Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff

When Annelise meets dark and seductive Ronan, he promises her a new life-if she has the courage to chance the unknown. Now, she's whisked away to a mysterious island and pitted against other female recruits to become a Watcher-girls who are partnered with vampires and assist them in their missions. To survive and become a Watcher, Annelise has to beat out every other girl, but she's determined to do so, because to fail doesn't mean dishonor-it means death.

I've heard a lot of people describe this book as a cross between Vampire Academy and The Hunger Games, and that isn't really far off. The story follows high school graduate Annelise off on this wild adventure to a secret island where she is trained to become a Watcher for an old cult of vampires. The school is very seclusive and its basically a fight to death to be awarded one of the coveted spots as Watcher. Training involves everything from proper etiquette to physical combat. The girls are competitive and down right nasty because everything is at stake to win one of these spots.

I found the plot of this book to be just a tad far fetched, but I can understand that its fiction and so of course its going to be unrealistic. However, at certain times I was just questioning Annelise's judgement and asking myself, "Really?!"  This was mainly in the beginning of the story when Annelise is whisked away to the island without really a second thought. For the majority of this book I could overlook these parts simply because everything else rocked!

Wolff really mastered the art of story telling with The Isle of Night. The flow of this book is great and it really feels like you're reading a story as it progresses and not some retelling over the course of a week. We get to see Annelise develop and grow throughout each chapter while at school from this anxious cast out into a cool and confident warrior. This development also includes her friendships with Yas and Emma, which were so sweet. There wasn't any forced friends or enemies for that part, everything just seemed really natural and thats what I loved about this story.

Now of course the easiest way to win me over is with a dashingly hott male lead, and boy did Ronan fit that description. Accent? Check. Physique? Check. Mystery? Check. This guy just had it all. He definitely reminded me a lot of Dimitri from VA in that he is one of Annelise's instructors but has a deep connection with her and therefore takes a special interest in training her. The chemistry between the two was steamy, but not over the top, which I can appreciate since I HATE when things are rushed. I am so looking forward to more of Ronan in the future of this series.

I am seriously addicted to this story. There was great action, especially at the end, which really gets your blood pumping and adrenaline rushing. The vampires are so creepy, especially Master Alacante, and leave a lot to be questioned in the role of Watcher. I have definitely fallen in love with the characters of this book, especially the relationship between Annelise and Ronan, which I can tell will be facing a lot of obstancles in the near future. Most importantly, I NEED to know who is going to survive till the end and make it as a Watcher! Giving this book 5 stars (despite the far fetchness) because the story is just thrilling!