Wuthering High (Bard Academy #1)

Reader reviewed by Natalie

Miranda Tate crashes her dad's car and maxes out her step mom's credit card. She then gets sent to a reform school in a secluded island where teachers are only called by the first letters of their names. She soon starts noticing weird things going on at school. She hears someone laughing miniacly followed by fire, her roomate claims she saw Dracula and a boy named Heathcliff always seem to appear just when she needs help. Without giving anything away, let's just say it's not you average high school.

It's a great read and if you like it then read te sequel called The Scarlett Letterman

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

When her parents send her to a boarding school for juvenile delinquents after she crashes their car and maxes out their credit cards, 15-year-old fashionista Miranda Tate thinks its the end of her world. Miranda was born for strolling down the artificially lighted wings of the local mall and NOT for living in a backwards world with no modern devices allowed. Her roommate calls herself Blade and is a worshipper of Satan, and she thinks a ghost is haunting her closet.

Things begin to look ever so slightly better when she befriends Hana and Samir. It also turns out that Ryan Kent, an extremely good-looking boy from her old school, is here as well&and paying her attention, to boot! Life might almost be bearable, if it were not for the strange boy named Heathcliff who always seems to show up right when Miranda needs saving. What is up with that boy?

After nearly losing their lives several times, Miranda, Hana, Samir, and Blade finally stumble upon the truth: Bard Academy is haunted by famously suicidal writerswriters like Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway are actually teaching classes! The students further learn that at Bard, fictional characters can come to lifebut only at the risk of ending both worlds.

Emily Bronte seems determined to bring all her characters to life, and only Miranda and her friends have the ability to stop the crazy writer. However, saving the world may involve Heathcliffs death. Is Miranda willing to sacrifice the life of the boy who has saved her so many times?

I didnt find WUTHERING HIGH particularly exciting. All of the conflicts and characters seem half-developed, and I felt unsatisfied upon the ending. However, what this book lacked in style and flair, it made up in its originality.

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

Wuthering High is a novel by Cara Lockwood published by MTV Books, and I must say, the MTV Books are certainly much better than readers might expect from a name known mostly for reality television. In fact, these books are fabulous, no matter what you're expecting, and Cara Lockwood's story is no exception. In Wuthering High, Miranda Tate is a spoiled but still likeable character who, after a few mistakes involving her Dad's car and stepmother's credit card, is sent off to Bard Academy, a boarding school for misbehaving teenagers.

At Bard Academy, a few things happen that Miranda didn't exactly expect from what she thinks about reform schools. She's having terrifying nightmares involving Kate Shaw, a girl who went missing from the school fifteen years earlier. When she tries to escape through the woods, she finds herself going in circles. One of her teachers, Ms. W, always leaves wet footprints. If those little oddities aren't odd enough, there are some eerie coincidences concerning classics such as Dracula, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights. For instance, there's Heathcliff, remarkably similar to the character in Wuthering Heights, who seems to think that Miranda is really Cathy, another character from the novel. Something weird is most certainly going on, and Miranda and her new friends Hana, Samir, and Blade have to find out what it is--fast.

This is a book that is definitely worth reading! Cara Lockwood's characters are interesting, well done, and realistic, and readers will be able to relate to Miranda's situations with her parents and friends (although perhaps not teachers). The character of Miranda also shows realistic character development instead of being the same slightly bratty fifteen-year-old throughout the book. Aside from her great characters, Cara Lockwood's story in Wuthering High is entertaining and original. It's better than just another overused idea with a few differences in details and characters. This novel is one that will keep readers hooked from the very first page to the end, and eagerly awaiting the next novel from Cara Lockwood about Bard Academy.