The Homecoming Masquerade

Girls Wearing Black #1

by Spencer Baum

In a posh suburb of the nation’s capital, at the most exclusive high school in the world, the vampires who secretly run the government have created a game for America’s daughters of privilege. Show up to Homecoming in a black dress and you’ve entered yourself in a contest where the winner lives forever, and the loser becomes the winner’s first meal.

Only the wealthiest, most connected students can hope to win, so when new girl Nicky Bloom wears a black dress to Homecoming, everyone assumes she has a death wish. They don’t know that Nicky has her own agenda. As the dance continues into the night, they will find out that Nicky Bloom is far more than she seems.

Genres: Paranormal, Vampires, Young Adult, Fantasy, Ebooks, Romance, Paranormal Romance

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 28, 2012

Reviews

[Lyuba · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for an action packed book, look elsewhere. After reading the blurb I got a completely different thing from what I expected to get.

This book feels like one long background story, that goes on and on and on. The narrator's voice wasn't very engaging, I felt like I was reading a lecture about the past of every person we meet, well every IMPORTANT person we meet.

The characters were not very engaging either, because we were told so much about their past that there was no place for them to act and do something. Most of the book (and I do mean MOST) was spent talking all kinds of BS and networking at the Homecoming dance. I actually didn't feel disappointed when I got to the last page, my feelings were more along the lines of "that's it?" If a whole book covered about 3-4 hours, then I'm afraid to know how many books are going to be there to finally get to the actual Coronation ceremony... Let's see, if 1 book = one day, and they are in the fall, Coronation is in the spring, are we going to get over 90 books before we get to the end of the story? Because it sure seems that way based on the pacing of this book.

There were some things that made me raise my eyebrows while I was reading it. Like calling someone who is 6ft tall a behemoth... Um... for the record 6ft tall is not a behemoth, maybe in Japan it is, but not in USA. Also, one of the contestants entered the contest pretty much knowing she will die, because she was desperate for attention. I find it hard to believe that someone would take a most likely death all for attention. By definition these girls are already famous just because of their parents, media probably follows their every step. And it's not that hard to act obnoxious to get even more attention from the media. What other attention does she want that she is willing to die young? Not only that, but if EVERYONE already knows who's going to win, what's the point of entering to begin with? It's not like 2nd place gets any kind of reward anyways.

Then the book also rubbed me the wrong way because it pretty much said that EVERYONE in this world is corrupt... can you say depressing? The only way you're safe is if you're rich and powerful, which The Homecoming Masquerade made sure to remind me at least every other page. Many times I just wanted to scream "I got it, they are filthy rich, can we get to some action now?". Vampires control everything in the world, be afraid, be very afraid! I might be wrong, but at one point I believe it said that USA tribe was the largest, and other tribes were so small that they didn't even deserve to be called tribe (or whatever they are called). But they can be killed, so why haven't everyone got together and killed them?!

My final question is why are girls the only ones who can become immortal? Is there some kind of girls rule club thing going on? Sure those girls can bond with a man and turn him into vampire, but that doesn't explain why guys don't have an equivalent of this contest.

Overall, it wasn't a bad book. It held my attention, and I wanted to know what's going to happen next, but I don't think I will pick up the next installment. I believe this is the book for anyone who loves politics and intrigue, and lots of talking, but not a lot of action. If you're one of those people, then you will love this book. I, on the other hand, will move on to books that have characters that actually do stuff.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just downloaded the third book The Rose Ransom and realised just how long it is since I read the first two, so to refresh my mind and enable me to have a clue what's going on I decided to re-read the first two and noticed that it was before I started making an effort to write reviews, so here goes.
This book is fantastic Thorndike Academy is the most exclusive high school in the world only the very rich, influential and powerful get their children in, once a year they have a competition like no other, girls wanting to enter arrive at the Homecoming dance dressed in black and a year of manovering and fundraising begins culminating in the girl with the most money at the end of the year being turned into a vampire or immortal as they prefer to be called these days and just to make sure contestants are serious the loser is the winners first meal.
The idea, the characters, the background everything is amazing.

[Abi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This one was really boring, and most of the time, i felt like putting it down.

Nothing happened. Most of the time we were in the past, finding out what the network was.
Due to that, the characters never had time to do something interesting, so it got boring, very fast.

The only character who i really noticed was Kim, and that wasn't in a good way.
I didn't like her at all. She was mean, annoying, and thought way too much of herself.

