I was fortunate enough to win ebooks of all of Lisa Amowitz's books, from the author herself, and decided to start this one just recently. It was the reason I entered the giveaway, because it sounded so good, and of course the cover is so awesome! And it really ended up being very good! Now I'm very eager for a sequel!
The main character is Beth. She's in a band, but recently her boyfriend, also in the band, disappeared. But he isn't the first person to have disappeared in their town. There have been many kids disappearing with no trace. One night a guy named Vincent shows up at a concert, and says he's there to see about her attending a special school for people with her talent. Later that night, her brother is in an almost fatal accident. She goes to see him in the hospital, and sees a dark shadow, she begs it to go away and it does. And then her brother seems to at least come back to life, even though he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life. A big blow to him, as he was a major athlete. With things being so crazy, she goes ahead and goes to audition at the school that Vincent invited her to after she finds out one of the guys in her band recommended her. She gets in, but that's when things start getting weird.
While everyone at the school is very talented, the school isn't quite the music school that she was led to believe. Vincent, who of course is very cute, seems to have a connection with her, and she feels it with him, even though she's not sure if she trusts him. There's another boy at the school, one she hears sing the first night she's there, named Xavier. There's something about Xavier that calls to her as well. His voice for one thing, and then when Vincent warns Beth to stay away from him, it seems that she gets thrown into situations with him more, often she does seek him out though. Xavier seems to know what is going on, and tries to give her tips on how to survive in the school. Cryptic hints at what might be going on. And then Xavier disappears, and Beth needs to find him and find out what happened to him.
I can't say much more without giving the story away. Just know that the school of talents aren't the talents you'd think. And there is something major going on. It wasn't something that I could kind of figure out as I went along, it just kept surprising me and going in directions I didn't see all the way through till the end. Great surprises, an intense, can't put it down read.
