Dark Companion ~ Marta Acosta

Title: Dark Companion
Author: Marta Acosta
Pub Date: July 3, 2012
Publisher: Tor Teen
368 pages
Author website: www.martaacosta.com
Review Copy courtesy of Publisher via NetGalley

From Good Reads:
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?


Oh, Dark Companion, how I love you. Let me count the ways!

1. The first sentence that instantly drew me in and began my reading frenzy of the book.
2. Mary Violet
3. The vocabulary (inchoate, vex, amok, susarration)
4. Witty exchanges
5. The suspense!
6. Modern twist on  a subject
7. The ending!

The more I read, the more I had to know what exactly was going on. Early on, I had to train my brain to understand that this book was CONTEMPORARY and not one set in the past. That took a little doing, but in the end I left the past behind!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I got to say, I did not see it coming. I can't tell you what 'it' is because then that wold ruin the book...but wow. I thought I had it figured out early early on, but dismissed it because Marta informed me it was a contemporary novel and not a paranormal novel. So ... wow. 

Jane was the lead character. You can tell she has been handed the world on a silver platter. Every so often, she can't let go of her behaviors and habits from living in foster systems. She hides her stash of money, etc. She is wary of cars driving slowly. Jane is street smart.She doesn't let anyone treat her like crap. Including Lucky. That pompous jerk named Lucky who thinks he can order her around. Pft. Jane is so much better than that, and she all but tells him. Yet, it doesn't stop her from being his. Then again, can you blame her? She spent all her life being alone; suddenly this gorgeous guy wants her to be his, to be his closest confidante. What else would she do?


One of my favorite exchanges in the book happens between Jane and her new friend Mary Violet.

"Why do the girls here say 'coitus' all the time?"
"Because you can tell someone to 'coitus off' and you won't get detention."

Lol. That Mary Violet. She is just too much! MV is a fabulous girl who uses French in her everyday language, even though she can't speak any French.


So, what should you do for 4th of July? Well, you should be reading Dark Companion! And then go chit chat with Marta, she is an awesome woman!