On her way to class after that totally random gym…test (?) she runs into Cam.  He asks a question, she answers, and then 250 frikkin words later he replies. 

I don’t know if this is just me, and it very well could be, so feel free to leave your own responses in the comments.  But when I read dialogue or action, it always feels like it’s happening as fast as I read it.  That’s just how it comes off to me.  So if there’s an entire page of pointless musing and observation between one comment and another, it feels like Luce and Cam just stood there for a minute in awkward silence for no reason before carrying on the conversation.  Keep that narration snappy or put it in a quiet moment.  (David Webber is another bad one for this; he can put three pages of backstory between a ‘hello’ and a ‘how are you.’  The difference with him being that it’s actually interesting backstory.  Stuff like that is still annoying, but if you do it right, it can still be readable.)

With his clear, pale skin and jet-black hair, Cam was different from any guy she’d ever known.

Luce’s world has a very odd color palate.

Cam convinces her to ditch class and go on a picnic with him.  Because, sure, why not.

Cam takes her to the cemetery for their picnic with the expressed intent of getting her somewhere private.

On the one hand, they’re sneaking off against the rules, of course they don’t want to be caught.

On the other hand HOLY SHITBALLS DON’T EVER DO THIS.  Look, there’s breaking rules and then there’s breaking rules in such a way that you end up alone in a cemetery with a boy you don’t know at a reform school for troubled teens away from all the cameras that supposedly protect you where no one knows even that you’ve gone much less where you’ve gone and might I repeat at a school that intentionally attracts troubled teens so you know he’s got at least something fucked up going on.

You can break rules in high school if you want, just I’m begging you, don’t break the rules that are supposed to keep you from getting murdered.  Please.  Pretty, pretty please. 

“Just promise to save me if any statues topple over.”

“No,” Cam said with a seriousness that effectively erased her joke. “That won’t happen again.”

Luce, you want to follow up on that incredibly obvious bout of suspiciousness?  No?  *sigh*

They wander around and make up stories about how everyone died.  It’s pointless, but at least no more annoying than just the fact that this is happening at all.

she watched as he filled a tumbler with ice, poured the espresso over it, and added just the right amount of milk to the top. “I forgot to bring sugar,” he said.

“I don’t take sugar.” She took a sip from the bone-dry iced latte, her first delicious sip of Sword & Cross-prohibited caffeine all week.

“That’s lucky,” Cam said

At least Cam is more subtle about knowing things about her already.  You’d think Daniel could pick up a hint or two from him.

They sit around and eat and chitchat and then take the time out to notice how perfectly pale and white both of them are.  Because apparently it’s not a YA paranormal romance anymore unless the very whiteness of our white characters is harped upon.

In a landscape of southern sunbathers, Luce’s paleness had always made her feel self-conscious. But Cam’s skin was so striking, so noticeable, almost metallic—and now she realized she might look the same to him.

Gag me now.

Well, paleness masturbation aside, Cam’s not a bad character.  (Which makes the whole “run off alone with him” thing so much worse, because there’s nothing teens love more than retroactive justification.  “Nothing happened, so clearly that means nothing could have happened, so obviously it was the right choic–” “NO!”)  But, yes, beyond that, they manage to have a cute scene and Cam is a charming romantic lead.  So naturally Luce starts thinking about Daniel.

Ugh.

The book could have at least made Daniel viable.  I get that this is what it wants to be about, and if love triangles are your thing then have at it, but he’s not even a good character.  She has no reason to be thinking about him in that way.  This isn’t set up to be a natural thing, so it’s made all the more obvious that it’s there just for the sake of the love triangle.  And it’s not like this can’t be done.  If Daniel had been even a smidge of a bit of charming, or if her preoccupation was treated like the supernatural creep fest that it is, this could all still work.  But to have her randomly thinking about the dude in the middle of a perfectly pleasant picnic merely because we need monkeywrenches is just poor plot construction.

Then a snake randomly pops up out of nowhere and gets described for a page before it leaves again.

While she’s eating an apple and right after they talk about Eden.

Subtle, book.  God, I hope no one missed your symbolism. 

“What about your faith in the power of transformation?” Cam asked, fingering the shed skin. “That’s what we’re here for, after all.”

Apparently you hoped that, too, and felt the need to explain it.  Just in case.  *sigh*

Gabbe shows up just as they’re about to start making out, claiming (very reasonably) that she was sent by a teacher to find them.  Despite having ample ammunition here, Gabbe is perfectly neutral and pleasant about the entire encounter.  Doesn’t even seem put out that she had to wander all over the place looking for them.

Luce, of course, assumes that she’s a bitch with an agenda.

Was she mocking Luce for making a good impression on a teacher? Was it not enough for her to have Daniel wrapped around her finger—she had to move in on Cam now, too?

Fuck you, Luce.  Gabby is going to be my mean girl that I love.  It’s happened in every book of this type so far, I always end up liking the person that the heroine hates on sight.  Isabelle in Mortal Instruments.  Celeste in The Selection.  Kate and Aphrodite.  Well, now Gabbe has joined the ranks of “mean” girls who are better than the main character.

Come on in, Gabbe, we’ve got cookies and snuggles.

They mosey on over to class, where Daniel is, so Luce immediately goes into a tailspin about how upset she is that he doesn’t like her.  And that is literally the whole rest of the chapter.  Miss Sophia goes on about their family tree research assignment, while Luce is like “nope, can’t process school right now, too preoccupied with boys.  Boys boys boys boys boys boys boys.  Hm, instead of searching for my name, I think I’ll search ‘Daniel Grigori.’”  But that’s the last line, we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see what she found.