*****DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS********
A series review:
1. Sunny McDonald was “accidentally” bitten by Magnus, the current Blood Coven Master, and nearly turned into a vampire. Magnus thought he was actually biting Rayne, her identical twin who had already gone through all the training, including giving blood to be blood matched with her new mate for eternity. Thankfully, Magnus and Sunny find the Holy Grail, which she drinks from to revert the process and remain mortal. Her blood, however, is highly toxic to vampires now. (Boys That Bite)
2. In Stake That! Rayne learns that she has been chosen to become the next vampire slayer, and that she has nanobots in her blood stream that if triggered, will kill her. She has no choice but to accept the position. Under orders from Magnus, Rayne and Jared, a vampire who at the time was Magnus’ second-in-command and general of the Blood Coven, go undercover to discover who is trying to poison the blood supply for the vampires. Rayne stops the villain, and is subsequently poisoned, along with Jared. Jared turns her into a vampire, which has been what she’s wanted all along.
3. Girls That Growl, is also in the POV of Rayne. This time it is werewolves she must stop from taking over the school and town in which they live in. Rayne and Jared fly to England and search for the culprit who infected an entire squad of cheerleaders. Rayne becomes one herself, which shocked everyone. Rayne also embarrasses herself by pulling a stake at the house of the local coven, much to the annoyance of Jared who asks her to get help with her anger issues.
4. Bad Blood goes back to Sunny's POV and finds Jane Johnson attempting to infiltrate the blood coven and bring Magnus to his knees. It is also where she meets and be-friends Jayden in Las Vegas, who will play another role in the last book of the series. Sunny finds a way to expose Jane, and save the Blood Coven and Magnus. Rayne and Sunny also discover they have a half-sister who they never met, and she and Sunny hit it off pretty nicely. Later the twins discover that her parents have been lying to them about their true heritage. Sunny and Rayne are actually fairy princess. No Joke Smoke! So now Rayne is a fairy princess, vampire, and vampire slayer. Confused yet? ---continue on my wayward friends!
Night School by Mari Mancusi is book 5 in the series and has Sunny and Rayne McDonald shipped off to Riverdale a Vampire Slayer School after being discovered by Fairy Apple Blossom in Las Vegas shortly after discovering their true heritage. This story reverts back to Rayne’s POV, and she has some serious issues to deal with.
1. We learn that Heather is actually an operative with Slayer Inc. Fairy Division, and helped the mother and father escape from Fairy. Heather isn’t really an evil step mother as they originally thought. **Wondering however, why the step sister wasn't in danger as well, since technically she has fairy blood in her body as well? Uhm, Ms Mancusi, an explaination please?
2. Mother is a Fairy Princess called Shrinking Violet and Heir to the Light Court of Fairy. Her mother, Tatiana, was killed by the dark court. (Or so it was thought) Father was her guardian who she fell in love with and fled, and in the process, removed their wings to blend in with the mortal world.
3. Sunny is named princess to be by the Sidhe court, something she has no inclination to accept. She wants Magnus and nothing more.
4. We are told that once a fairy hits puberty, they’re supposed to go through a magical ceremony to kick start their transformation, and gain their wings. Even without wings, fairies retain their powers.
5. After Apple Blossoms’ arrival and attempt to take the twins back to fairy, they are sent to Riverdale where they are thought to be safe from the Fairies themselves. It's, of course, thought wrong.
6. Rayne finds herself in a school full of vampire slayers with absolutely no blood synthetic to drink from, and not wanting anyone to know that she’s a vampire. She ignores hints by a fellow student named Lilli when she offers red Kool-aid to drink. She is still hurt knowing that her parents lied to her and Sunny, and now, neither has any contact with Magnus or Jared.
7. Rayne and Sunny try to escape the school and find themselves with the Alpha Slayers. Soon after, they are attacked by Fairies led by Apple Blossom, and Rayne ends up biting Corbin Billingsworth III and drinking human blood for the first time since she was turned into a vampire. This speeds up the healing process but Corbin becomes infatuated with Rayne. Sunny seemingly changes overnight and starts sleeping with other students, which she would have never done prior to arriving at the school.
8. Rayne goes through the ritual process to transform into a fairy, and gains her wings. Now, she is definitely a fairy, vampire, and vampire slayer all at once. She claims to have done it to protect Sunny from being forced against her will, to lose her mortality, and to become fairy Queen. She also has the inability to lie, something fairies are supposed to adhere to, but somehow find a way around it time and time again.
9. Rayne believes there is something wrong with Sunny and discovers that on the night they were attacked, Sunny was taken and a Sunny changeling was left in her place. The real Sunny is to become queen against her will.
10. After Corbin is bitten a second time by Rayne, the school discovers that she is a new breed called Vamshee, and takes a sample of her blood to be used to create a whole new breed of slayers. The only problem is, they want it to be for nefarious uses, not for fighting evil vampires. Night School is actually a moniker for transforming the best of the Alpha's into a new vampire hybrid. They haven't been successful until Rayne's arrival on campus.
11. Rachel, who was poisoned in the book Stake That! is now a vampire and comes to Rayne’s rescue. She also pays the ultimate price for helping.
12. Corbin and Rayne meet up with Jared and Magnus, and tell them everything that has happened at the Slayer School. Rayne, however, still has bloodlust issues from drinking real blood, and drains Corbin nearly to death. Jared is furious and ends up turning Corbin into a vampire, and getting Rayne to promise to go to rehab (Bloody Ford Clinic)<--if you seriously don’t get this reference…see me.
In the end, Magnus, Jared, and Rayne find a way into Fairy (Disney World) where Cinderella and other fairy tale characters are real. Her father is struck down after killing Apple Blossom with Iron, and Magnus kisses Sunny breaking the spell and saving her from marrying Apple Seed, and thus becoming queen of the light court. Their mother takes the crown instead after exposing that Apple Blossom was the one who killed Tatiana, and spelling Sunny to go to Fairy against her will. Sunny decides to keep her wings, while Corbin escapes from the Blood Coven with top secret documents in hand.
Blood Ties releases August 2011, and it's supposed to be the last book in the series from what I'm hearing. It also appears to be from Sunny's POV, which will be interesting now that Rayne is a full fledged vampire without her fairy wings. Sunny, it appears, decides to keep her wings, and embrace her heritage.
This series, at times, annoys me, but to the point of rolling my eyes at the references to other YA books like Twilight and Vampire Academy. Haven't we had enough of the sparking vampires for a lifetime? The world view that fairy is actually Disney World in Orlando, Florida, was almost too weird to actually read. Rayne has come back from being an annoying loser in the last book, to nearly likable in this one. She still has major issues with her attitude, and not following directions from Magnus and Jared. Her being sent to Bloody Ford Clinic for rehab, nearly made me spill soda on myself. Really?