Blog Tour: The Last Academy Review and Favorite Quotes + Giveaway

Release date: May 1st 2013

Publisher: Point

Purchase: Amazon

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 one of those books that might take a while to really get into but near the end, the mystery of it all took hold. My nook ran out of batteries and I ran to my laptop to keep reading. I know a lot of people have said that nothing really happens for most of the book but I have to disagree. Although it's not going to be at the top of my favorite boarding school books, (I'm a boarding school book junkie) the mystery element did keep me reading.

A lot of weird things are happening at Lethe Academy. First, there's a super creepy guy that keeps showing up on campus. He doesn't really do anything aggressive for the most part but his calm presence is enough to make you suspect what he's up to and give you the creeps. Camden sees two boys in her room, there are these mysterious coins and at one point a professor tells her these strange tales about all the teachers at the school. All these things added together with some hallucinations that might just be real, will keep you turning pages through the end.

As for the mystery, I started piecing things together early on, and by halfway through I was pretty sure I knew what was happening, but that's around the time things really pick up. I just wanted to get to the end to confirm my suspicions. After I was almost done I started wondering what "lethe" in the Lethe academy really meant. So I found a review on Goodreads that mentioned it. Let's just say, that if I had know what it meant before, I would have guessed the mystery in the book, A LOT earlier. So if you want to keep it a mystery and don't know what lethe means, don't look it up. But if you're curious, then by all means.

On to characters, going into the book I didn't know the main character was going to be so young. Camden's just about to start her freshman year in high school when the book starts. Sometimes I felt she was too honest, but I guess that's part of her younger personality. Throughout the novel I didn't connect with the characters too much but by the end you could see that Camden had really developed. The emotion in the writing in the ending had me almost in tears. The main love interest was cute but the mystery took precedence to their relationship.

If you're looking for a book that will capture your attention from the start, look elsewhere, but if you want a book that will have you thinking and wondering pick The Last Academy up. The twist at the end was a pleasure to get to.

4/5 stars

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QUOTES

I'm a huge quote person, my books are usually completely marked by sticky notes reminding me where my favorite lines are, so here are some of my favorite from The Last Academy (I have more but I didn't want to give anything away):

"'If you could've seen yourself, you'd know how I feel.' He paused, staring past me, distracted by his own thoughts. In that moment, I wondered if he loved me. The idea stunned me with happiness. "You're brave. I like that.'" Pg. 235

"Trying to figure out the location of any given teenager on campus over the weekend? Might as well get yourself a cowboy hat and take up cat herding. I mean, you'd be less frustrated." Pg. 259

"His breath tickled the side of my neck, and I knew all those little secrets you know about another person when they are very close, like the smell of his toothpaste and deodorant, even the detergent in his clothes. I tried to put every small detail of him into my head, so I could keep them there forever." Pg. 274

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