Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Friday, February 17, 2012

A Tale of Two Proms by Cara Lockwood

A Tale of Two Proms by Cara Lockwood
"It was the best of prom, it was the worst of prom.

Miranda Tate returns for her senior year at Bard Academy and she is counting on two things: Prom with her boyfriend, Heathcliff, and then graduation from the haunted boarding school where fictional characters come to life. Fate, however, has other plans.

When Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff's long-lost love, appears on campus, suddenly everything she thought she knew about Heathcliff is changed forever. Catherine seems determined to win Heathcliff back, even if that means destroying Bard Academy and banishing its ghostly teachers - for good.

Miranda and her friends face their most daunting challenge, yet, which will take them for the first time inside the classics that have powered their mysterious boarding school. It's up to them to save Bard Academy - and prom. Can Miranda change her destiny and Heathcliff's? Or is this one story that was written in the stars?"- summary from Amazon

I have absolutely loved the Bard Academy from the first day I saw it on bookshelves. I was browsing the bookstore with a gift card and saw this book called "Wuthering High" and had to immediately pick it up to see what it was about. It sounded really awesome- a funny paranormal taking elements from classic books. I bought it, read the book in two days, and was clamoring for the second one. I think I went back out the following weekend to get it. Then I had to wait around a year for the next one- it was TORTURE. Until I got to the wait for this book, which took four years! But it's here now, and it's the perfect way to wrap up the series.

I will admit that it took me a while to get into the book. I don't know if it was just having not read the series in so long, or if maybe the first half was just not what I'd expected from the books after reading the first three. I felt the humor had been dialed down and it was just reading about Miranda's woes over her relationship with Heathcliff.

The second half though was BANGING! I was scrolling through the pages (it's an ebook only) so fast because I wanted to see how everything was resolved. This was their biggest adventure yet and I think it was worth the wait. There was so much at stake and Lockwood handled the whole complicated situation so well. The ending was a bit of a surprise but it feels right, so I'm happy with it. Although now I kinda want an epilogue, lol.

The characters are all great, especially once their senses of humor come back in the second half. I missed them so much, so it was great to be with them all again for one final adventure. My favorite would probably have to be Samir- he's such a lovable coward! I also love that I kinda get a fun literature lesson while reading too.

Overall, this was a fantastic ending to a wonderful series. If you have not picked up these books, you really should!! I cannot recommend it enough, especially now that the series is complete! The first three books are, in order: Wuthering High, Scarlet Letterman, and Moby Clique. Go buy them!

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, I agree with you! It was torture to wait for this book, I so wanted it!!!

    Also, I did think the beginning was a little slow but it kept me guessing, I developed about three or four theories about what was going on and I was always a little right and a little wrong so that kept it interesting for me.

    I thought it was a wonderful ending to a the series but I Really wish I had an epilogue too! :D

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  2. I also read and reviewed this one this week, I feel like I flipped through the pages faster than I should've since I was just that anxious to see what was going to happen. I really enjoyed it, though I was a little bit let down with what happened to the professors (though I understand why that had to happen). I loved what happened to Parker though, might be evil of me but she had it coming......I've never really read any Dickens, other than the Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, so all the Tale of Two Cities stuff was sort of new to me. But I think it was great that Cara used his work in this one, especially considering it's his 200th birthday this year. Like Alex, I had multiple theories about what was going on. I so thought a literary feud between two of the teachers was going to have a bigger role in the story than it did, but I have to say I still enjoyed it. I really hope Cara writes something else soon. I've been reading her adult work lately, Dixieland Sushi is excellent btw. And I really enjoy her voice.

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