"Immortal" by Gillian Shields
Summary: Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies, housed in a Gothic mansion on the bleak northern moors, is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn away from her home by the sea to become the newest scholarship student, she is more isolated than she could have dreamed. Strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppresive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave Evie drowning in loneliness. Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a rebelious, mocking, dangerously attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian grow with each secret meeting, she starts to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl--a girl who is so eerily like Evie, she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. And as the extraordinary, elemental forces of faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.
About the author: Gillian Shields spent her childhood roaming over the Yorkshire moors and dreaming of the Brontë sisters. After studying in Cambridge, London, and Paris, she became a teacher. She has taught in a girl's boarding school and also in a drama school located in a Victorian orphanage, where it was rumored that the ghost of a young girl could be heard crying in the night. Gillian was inspired to write Immortal in celebration of the power of first love, the strenght of female friendship, and the haunting mystery of the past.
My Review on "Immortal": As soon as I knew the author was as obsessed as I am with the Brontë sisters (although I like the father and the brother also) , I instantly knew "this is a must read book"! and I was entirely correct in doing this. The book slowly starts describing the reason why Evelyn "Evie" Johnson, our main girl; has to leave home and get into this snobbish boarding school for girls only and then she meets Sebastian which my mind instantly cried "Mr. Darcy!" though it should've scream "Heathcliff!". The story develops itself with the story in present and with diary entries from the past of a girl connected to our main girl; this story prose was really well made compare to other that I've written (ex. Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Blood series with her off and on also diary entries and newspaper extras) which tended to confuse me a bit and wonder what it was all about, making me not focus on what was going on in the present and keep my mind elsewhere still thinking what they were about and why they were there. Gillian here explains what's happening without really telling you at all, since each chapter that follows after the diary entry explains it. What I liked most of it is that it was like reading a contemporary version of a mixture between Brontë classics "Jane Eyre" and (of course) "Wuthering Heights", especialy this last one with the boarding school being our Wuthering Heights, Sebastian being Heathcliff and Evie as Catherine's daughter. Also the strong bond between Evie and one of her school mates is so absurdly related to the relationship of Jane Eyre's only friend Helen which only makes me conclude to the negative part of this novel. Though the author tried her best to stay true to herself and be original, you can clearly tell that she really is indeed obsess with the Brontës, making her look like she's just copyrighting her "immortal idols". In conclusion, if you like a story full of romance, mystery and friendship with a mix of magic then congrats, this is the next reading for you. Out of 10 , I give this novel a 7.5.