Night School: Legacy by C. J. Daugherty

Night School: Legacy by C. J. Daugherty
Night School #2
Release Date: January 17, 2013 (UK)
Publisher: ATOM
Source: Publisher
Goodreads Stars: 1
Rating: -

In the last year, Allie's survived three arrests, two breakups and one family breakdown. The only bright point has been her new life at Cimmeria Academy. It's the one place she's felt she belongs. And the fact that it's brought the dreamy Carter West into her life hasn't hurt...But far from being a safe haven, the cloistered walls of Cimmeria are proving more dangerous than Allie could've imagined. The students, and faculty, are under threat and Allie's family - from her mysterious grandma to her runaway brother - are at the centre of the storm. Allie is going to have to choose between protecting her family and trusting her friends. But secrets have a way of ripping even the strongest relationships apart... - Goodreads

I didn't like Legacy all that much, if I'm honest. My dislike for the main characters and the messages in the book really affected my enjoyment of reading it. I'm not sure what to rate it on my scale, so I'm just going to leave that blank.

Let's start with Carter, Allie's boyfriend. Carter is an abusive arsehole, and I despise him. How could such a great character turn into such... I don't even know how to describe him. I can't find the words. Every time I think about him my blood turns to lava and I start glaring at the screen.

I'll explain why I don't like him, shall I? He and Allie are dating at the beginning of the book, which is all well and good. He's still being Nice!Carter at this point. Then Allie starts talking to Sylvain (who I will talk about later) again, after many months of ignoring him, and Carter tells Allie that she's not allowed to talk to him, or even acknowledge him. Strike Number One. How dare he tell Allie who she can and can't talk to?

Strike Number Two came a little bit later. I can't remember exactly what started it, but Allie and Carter have an argument a bit later on in the book. It starts with "just" Carter shouting (and not letting Allie get a word in), and then it quickly escalates. Carter throws a chair across the room to start with, and then he goes on to actually grab Allie before roughly shoving her away. I am not okay with this. In fact, it makes me want to turn violent and smack Carter in the face. But I am better than him (and he's a fictional character) so I won't.

Carter seems to have developed some major Christian Grey tendencies between the first and second books. I cannot believe what happened, and I am both shocked and frustrated that this is happening in YA, since Allie is still in love with him at the end of this book. It actually makes me shake with disgust.

Then there's Sylvain. He was previously abusive (if you can recall, he forced himself onto Allie in Night School), although much better in this book. However, I still fucking hate him for molesting Allie in the first book, and it is something that I will never forgive, no matter how much he tries to prove himself to Allie.

Allie, Allie, Allie. You have the worst taste in guys I have ever come across in YA. Why do you keep going after these horrible, horrible boys? I would understand if it was part of your character development, but that doesn't seem like it's the case to me.

To be honest, I am appalled. I do not think that Allie and her relationships with either boy sends a good message to teenagers (i.e. the intended audience) and I would not recommend that anyone give this a go. I was hoping that after the events in Night School, the abuse would be addressed in the right manner, and say to teenagers that these types of relationships are not okay, that they can find the strength to get out of them. Instead the abuse escalated, and I don't know if it was meant to be seen as sexy or not, but rather than making me love these "troubled bad boys", it made me want to throw the book away in disgust.

I realise that this has become a bit of a rant rather than a review, and I apologise for that. I just felt that these things needed to be said, because it is not okay. The actions these love interests make is not okay.

On a side note, I really enjoyed the mystery and the action. So... yay?