This wasn't so much of a story, but info dumps one after the other.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A creative paranormal concept that unfolds its secrets and leaves the mysteries lurking, The Homecoming Masquerade was a page-turning read. I enjoyed the premise and dark aura surrounding the setting, the political and secretive organizations lurking throughout the course of the novel, but found so many of the characters either bland or too similar to each other to easily diffrentiate.

The Homecoming Masquerade starts out with Jill, a girl revealing to her friends that Nicky Bloom is entering the competition where the winning girl becomes a vampire, aka. immortal, while the loser is the winning girl's first dinner. But everything is politically driven underneath this disturbing homecoming competition, and everyone knows it.

Jill and Nicky Bloom are not involving themselves in this competition for no reason. Their reason? To kill the vampire who is the cornerstone for this competition. The Network, their organization considers this unlawful and wants to put an end to it. Their mission tonight? To destroy Kim's chances of winning this competition by spreading gossip and alluring rumors.

Meanwhile, Kim and her family have been planning to enter and win this competition for a decade. Seeing someone try to undermine all of the work they have put into making sure Kim wins is outrageous and they will do anything to put a stop to this "rebellion" against the most powerful family in the world.


An enthralling read, The Homecoming Masquerade had a pretty impressive plotline for an indie. But of course, there are the sloppy grammar and awkward sentences that accompany every indie/self-pub out there. If there was none, it would havebeen less trying to read.

In addition, the plot moved extremely slowly. The whole novel is based on flashbacks and the one big night. The whole novel ends like 2-3 hours after the first chapter. Now, that is unimpressive. I mean, there are so many mysteries, juicy secrets ready to be uncovered that are revealed in that 2-3 hour time frame. But there are still so many unanswered questions that grip the reader at the end, no it was MAJOR cliff-hanger. I suppose the author plans to release the sequel (which is Fall or Winter 2012) at an astronomical price to make up for the free price its precedessor has currently. Nothing pisses me off more than this. But I guess, it's life.

In addition, I found that the characters lacked depth and were not very round in terms of characterization. I could not really feel for the characters. No pity, anger, sarcasm, anything, etc. Zero, zip, none. It was extremely hard to care about what in the world was going on because of this.

I would not recommend this to people who want to read a book where the action is teeming out of the pages. Seriously, this is just the beginning. There is bound to be more infatuating secrets, romance and big action scenes (aka Mission Impossible), but do not expect them to be popping up in this ebook.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe this series has potential but there's some things wrong. Like how slow the dang book was! It just dragged and dragged!

The Homecoming Masquerade felt like it was one long backstory. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed the book but it felt like nothing actually happened. It was a lot of what happened in the past for the important characters which it is important to get to know some of this stuff but it would have been nice to receive it gradually and perhaps in a different way then all at once with barely any time actually spent in the present. I am looking forward to reading the next book to see where the author take it next. There can't be too much backstory to tell... right?

Characters:
Nicky: the main character, stolen out of bed one night and eventually taken in by Gia and the Network an underground rebel group against the vampires/immortals.
Jill: rich girl with parents that pay her no attention, computer hacker and Network agent, knows almost everything about everyone in the school
Kim: rich, snobby girl with father who would do anything for her, thinks winning the coronation and becoming an immortal is her birth right but really her father has just been getting rid of her competition by buying them out or blackmailing them.
Ryan: Nicky's crush, Jill had a thing for him back in the day, Kin has dirt on him, not much depth to this one at all.. yet I hope.
Immortals: they were all the same basically. The one we spent the most time with was Melissa Mayhew. She was... bland to say the least. I need a villain that I love and completely hate and Melissa is just blah. The rest of the immortals we didn't see much off but were all pretty blah from what I've seen.
So basically all the characters are kinda of blah to me and I'm hoping in the next back we see more depth in them. Yeah we get to see a lot of their history in this book but I still don't really see what Nicky's personality is really like same with Jill and the rest of them. Except Kim of course (which I think the author went a little overboard with the snobby, spoiled, rich girl bit, yeah I know that's who she is but she still needs some depth just like any other character.

All in all I do want to read the next book to see where the author goes next but if the characters don't develop like I'm hoping they will I will be done with the series...

EDIT
Actually I might be done with the series now. I thought the next ebook would be what $1.99? Maybe $2.99? Nope $4.99. I really don't think I'll waste my money.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up, this was a big confusing mess of unrealistic things/plot.

[Genevieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It was good enough to keep me interested but the writing was pretty simple (i.e the author always used the verb said, a big no no for literature)

There was a lot of unnecessary detail which I just skipped through but still understood the story. The characters were interesting enough but that's about as far as it goes.

[Lindley Walter-smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Demon Queen and the Locksmith", also by Baum, is one of my favourite books, so I was really pleased to find this. It's a much more conventional story than Demon Queen, firmly part of the "adolescents battle a society of evil vampires" YA genre, but fun for all that. The world building, again, is really good, and the central idea is an enticing one, with the elite girls competing to become a vampire, backed by their rich and influential families - and the loser getting eaten. While the plot revolves around an attempt to win the dance by a girl working against vampires, what fascinates me is the whole idea, and the stakes for the girls who enter with less chance of winning.

The dance plot revolves around the politicking involved in getting new girl Nicky in with a chance of winning against the school queen bee. This is well handled and fun, and the writing is smooth and effective. What is even better, though, is the background, the world building, and the glimpses we get of vampire life, of the people who live with the vampires, and the rebels against them.

This points to the one major problem with this book, which other have noted: the structure. Starting a book too early is a common flaw in writing, but this book does the opposite, and starts far too late. Baum obviously has decided that the homecoming dance, as the central event of the book, should come first. As a result, far too much of the book is told in flashbacks. It's hard to care about Jill and Nicki and their mission for a good first half of the book, because the stories we need in order to care about them aren't shared yet, nor is the world building. We're not given any reason to care if Nicky wins the competition and kills the vampires or not except a vague "they are bad, they eat people" until far too late, or to care about Nicky's little romance or Annika. It makes the first half of the book move too slowly and be too hard to invest in. It's only in the second half that events and characters really start to draw you in, and which earned the fourth star - the first half was really only a three star read.

One other (minor) quibble - the self-editing of this book is professional in results, with one glaring example. The author uses "discrete" every time he means "discreet". And, unfortunately, it's one of his favourite words, so the clunker happens over and over. I really hope he gets a beta reader that knows the difference for book two!

And I will read book two when it becomes available. Because the second half was so much better than the first, and because I was left really wanting to know what happens - especially to Annika and her secret love. It's flawed, but I devoured the second half really fast, and I am looking forward to more.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never read anything by this author before and even though this may not have really made a great impression on me, I am willing to try the next book in this series. I was not thrilled with the characters who were flat and did not really make me like or dislike them. I really was interested in the story based on the blurb but the execution was less than I would have liked to have seen. The majority of the story is spent inside a mansion with the mains looking back at what brought them there. The vampires here are not even remotely cuddly, and there is no type of romance between them and humans, these are soulless creatures.

Jill Wentworth has attended Thorndike Academy since her freshman year and knows a great deal about all of her classmates, both public and private. She also knows a great deal about the immortals who are in power in Washington and which families have the closest ties with them. It's senior year and her class has only three candidates for coronation because it was planned that way by one family who feels they are more deserving.

Kim Renwick and her family have made it their mission to have as little competition as possible at Homecoming. She is surprised when another girl arrives unexpectedly in black throwing herself into the mix. The race to become the next immortal has begun and Nicky Bloom, the new girl, is determined to win.

There was no real action, a lot of talk, a lot of flashbacks and very little else. This was nothing more than an introduction to the characters and what the coronation is about, or so I hope. I was hard pressed to continue reading and if I had not kept expecting more to happen I would have stopped when nothing interesting had happened at 37%. Read this knowing not to expect much more than kids talking about power and money with a brief appearance by the vampires near the end. Enjoy the history of this world as much as is given.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Immortals, also called vampires, are in all of the top government positions throughout the world. For the wealthiest families in the world, immortality is something that they all wish to achieve. The students at Thorndike Academy are the children of the richest in the world. The Homecoming Masquerade is the event that all of the students look forward to their entire lives. It's here at the ball that girls enter into a competition where the winner becomes the next immortal in DC and the loser her first meal. When new girl Nicky Bloom, shows up at the ball wearing a black gown, it's a signal to the entire student body that she's entering the competition. What follows is an adventure to uncover secrets and garner support for Nicky and her cause.

