Unfortunately, my New Year reading began with Inara Scott's The Candidates, the first book in the Delcroix Academy series. You know how you sometimes read a blurb, and it gets you so excited, you just have to go right out and buy the book? For some people it's covers, for me, it's blurbs. (And yes, I am the kind of person who sometimes flips to the last page to know what happens, so sue me!) DisneyHyperion did a great job with the cover and the blurb for this book, which is good, because there a More...

Okay first off, how awesome is Dancia's Grandma. Is that lady not an infinite pool of in your face wisdom! I did not get nearly enough of Granny this time around.

As for the actual novel... I thought it was a little slow at times, but there was a lot of background information that was presented. I'm thinking/hoping that this is going to set us up for something extremely awesome in book two. Speaking of book two, after the ending in book one, I need the sequel, like now!

The mystery surrounding the More...

Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.

Since childhood, Dancia has had a strange power. When she gets upset, things happen. Like when a guy threatens her grandmother at the hospital, he gets thrown into a wall and ends up in a coma. She tries to fly under the radar and not make friends so that she wouldn't have anyone to defend. Then comes an invitation to the famous Delcroix Academy, a school that has turned out some pretty well-known people. With insistance from her darling grandmother and a More...

First off I must say that I love, love, LOVE the premise of this book. I have always been fascinated by shows like "Dollhouse" and "Nikkita" where young individuals are trained to be kick-butt superheroes/ spies/ the likes of, able to take on the world and all of that jazz... But then throw in paranormal elements where those individuals are not only kick-butt with their ninja/ assassin/ spy-like skills, but kick-butt with their ninja/ assassin / spy-like skills AND paranormal abilities, and you More...

My experience with books that delve into the realm of the paranormal has rarely been a positive one. I always seem to get my hands on the books that have super lame, female main characters. But, The Candidates showed me strong female lead characters can exist in these types of books. Dancia Lewis was awesooooome! In the beginning, she struggled with low confidence, but over the course of the book she begins to grow into a strong-minded and independent young woman. Her confidence is on occasion p More...

WOW! This book has just amazed me. From the very beginning it was mysterious, keeping all the secrets, from me demanding me to read on to discover the truth. At first, when I started this book I was a little skeptical. I kept thinking that maybe I might get bored with it, but it soon proved me wrong.




Dancia is scared. Scared for her life as well as others. Always living under the radar, never doing anything to draw attention to herself, she finds it impossible that she has gotten a full ride into More...

I really wish I would start writing reviews as soon as I finish a book because I am drawing a blank on what to say about this book. I liked it, yes, as you can see by my five star rating. Let's try and detail it up now.

The characters are interesting and intriguing. I instantly wanted to learn more about them when I started reading. I am a Team Jack member ALL THE WAY! I don't like Cam at all and I am actually on Jack's side of the events all the way until the end of the book. I don't trust Mr. J More...

Okay, so I will say first off that I did not love this book but I didn't hate it either. I think it was well written and the story was well thought out and fast paced. It held my attention and I finished it quickly. If I hadn't have been so frustrated and plain old mad at Dancia during the last half of the book it would have gotten a 4, maybe. Possibly 3&3/4. I am 100% a Jack fan, and I got so frustrated with how he was treated I just can't get past it. So, to keep this review spoiler free, More...

Main character needed some serious help. At first the author makes her out to be pitiful, strong-willed, and sassy. All I saw her as was a brat. She was over obsessed with Cam whom I saw as a fake pretty boy whom lied to her for just about more than half the book. She listened to his every whim an d pretty much became his puppet which I just hated. Then there are the parts were she is just completely self centered. She dissed her friends and criticized the people who helped her. The only good th More...

Dancia Lewis has problems, big problems. Whenever Dancia sees someone that might get hurt she has to save them, and with her strange abilities it's possible, but people get hurt. So Dancia avoids using them at all cost by distancing herself from people in order to avoid hurting them. All this changes though when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix academy come and invite her to join the school, a place for rich, gifted children. Dancia thinks she can't possibly fit in, but joins anyway, whe More...

Cover:
Das Cover spricht mich schon einmal sehr an. Es wäre mal wieder eines der Bücher, die ich in einer Buchhandlung sofort in der Hand halten würde und auch am liebsten mitnehmen will. Die Night Academy ist im Hintergrund abgebildet und im Vordergrund ist ein Mädchen das Ähnlichkeiten mit Dancia hat. Ich kann sie mir jedenfalls gut so vorstellen. Schönes Cover.

Charaktere:
Dancia ist mir von Anfang an vollkommen sympathisch und ich würde mir sofort mit ihr anfreunden. Sie ist weder überheblich More...

What to say about this book. First, it took me several weeks to finish, when I usually finish my books in less than a day. It was a chore getting through this book sometimes, and I'm still rather amazed that I managed to finish reading it. There is nothing new about this book. There is nothing particularly exciting either. Even worse, it doesn't even take old ideas and cliches and do them well, which is such a shame considering how interested I was in reading this in the first place.

Dancia is re More...

An average student with average skills. A student who’s mediocre at everything they do, weather it be school subjects like math or science, music, sports, etc. So what’s an average student to do when they find themselves in a well known elite private school among hundreds of talented students. Each of these students handpicked for their extraordinary talents in areas like dance, singing, and so on. This is the situation Inara Scott creates in her book, The Candidates.

Dancia Lewis is just an av More...

Dancia's spent all of her life trying to blend in and be easily forgettable. She lives with her Grandma, who she helps take care of, as she's the only family she has left. But when recruiters from Delcroix Academy show up on her doorstep, she doesn't want to leave her shelter of anonymity. Through some persuasion, she accepts and begins a whole new chapter of her life. The two guys in her new life, Cam and Jack, are pulling her emotions in too many directions and she needs to figure out what is More...

