Review: High School High...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 08 1, 2013
I was really frustrated reading this book because I really wanted to like it. The first problem with this book is that it reads like a book in a already established series, but every bio of the author I could find said this is her debut novel. So many things were mentioned in passing, as if to refresh the readers memory. The problem was this is our first time reading this heroine and in this world. I stopped reading the book at least three times while reading the first 50 or so pages to search for a novella or something that would explain Lily's past clearly, but I came up empty every time. This world was well built but major explanations were left out. What was the deal with the Commoner vs. Mystical thing?This is Lily's second year the King Hall which is a supernatural school and apparently a lot went down her first year. The loss of her mother, coming out of the closet as a mystical, entering King Hall, finding a mate, and finding out loved one's she thought were dead were still alive. I really wish that story was the first book, because it seems like it would have been a juicy read and it would have made me much more invested in this book and its characters. The beginning of the book reads like the author was making a pitch and was in a hurry to get out all of her points before the exec's stopped listening. This one book really should have been three fleshed out stories.The first book we would have seen Lily with her mother and Antonio, the loss of her Mom and Antonio. Her coming out of the closet as a mystical and entering King Hall. Her dealing with her shady Uncle so we actually get to see what's bad about him he's not just some character referenced as reprehensible. We see Lily and Dominic's attraction to each other and on top of all that she has to hide her dual nature from everyone because to have it revealed could mean her death. The second book would deal with Lily and Dominic finally getting together. Discovering that they are mates. Which is heavy because they are teenagers who will never again be turned on by anyone else and they have to learn boundaries with their new found telepathy. Lily would also be dealing with the extreme bullying, still trying to handle her diabolical Uncle, and the imminent reveal of her dual nature since her mate Dominic is now inside her head. That way in this book we would be much more impacted by the major event that Lily is hit with, and how she deals with it and how she bonds with her fellow prodigies could be explored instead of a series of fast forwards.There is also a ridiculous amount of death in this book. These are supernatural beings. Shifter's, Vampire's, Mage's, and Elemental's. These people have super strength, crazy hearing, insane sense of smell, magic, power over the elements, and almost instantaneous healing. On top of that they are all rich. So whatever they can't do with their powers they can buy, which isn't much. There is a gun in this book that has a spell cast over it so that it will never, ever run out of bullets. Yet with all of this they were remarkably easy to take out, so I don't know what the Commoners (humans) are worried about.As far as the romance goes it was seriously lack luster. People were finding and losing their mates all over the place and I wasn't emotionally stirred because the characters weren't. Sex was talked about but there was not a single love scene in this book. There wasn't even a heavy make out leading up to sex scene. There was a lot of "we're totally going to do it" talk then cut to the morning after like a 50's movie. Twilight was a sexier book than this. I also don't get this sub-genre label of New Adult. She's only 19 and she is in school. Yes the legal age of adulthood in America is 18, making her technically an adult, but Lily says early on in the book that for Mystical's adulthood is reached at 22. Which means King Hall is more like a boarding (high) school than a college. This book is YA. As I said I really wanted to like this book, but there were so many things that I found distracting and the story ended in a cliff hanger. I doubt that I will be reading the next installment.