The Last Academy by Anne Applegate Blog Tour (Review & Excerpt!)

The Last Academy by Anne Applegate
Release Date: April 30, 2013
Format: ARC, 320 pages
Publisher: Point
Source: Publisher
Buy It: Amazon

Description from Goodreads:
What is this prep school preparing them for?

Camden Fisher arrives at boarding school haunted by a falling-out with her best friend back home. But the manicured grounds of Lethe Academy are like nothing Cam has ever known. There are gorgeous, preppy boys wielding tennis rackets, and circles of girls with secrets to spare. Only . . . something is not quite right. One of Cam's new friends mysteriously disappears, but the teachers don't seem too concerned. Cam wakes up to strangers in her room, who then melt into the night. She is suddenly plagued by odd memories, and senses there might be something dark and terrible brewing. But what? The answer will leave Cam—and readers—stunned and breathless, in this thrilling debut novel.

The Last Academy is more of a YA story than I've read in a while. Personally, I think that made my like the story a little more because it gave the book a different air than the others I've been reading. I've been very much into NA (goodness, have you read Real by Katy Evans yet? AH, fantastic!) and upper YA. So a more on-level YA was a nice change.

Another thing--this book wasn't very romantic. And we all know I'm ALL OVER the romance. But instead of romance, this book had loads of mystery. This was both a good and a bad thing. Good because I found the questions I constantly had to be super fun and actually realy cool. The bad side was that NOTHING was clickling. Nothing. At all. For a majority of this book, zero things were making sense or giving me answers. This went on so long that I started to wonder if this book was the first in a series, even though I hadn't heard anything from anyone indicating that it was.

Now that I've finished the book, I can say that, overall, it was a good read. The ending was my favorite part of the whole book. Everything came together then and made sense, and I really loved the answer to the mystery. I legit never guessed. Not once.

Also, this book is most definitely not the first in a series. Even if it was, I don't think I'd pick up the second. Not becauyse I didn't enjoy this one (because, when all was said and done, I truly DID), but because I see no way this could continue in a way that would interest me. The mystery was revealed in this one! Wrapped up nicely in a way that I adored. So I wouldn't want to mess with that.

But that rant was for literally nothing because I'm pretty sure this is a standalone. So yeah.

Overall, The Last Academy was a pretty quick mystery that was questionable in the beginning, but pulled through in the end. The main character has a backbone and is truly kind, and the supporting characters were fun to watch interactions with. This is one of those books where the ending is worth it all. Because, trust me, it was great.

Man, it was so great.

~~~

EXCERPT

 

Then I was at Nora's door. There was no one milling about in the hallway this time. In fact, it seemed even more dark and deserted than usual. I knocked.

 

"Come in!" Nora yelled. She was sitting out on the patio. Already, Jessie's stuff had a dusty, pharaoh's tomb look to it. I hurried through the room and out to the patio.

 

"What really happened to Jessie?" I asked. "Did she . . ."

 

Nora said in a loud voice, "I don't know. When I woke up, she was gone."

 

"People were talking about an ambulance. They said she killed herself."

 

"Look, I don't know anything about that." Nora enunciated every word. I wanted to shake her or something. Jessie had been my friend, too.

 

"But what about all her stuff?" I demanded. "Are you telling me she just got up in the middle of the night and walked out of your room and . . . disaooeared?"

 

♥Jessica(: