Review: Dark Companion by Marta Acosta

Publisher: Macmillan

Pages: 368

Received: Received e-copy from Raincoast Books

Release Date: July 3, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent urban neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She's even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper's cottage in the center of the birch grove.

Something's not quite right about the school -- or is it Jane? She thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She's also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.

The school with its talented teachers and bright students is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, including hilarious poetry-spouting rich girl, Mary Violet. But the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.

Jane discovers one secret about Birch Grove, which only leads to more mysteries. What is she willing to sacrifice in order to stay at this school...and be bound to Birch Grove forever?

My Review:

After a fall when she is young, Jane ends up in a coma and when she wakes she doesn't remember anything about her childhood. She is now a foster child who has the opportunity of a lifetime offered to her. But this offer comes with some interesting strings.

The synopsis of this book does not give anything away about what happens in this story! I was completely surprised by what came about in this book (in a good way, of course). I saw the cover of this book and loved the dark feel, and the book definitely is dark. This book brings back the gothic genre to YA, everything about what happened was dark and mysterious.

The characters are a big part of what made this book for me. I loved how Jane knew how to defend herself. Though I had some issues with her naivete towards Lucky. Around Lucky, Jane became the typical I'm in love with the gorgeous guy and will do anything for him. Lucky is a jerk of a character, he's self absorbed and privileged, and it shows a lot. I hated how Jane was able to stick up for herself in certain situations, but then when it came to the gorgeous guy she melted.

Jack was absolutely adorable, I always loved when he came along, he also was one that made some great comedic scenes throughout this dark tale. And then there was Jane's friend Mary Violet. She was one of the best supporting characters of the book, I loved how she always spoke her mind, she was the complete opposite of Jane but they complimented each other.

Finding out what "Dark Companion" actually meant in this book was a huge surprise. And from there I loved finding out the mystery behind the disappearances at the school. Marta Acosta definitely keeps you hanging on until the very end with this book.