The Candidates (Delcroix Academy)
by Inara Scott
Dancia Lewis is far from popular. And that's not just because of her average grades or her less-than-glamorous wardrobe. In fact, Dancia's mediocrity is a welcome cover for her secret: whenever she sees a person threatening someone she cares about, things just...happen. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt. So Dancia does everything possible to avoid getting close to anyone, believing this way she can suppress her powers and keep them hidden.
But when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy show up in her living room to offer her a full scholarship, Dancia's days of living under the radar may be over. Only, Delcroix is a school for diplomats' kids and child geniuses--not B students with uncontrollable telekinetic tendencies. So why are they treating Dancia like she's special? Even the hottest guy on campus seems to be going out of his way to make Dancia feel welcome.
And then there's her mysterious new friend Jack, who can't stay out of trouble. He suspects something dangerous is going on at the Academy and wants Dancia to help him figure out what. But Dancia isn't convinced. She hopes that maybe the recruiters know more about her "gift" than they're letting on. Maybe they can help her understand how to use it...But not even Dancia could have imagined what awaits her behind the gates of Delcroix Academy.
From goodreads.com
Mysterious boarding school on the hill behind tall heavy iron gates with secret passages and full of most talented kids from all around the country. Full scholarship and open doors to the bright future. The only thing is required from you is to take a pledge to use your talents only for the good. Two gorgeous and mysterious guys. No parental control whatsoever. Also throw a very powerful paranormal talent on top of this all and you will get a first installment The Candidates of Delcroix Academy series. What's not to like? This is precisely what I thought when I was picking up this book.
And it began just the way I expected. Inara Scott’s description of Delcroix Academy and its inhabitants might be a cliché, but still made me shiver. Dancia’s paranormal talent – telekinesis – made me long for such a power. An electric shock from the simple handshake made my eyes pop. A guy asking for help to run away from the car driven by an obvious liar in a black, can’t-see-through sunglasses made me want to turn pages faster.
It’s all started fabulous. Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. As you can see in my above described disposition, I was ready to love this book and I really wanted to, but I couldn’t. After initial fifty or so pages it became very boring and dull, everything that has been mentioned already went over and over again in rounds. I gave up counting how many times Dancia told anyone or thought that she doesn’t belong to Delcroix Academy, how she was mediocre and not good at anything. It seemed like Inara Scott was dragging and beating out the mystery about Delcroix Academy’s purpose for too long.
There were two things that annoyed me more than anything else in the book. First of all - Dancia’s age. I couldn’t believe she was only fourteen years old. She acted and reasoned too mature for her age. I understand, she could be a mature person, considering that she lost her parent when she was very young. However, I find it quite unbelievable that even a mature person wouldn’t at least rarely act for her age and Dancia never did. Second, I couldn’t believe how easily Dancia left her beloved, very old and helpless in some areas grandmother and went to live in Delcroix Academy. She only rarely mentioned that she was worried about her grandmother, but she never throughout the whole book didn’t do anything to show that worry. It seemed like she was only remembering about grandmother when she needed a lift from school to home on the weekends.
To summarize The Candidates wasn’t a bad book. It just needed a bit more work and a bit more plot for its size. The writing style wasn’t something glorious, but wasn’t horrid either. Unfortunately, this book turned out to be as Dancia, the main character, thinks about herself – just mediocre.
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