This is unlike any other vampire book I've read. True it was fast paced enough to keep me reading and left me hanging at the end, but I'll admit that I was lost at times. A lot of this book felt like it was building the characters' backstories. The events at the dance had the backstories interspersed through it. As a reader, I instantly liked the characters of Jill, Ryan, and Nicky, but didn't care for the rest of the cast of characters. Still it was free on Kindle and it fit the mask category for Book Cover Bingo. In fact, I've already finished reading the second book and am reading the third. Simply because I'm invested into these characters. It's definitely not my favorite by any means.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a dark allegory of what American politics has become. The vampires are like the wealthy politicians and the wealthy humans are sheep. The human slave farms are comparative to what middle and lower class people deal with on a daily basis; Brainwashed to serve a government that doesn't care about them and will drain them dry when they've stopped being useful. I don't know if the author intentionally made this book seem this way, but that is what I got out of it.
I have read a few books lately burying political unrest and unhappiness with what the world has become in a well written paranormal or sci-fi novel. I think that's another reason books like Hunger Games and Warm Bodies have become wildly popular. Average people don't usually want to read straight propaganda anymore, so hiding that propaganda in an interesting work of fiction is rather ingenious.

[Little Fishy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not the best book but it was ok. I mean like there's just not enough drama for me in the book. I like paranormal stories but this is something I really don't want to read again. I mean really this book is about two girls, Jill and Nicky who work with a group, called the Network who try to kill vampires and stop them from controlling the world. The girls work undercover at Thorndike Academy getting close to the vampires and Nicky has to wear black in order to enter a competition with other girls to rise enough money and then at the end of the year get turned into an immortal. Nicky has to get people to back her but plans go wrong when Kim Renwick's family has things everyone's parents with blackmail except Nicky who by the way has a fake rich life just so she could be in the school

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Started this new series, found it when I was just looking for free books! This series is pretty awesome. I am caught up in the story. Well written. It is about vampires that are in the world and have pretty much taken over DC. and all the rich people. There is a faction that are modern day vampire hunters, because of all the technology. The main characters are high school girls. One her name is Nicky Bloom if a plant inside the school for rich kids and Jill who is a computer programming geek! These girls belong to the Network (modern day vampire hunters). It has a lot of action, teenage love, and stuff that will keep you guessing and hoping that the network wins, because the vamps are bad news!

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tend to stray from anything vampire related, because I tend to dislike them. However, the blurbs from various sites that I read for this had me hoping that this one was different.

Clearly I was fooled. I spent the majority of the time skimming through the chapters because this entire book is filled with backstory. Practically every chapter had a new, unnecessarily long backstory for one of the characters, most of which were actually minor characters.

I can't even properly express in words how bad this book is. All I can say is, please don't waste your time unless you are REALLY into vampires. But even then, it's less about the vampires, and all about the girls being catty bitches and how everyone is rich and has money to flaunt around.

Seriously, just don't waste your time.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jill and Nicky are a little over their heads in dealing with a coven of vampires. At the high school prom dance is anything but usual especially having to compete to become immortal. There is just one problem with that, the loser gets eaten.

This book was a unique and interesting take on vampires and had me captivated from the beginning. I also fell in love with the characters, especially Nicky. I can't wait to read the second installment of this book.

Note: I received this book free from amazon, all opinions are honest and my own.

[Vanessa Wester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the premise for this story is interesting - vampires gaining control of the elite in America & a human organisation trying to get rid of them - not much happens in this first book.

I got this as a freebie and so don't want to be too negative, however there was a lot of backstory included throughout the plot which took you out of the novel. If the book had focused more on the events and gradually eased in the background I would have enjoyed it more. Even so, 2-3... Promising, but did not quite hit the mark.

[Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid three stars, The Homecoming Masquerade is not for those of you seeking a rapid action packed ride; its present day events take place over just one night, but include a lot of back story. This isn't necessarily an issue as it sets the scene rather well and provides you with the information you need to imagine how the story might develop in sequel(s). I often find such books irritating as they can tend to overshare or unnecessarily draw out a series but in this case the premise is intriguing enough to keep you interested.

[Nicole]

#free on #amazon #kindle The Homecoming Masquerade by Spencer Baum
#paranormal #vampire #urbanfantasy #freeEbook

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072X4ATA?t...

[Marjolein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just too much. This book gives too much descriptions and point of views I Just wanna get to the juicy stuff. And I still don 't get the whole world building. The overdose details made it for me, boring to read. Not a book I would recommend

[Samantha Clysdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I love the storyline high schools students competing to win to become a vampire. There can only be one. I found this story idea very original. I will be reading the rest of the series to find out who is the one.

