for the recommendation that I read this. I can't wait to start on Stargazer (Evernight, Book 2).