The Darlings Are Forever by Melissa Kantor

Title: The Darlings Are Forever
Author: Melissa Kantor
Pages: 336 (hardcover)
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: January 4, 2011
Source: Publisher
Challenge: 2011 YA Contemporary Challenge

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Jane, Victoria, and Natalya. Together, they are the Darlings. Best friends forever. They have matching necklaces, their own table at Ga Ga Noodle, and even a shared motto: May you always do what you’re afraid of doing.

When the friends begin freshman year at three different high schools in distant corners of New York City, they promise to live by their motto and stay as close as ever. The Darlings know they can get through anything as long as they have each other. But doing scary new things is a lot easier with your friends beside you. And now that the girls aren’t spending all their time together, everything they took for granted about their friendship starts to feel less certain. They can’t help but wonder, will they really be the Darlings forever?

Light-hearted and charming, The Darlings Are Forever beautifully shadows the life of three teenagers on a test of their friendship. Kantor has created a realistic contemporary novel that bases on friendship and a little on romance.

Kantor’s writing is smooth and fluent. It gets a bit chatty at times, which I love because it’s friendly and not too formal. The different points of view in each chapter helped me understand and get into their minds. Each chapter always left me desiring to read more.

Jane, Victoria, Natalya, with many flaws and imperfections, made me adore and love each of them. They’re kind, nice, and all had a unique personality. These girls were very realistic and their problems do happen in real life. They aren’t close to perfect; they don’t make the best decisions but don’t make the worse ones either. They were not completely honest and true to themselves, but they weren’t fake plastics.

Each girl had a main issue with moving to a new surrounding. Jane was an amateur actress…. She’s talented and even attended a performing arts high school, though, was worried about a school play. Not only that, but, romance seeps into her and she starts crushing on her drama director. Victoria was struggling in life and trying to find her identity while her dad’s political campaign was happening. Lastly, Natalya, was a genius, she had her chin up high and was extremely smart. She receives a scholarship to an exclusive private school where she has to deal with being true to herself to fit in with others.

Even though cute and appealing, readers will be able to acknowledge and gasp the intricacies of making decisions and choices. The Darlings Are Forever is a depiction on growing up, fights, relationships, romances, but ultimately friendship. It warms your heart and you’ll be rooting on the friendship that truly lasts forever.

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The Candidates by Inara Scott

Title: The Candidates
Author: Inara Scott
Pages: 293 (hardcover)
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: April 24, 2010
Source: Author & Publisher
Series: The Watchers

Overall:

Dancia Lewis is far from popular. And that's not just because of her average grades or her less-than-glamorous wardrobe. In fact, Dancia's mediocrity is a welcome cover for her secret: whenever she sees a person threatening someone she cares about, things just...happen. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt. So Dancia does everything possible to avoid getting close to anyone, belieiving this way she can supress her powers and keep them hidden.

But when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy show up in her living room to offer her a full scholarship, Dancia's days of living under the radar may be over. Only, Delcroix is a school for diplomats' kids and child geniuses--not B students with uncontrollable telekinetic tendencies. So why are they treating Dancia like she's special? Even the hottest guy on campus seems to be going out of his way to make Dancia feel welcome.

And then there's her mysterious new friend Jack, who can't stay out of trouble. He suspects something dangerous is going on at the Academy and wants Dancia to help him figure out what. But Dancia isn't convinced. She hopes that maybe the recruiters know more about her "gift" than they're letting on. Maybe they can help her understand how to use it...But not even Dancia could have imagined what awaits her behind the gates of Delcroix Academy.

Bounded with a cryptic and shadowy feeling, The Candidates is a fantastic start to the Delcroix Academy series. The relationships between characters, the setting, thickening plot, all very awesome!

The plot thickened and thickened. It constantly had drama, suspense, twists, and turns. You didn’t know what was going to happen next… it was like a guessing game.

Dancia may be your average teen, but, no she’s much more than that. She was pretty relatable and she grew into a better person towards the end. Though, she isn’t any close to being a social person… she’s locked in her own little world. The relationship between Jack and Dancia and Cam and Dancia were fully developed. Scott spent a lot of time with their relationships and it’s honestly what captured my attention for this novel. Both Jack and Cam had their quirks. Jack is your ‘bad boy’ guy and Cam would be your ‘perfect’ guy. Cam is a socialite, he was friends with everyone, had a great personality and was handsome. Jack, with a bit of a bid reputation, can sometimes be sweet, but also create trouble. Their supernatural powers were very cool too!

At the start, there is a lot of background information given so that reader won’t feel lost and so that everything would make sense. The setting itself had that enigmatic and mysterious touch. So many questions were hovering around my mind, coveting to know what’s next. Hopefully, the information given here will be used in book 2!

I have high expectations for book two and I’m now longing for it! Scott is an author to watch!

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