[Tatiana Swain · Rating 1 out of 5]

very choppy and poorly written - characters seemed one dimensional

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pages and pages of over-blown description. Yawn.

[Dannica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one but it was definitely not what I expected. In a couple ways.
1. I expected it, based on cover and genre, to have a large focus on romance. Instead it is hugely focused on plot and in particular on how to manipulate the social/political dynamics in this situation. I love scenarios that are about manipulating people and working social dynamics to your advantage, so I loved that aspect.
2. I expected most of the book to be either leading up to the masquerade night or showing the aftermath and how the Coronation competition begins. Instead, the entire book (except flashbacks) takes place in the three to six hour period that the masquerade dance actually occurs in. AND OH BOY. You have no idea what kind of shit they cram into that time frame.
3. I expected some kind of satisfactory conclusion and got left with a huge cliffhanger. This was a bit more of a disappointment than the two bullets above. I may have to buy the sequels, though, instead of just reading this free book. Which is probably the point.
4. I expected one protagonist, but there are two! Jill, Nicky's backup and hype manager, is basically as important to this book as Nicky herself, and is equally an agent to Nicky's success. I loved her possibly more than Nicky and I really liked the fact that while Jill slightly envies Nicky getting the glamorous job, she still provides Nicky with support without question, and the two work seamlessly as a team. I wonder if they will argue and have conflicts in later books, though. There are some factors there that good get sticky.
5. Must repeat again, the romance was tiny. I kind of hope it stays that way throughout the series.
6. While the book plays up the "mean popular girl" aspect a little in Nicky's main rival for the competition, it does not focus on this aspect. It shows that the real enemy is the organization staging the event (not the rival) and that the rival isn't actually all that popular, just really rich and influential...and it gives an example of another popular and influential girl who is actually a good person as a counterpoint.
Overall: Very good. Kept me up late. May have to read sequels. We will see.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a suburb of the nation’s capital lies Thorndike Academy, the world’s most exclusive high school where only the richest, most powerful and influential can get their children in. Where the vampires, or immortals as they prefer to be called, who secretly run the government have created a game. Any girl who shows up to the Homecoming masquerade ball wearing black enters herself in a contest unlike any other. Coronation is a fundraising campaign where the winning girl joins the immortals while the loser becomes her first meal.

In a contest where only the most well-connected girls from the wealthiest, most powerful families can hope to win it surprises everyone when Thorndike newcomer Nicky Bloom arrives to homecoming wearing black. As the night progresses and rumors begin to spread it becomes clear that Nicky Bloom is far more than she seems.

The initial faceoff at the dance between Kim Renwick and Nicky Bloom sets them apart and the battle lines are drawn as Nicky attempts to win supporters while Kim works to cement her position as the one to back. While Kim plays on everyone’s fear of her and her family, Nicky with the help of Jill try to show them that there they have another option.

The story has an interesting premise, the rebel Network with their plan to take down the immortals. The characters were well written and fit the extremely wealthy and entitled cliché. Unfortunately, I feel like it fell short of its potential. The story seemed unbalanced, at times giving too much attention to backstory and not enough to here-and-now (meaning the dance).

[Susan Zoch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was definitely setting up what will be hopefully a better set of stories going forward. It was strange how young girls could be so well versed in spycraft, but the whole vampire thing could have been any type of person that had a lot of power and used that power to cause issues with people and make them do things that they wouldn't ordinarily do. I'm not sure if I'll go on to the next books or not. We'll see.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea behind it is interesting and had a lot of promise, but it does drag from time to time. Most of the plot takes place in the backstory, which increases the stakes for the main characters but unfortunately makes it pretty obvious to the reader that the plot doesn't get very far along in the present.

[Megan Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story

I chose this rating because it's a different take on the vampire world. The plot is interesting in itself, the plan to take down the vampires. I look forward to reading more.

[Pat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I normally don’t read vampire books but this one was well written and the plot was intricate enough to keep all my mind engaged. This book might be a YA book but it kept my interest until the end. I recommend it.

[Mary Sue!? I hardly know her!]

Found my ten year old kindle and this was on it with a 3 star review. I was probably in sixth grade and was coming off of a watching and reading the Twilight series so my taste was incredibly discerning

[Doris McClurg · Rating 2 out of 5]

not my type of book

I have given this book a good shot but just couldn't get into it. I read until Chapter 10 and it wasn't my sort of read.