An Awesome Author: Cluadia Gray

Claudia Gray is the author of Evernight. Her second book out of the four books in the Evernight series, Stargazer will come out is the spring of 2009. She is one awesome author. I am really glad I got the chance to purchase her book from Amazon and then after I thoroughly enjoyed it she agreed to an interview.

My review.

Claudia Gray's Website.

How did you come about picking Evernight as the title of the book and the school?

I actually came up with the title EVERNIGHT a long time ago, and for another book altogether -- the first novel I ever tried to write. It was a fairly ambitious science fiction idea, set on a world so industrialized and built-up that all the social strata depended on how far you lived from the dark, crowded and filthy ground. Daybreak was the best place to be; Evernight was the earth itself. That novel died on the vine; I still like the idea and am fond of the characters, but science fiction may not be my strong suit. But the word Evernight stuck with me. While I was trying to come up with something sufficiently spooky and romantic for the name of the school, I realized I already had a good title handy.

Which character in Evernight are you most like? Least like?

I am a little like all of them, in different ways: I love books as much as Bianca does, get as broody as Balthazar does and worry about my manicure almost as much as Patrice does -- if not quite. But honestly, the one I think has the most of my personality is probably Vic.

Just out of curiosity, if given the choice would you rather be a vampire or a member of the Black Cross?

My first impulse is to say that I'd rather be a member of Black Cross, because then at least you're alive -- in these books, being alive is much, much better than being dead. But a lot of people in Black Cross are zealots, and they've let good intentions turn them into monsters as dangerous as the evil vampires they hunt. So if I could be sure that I'd be a good vampire, maybe I'd have to choose that. Definitely the vampires have more fun, I think.

Can you give any hints as to what will happen in Stargazer, the sequel to Evernight?

Let's see:

Lucas hasn't given up on his dream of being with Bianca.

Neither has Balthazar.

Evernight Academy will turn out to be haunted, and this affects Bianca most of all.

Vic, Raquel, Courtney and Ranulf all get a lot more to do.

What is the best thing about writing about vampires for YA?

The fans, definitely. So many people are so knowledgeable and enthusiastic -- it's just terrific.

Are you going to be writing any books that don't deal with vampires?

I hope so! I am currently working on a couple of proposals that are both definitely supernatural and romantic, but no vampires -- one involved witchcraft, and the other -- hmmm -- let's call them reincarnated time-travelers. It's a lot of fun. Not that I don't love vampires, but variety is the spice of life.

What are your favorite vampire books?

My all-time favorite is THE SILVER KISS by Annette Curtis Klause.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I love hearing from readers, so feel free to get in touch via my website or livejournal anytime.


Ms. Gray,

Thank you for answering my questions. And I cannot wait untill Stargazer comes out!

Evernight

“Don’t you ever feel like there’s something at this school that’s… evil?”

Written by Claudia Gray

Pages: 327

My rating 1-5 stars:
5 stars

Bianca wants to escape. She’s been uprooted from her small home town and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in.
Then she meets Lucas. He’s not the “Evernight type” either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands u to the snobs, and wants Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.
“I couldn’t stand it if they took it out on you,” he tells Bianca, “and eventually they would.”
But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can’t be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart… and to make Bianca question everything she’s ever believed.

Evernight is tied with Twilight for number one on my list of my favorite vampire books; they are both great vampire books that have great plots, and awesome characters. Until about half way through Evernight I was wondering who was going to turn out to be the vampire, Lucas or Bianca. But when I found out I was sort of surprised. But that was not the beginning of major surprises/twists in the book. I really want to say a lot about the twist towards the end of the book, but I don’t want to ruin it for all of you who haven’t read it. I will say that I was like WHAT and I reread the same paragraph over like 5 times to make sure I wasn’t imagining anything. But yeah I was completely taken of guard, which is great I love when books do that. Thank you very much Ms. Gray for putting that awesome twist in the book! I could go on and on ranting about how great this book is but then there would go my week…

~*~ Due to content in this book I do not recommend it to anyone below the age of 14. ~*~

Two Way Street

“A road trip with her ex? Danger ahead…”

Written by: Lauren Barnholdt

Pages: 288

My rating 1-5 stars:
5 stars

Jordan and Courtney were in love. Ever since Jordan asked Courtney to go for breakfast at one o’clock in the morning Courtney liked him. They are even going to go to the same college, so they decided to go on a three-day road trip together to the college's opening orientation. Courtney and Jordan were in love, until Jordan suddenly dumps Courtney for this mystery girl he met on myspace.

However, the road trip is still on due to the fact that it is too late to get plane tickets. So Courtney decides to hide the fact that she is still in love with Jordan and tries to make Jordan think she is dating another guy.

But what Courtney doesn’t know is that Jordan still likes her too. And that he isn’t telling her the truth about the girl he met on myspace. But that isn’t the only thing that he is keeping from her. He wants to tell her but he is afraid that she will become more upset with him than she already is.


The reason I liked this book so much is because it changed from Jordan’s to Courtney’s point of view. If it weren’t for that I probably wouldn’t of liked it as much as I did, unless it was written from Jordan’s point of view. But then it still wouldn’t be as good as it is. I also liked that there were flashbacks to before the trip, which explained most of the reason why Courtney and Jordan broke up, the real reason they broke up. The character I liked the most was Jordan, even though he wasn’t telling the truth about the myspace girl, it was for a good reason. He was trying to look out for Courtney and he didn’t want her to be hurt.

Spoilers ALERT
The one character I hated was Courtney’s dad. I cannot believe that he would try to keep Jordan away from Courtney. Sure he was scared that Jordan would tell Courtney that he was having an affair with Jordan’s mom but still didn’t he realize that Courtney would be more hurt since Jordan broke up with her and that her dad was having an affair?!?!
^End of Spoilers^


~*~ Due to content in this book, I do not recommend anyone under the age of 15 read it. Content includes drugs, language, and sexual content~*~