Book Review: By Midnight By Mia James

Title: By Midnight
Author: Mia James
Publisher: Orion


Summary: APRIL DUNNE is not impressed.
She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends-and her entire life-behind.
She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception.
Ravenwood is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students- and the only place her parents could find on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart...and trying to fit in is more than tough.
It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson- and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift.
But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye.
Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from...something...in Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on.
...and whether or not she's going to live through it...


Review: This was the first YA novel that I'd ever read that was based in England.
April Dunne is originally from Edinburgh and she's had to move to Highgate, London, leaving everything she's ever known behind in Edinburgh.
What I loved about this is that I can relate to the places.
Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities so I can understand why she's sad to leave.

What also had a huge impact on me is the reason April had to move to London. 
Her family moved because her journalist dad lost his job on 'The Scotsman' and relocated to Hampstead, London. 
As a trained journalist this was something else I could associate with.

April is an ordinary teen, whose been taken away from her friends.
So she's obviously your average wayward teen who feels like her life is over as she's been taken away from her friends and the life she's always loved. 
She's a character that you can't help but love. 

Another character that I fell for just as April did is Gabriel. 
I'm not usually one for the mysterious types but there's something loveable yet intriguing about him.

The one thing that I was a little unsure of was how close some of the text is to Twilight. With similar descriptions between April and Gabriel, to that of Bella and Edward.

The description of this novel is amazing, the imagery makes you feel like you're experiencing what April is. The setting of the graveyard makes you scream at April. Why would you want to be alone in a graveyard after dark?

Ravenwood is a prestigious academy for gifted students. This is also the only place her parents could get her into. But is there more to the academy?

The twists and sadder parts of this book are intense and emotional. 

I really felt for April you just want to hug her.
I didn't realise there would be anymore books in this series and I'm excited to see what happens next.