The Candidates is one of the novels that I have been dying to read for such a long time that when I finally got the chance to read it I had been expecting so much. And already, I am happy to tell you all that the novel gave me everything I wanted and more! I will admit that because of the blurb that tells you only a brief bit of information I was slightly taking a shot in the dark, but after starting the fast paced prologue, I knew that The Candidates and I would be best friends (see what I did More...

The Candidates was a book full of action, suspense and cool magic. As soon as I saw the cover of this book, I just had to have it. I just had to read it. I more occasionally more than not judge a book by it's cover and this book was so worth it.

Dancia is a sweet girl but she is constantly struck by disasters of her own doing. She has a special power that creates chaos because she's had no training behind it and doesn't understand what she is truly capable of.

This book is well written, the emotio More...

Very formulaic. I know it's YA, but that doesn't preclude innovation. (And it probably doesn't help that I recently read Mercedes Lackey's "Legacies" books either.) Girl with a hidden power but otherwise very normal gets recruited to the mysterious and exclusive private boarding school; the overly stunning older boy who helps recruit her takes an unusual interest in her; the one person there who seems like a regular guy (untalented, not a genius and poor) is made to seem suspicious by aforementi More...

I've heard mixed reviews about this book, ranging from gushing recommendations to people telling me to never pick it up. Of course I had to read it and decide for myself, although I was marginally disappointed. It was an alright read, though not as good as the summary and amazing cover made it seem like it would be.

Dancia was an okay character, who was easily overshadowed by more minor roles. Her two friends, Ester and Hennie, each have something interesting about them that really drew my attent More...

Delcroix Academy: The Candidates by Inara Scott. YA: SF/Romance. 293 pages. Dancia has a secret power. She can’t control it, but sometimes she can make things happen. She’s recruited into a special private school, the Delcroix Academy, by a recruiter accompanied by a very gorgeous older student named Cam. When the two shake hands there was a static shock. A couple of days later she uses her power to rescue another boy, Jack, who is more of a rebel type with a tattoo. And he seems to have a speci More...

Even though the premise was nothing new, I liked this book, and I think the series has potential. Dancia Lewis has some kind of power to make things happen when she needs to protect those she cares about - she can make tree branches fall or cars crash to stop someone she cares about from getting hurt. Before her freshman year of high school, she is recruited by Delcroix Academy - a prestigious private school. She has worked hard all her life to remain invisible, blending in and being unremarkabl More...

Fourteen year old Dancia Lewis is different. She has average grades, a wardrobe from Goodwill, lives with her grandmother, and has no friends. She works hard to stay invisible. It’s the only way she canprotect her secret. When she senses a threat, especially to someone she cares about, somehow things “happen” that take care of the problem.

When recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy offer her a full scholarship to attend, she’s not sure why. But her grandmother convinces her to go. Sudd More...

Dancia Lewis spends her time trying to be ordinary. She knows she has a mysterious power that helps her protect people she cares about, but it also can hurt others. Dancia tries to control that power by not having close friends and trying not to care about anything at school. So she’s surprised when she’s offered a full-ride scholarship to attend high school at prestigious Delcroix Academy, where the super-smart children of super-wealthy and distinguished families go.

Even though most of the kids More...

Welcome to Delcroix Academy, where we train the elite of the elite.

I adored this book!! And can not wait for book two to come out this year :)

Danica has always sat right in the middle. It's not like she couldn't excel at anything, but she never wanted to. From the first time she realized she had powers, she has decided to lay low, and draw as little attention to herself as possible.

It would be great to have friends, even one friend would be nice. But having an emotional attachment of any kind i More...

I will preface this review by shallowly admitting I was completely entraced by the cover. It is honestly what drew me in from the beginning.

That being said, I truly enjoyed this book to the point where I read it in one day. While it wasn't necessarily a book I desperately had to finish it, I also didn't feel the need to "take a break" and walk away from the book.

I'm surprised this is Inara Scott's first book - she handled it like a pro. Her characters come off as complete and intriguing, and her More...

So this book is another girl-with-powers-goes-away-to-boarding-school-meets-mysterious-boys story. Another girl who doesn't know what her powers are or how to control them, only that she's different because she has them. Another mysterious boarding school where things just aren't what they seem. Another love triangle with the polished, popular boy versus the rebel/bad boy/loner.

However, the book's redeemed by a well-written main character, strong voice, and good writing. Though Danica reads a b More...

(from Murphy's Library - http://www.murphyslibrary.com/)

Dancia Lewis lives in Danville, a small town, with her grandmother, since she was 4. Her parents died on a car accident, they were on their way to visit Grandma when the accident happen—and Grandma is all Dancia has as family since then. You could picture Dancia as an ordinary 15 years old, but she's far from that.

Dancia tries to keep herself out of people's attention. She doesn't have friends, she doesn't have enemies, she doesn't even hav More...

Danica is your typical teen with average grades and a relatively normal home life; there's truly nothing remarkable about her. At least that's how it appears to the majority of her peers at Danville Middle School, she's someone everyone knows, but no one knows anything about. Which is exactly how she'd like to keep things. Unfortunately for her she's been picked up on the radar by a rather large and high profile private school for gifted teens, the Delcroix Academy. Before she knows it, she' s b More...

From the onset, it’s pretty clear that Dancia is supposed to be an average, run of the mill character that teenage girls everywhere should be able to relate to. With her average, grades, average appearance, less than impressive wardrobe, and no money or classy possessions to show off, Dancia has pretty much resigned herself to a life less lived. Except, although she seems unwilling to admit it, there is something exceptional about her. She has an odd kind of power and can make things happen with More...