| Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Schools -- Fiction. |
| Secrets -- Fiction. |
| Missing persons -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Foster children -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Preparatory schools -- Maine -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Secret societies -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Maine -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Detective and mystery fiction -- Juvenile fiction. |
| Horror fiction. |
| Young adult fiction. |
Available:*
Audience | Shelf Location | Material Type | Shelf Number | Current Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teen/Young Adult | Fiction | Book | YA FIC BURNS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
When Sarah Merson receives the opportunity of a lifetime to attend the most elite prep school in the country-Sanctuary Bay Academy-it seems almost too good to be true. But, after years of bouncing from foster home to foster home, escaping to its tranquil setting, nestled deep in Swans Island, couldn't sound more appealing. Swiftly thrown into a world of privilege and secrets, Sarah quickly realizes finding herself noticed by class charmer, Nate, as well as her roommate's dangerously attentiveboyfriend, Ethan, are the least of her worries. When her roommate suddenly goes missing, she finds herself in a race against time, not only to find her, but to save herself and discover the dark truth behind Sanctuary Bay's glossy reputation.
In this genre-bending YA thriller, Sanctuary Bay by Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, Sarah's new school may seem like an idyllic temple of learning, but as she unearths years of terrifying history and manipulation, she discovers this "school" is something much more sinister.
Author Notes
Melinda Metz received a bachelor's degree in English from San Jose State University. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as an editor. Her first writing job was to write a novelization of an episode of the Goosebumps TV show. Not long after, she was hired to write the Roswell High book series, which became the television series Roswell. She is also the author of the Fingerprints series. She often teams up with author Laura J. Burns. Together they have written the vampire novel Crave and the Everwood series, which is based on a television show by the same name.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Within the grounds of a seemingly perfect prep school, Burns and Metz reveal a world of violence and secrets. Sarah Merson is an orphan with a freakishly perfect memory. There are a lot of things she'd rather forget, and she has much to learn when she is unexpectedly accepted into a prestigious boarding school on a remote island in Maine. At Sanctuary Bay Academy, the people are beautiful, the academic expectations are high, and the risks are, literally, life and death. After being swept into an even more secret society within the school, Sarah soon discovers that what lies beneath the pristine exterior is a rocky foundation of blood, bones, and a cruel conspiracy that may even reach from beyond the grave. Genuinely enjoyable from start to finish, this novel would lend itself most fully to those who enjoy gritty, grotesque exposés of superficially perfect people and places. The authors successfully create an intricate environment on the isolated island, and readers will likely find it just as easy to become immersed in the plot as the characters become immersed in the school itself. The protagonist self-identifies as coming from a racially mixed and ambiguous background, which lends itself to the character's sense of alienation and "otherness." VERDICT A quickly captivating account of an outsider's new life inside a world of prestige, pleasure, and pain and her struggle to find acceptance and herself and to survive.-Emily Grace Le May, Providence Community Library, RI © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sarah Merson spent her childhood in foster care after her parents were murdered when she was three. Suddenly, she receives a mysterious full scholarship to Sanctuary Bay Academy, a ritzy prep school on an island off the coast of Maine. The school attracts the children of the world's wealthy and powerful, even though no student is allowed to leave the island until graduation. Inevitably, the reasons for this turn out to be sinister, as well as related to the decrepit ruins of an asylum on one end of the island and a set of WWII POW cells dug into the school's bedrock. Burns and Metz, who have collaborated on Crave and other titles, build a suspenseful and satisfying narrative full of subtly creepy details, which derails near the end due to an implausible explanation, complete with a villain-explains-all monologue. Still, the majority of the story is well-written, somewhat campy fun, teetering between a psychological study of teenage peer pressure and an over-the-top horror flick. Ages 14-up. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Orphaned following the murder of her parents and then shuttled from one foster home to another, Sarah learned long ago not to expect much from life. When the offer of a full-ride scholarship to Sanctuary Bay Academy arrives, Sarah is suspicious but hopes it will permit her to make a fresh start. The school, isolated on an island far from anything, is state-of-the-art and almost seems too good to be true: friends, facilities, and maybe even a boyfriend await. Yet Sarah senses that there is something dark beneath the cheery veneer of students and staff. What lies beneath the school besides caves and tunnels? What secrets are being kept from the rest of the world? This mash-up of private-school lit meets mystery novel meets conspiracy theory should keep readers guessing as the horror continues to mount. Jenny Hubbard's Paper Covers Rock (2011) and Elizabeth LaBan's The Tragedy Paper (2013), with their elite-school settings and dark secrets, would both make interesting companion reads.--Lesesne, Teri Copyright 2015 Booklist