The Candidates (Delcroix Academy Series #1)

by Inara Scott

Overview

Dancia Lewis has a secret problem: whenever she sees someone threaten a person she cares about, it's a disaster. Cars skid. Structures collapse. Usually someone gets hurt. So Dancia does all she can to avoid getting close to anyone, hoping to suppress her powers and stay under the radar. But when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy offer her a scholarship, she accepts. After all, it's a school for diplomats' kids and prodigies, not B students with uncontrollable telekinetic tendencies. Or is it?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423146476
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	08/24/2010
Series:	Talents Novel , #1
Sold by:	DISNEY PUBLISHING WORLDWIDE -EBKS
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	363,722
File size:	536 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Inara Scott lives in Portland. She is currently hard at work on the next book in the Delcroix Academy series.

Editorial Reviews

Debut author Scott launches the Delcroix Academy series with this light paranormal romance. Dancia has always kept a low profile, avoiding anything that might bring attention to her secret: whenever she witnesses injustice, a protective instinct kicks in and she’s able to take out the threat (knocking out a gunman or blowing out the tires on a car pursuing a boy). Now Dancia is being recruited to the freshmen class of Delcroix Academy, an exclusive boarding school for geniuses. A mediocre student, Dancia can’t understand why they want her, but Cam, a junior helping with her recruitment, persuades her to attend, and Dancia starts a new life and begins to come out of her shell. Dancia’s crush on Cam grows, as does her relationship with brooding Jack, who suspects there is a conspiracy at Delcroix. Dancia eventually discovers the truth about Delcroix, but the unresolved “telekinetic girl caught between good soldier and edgy rebel” love triangle (which, along with the academy setting, may feel familiar to X-Men fans) and Dancia’s determination to use her power for good pave the way for later books. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Dancia Lewis has lived in Danville, Washington all her life. Her parents died when she was four, and she's lived with her grandmother ever since. Dancia has a secret "power" which manifests when someone she cares for is being threatened. It is not something she can control; things just happen, like cars driving into poles or buildings collapsing. Because of this, she takes great pains to be invisible, wearing non-descript clothing, not making friends, and striving to be exceptionally average. Thus, Dancia is taken by surprise when a recruiting team from the nearby exclusive and expensive Delcroix Academy shows up on her doorstep one day, offering her a full scholarship. She is reluctant at first (who will take care of her grandmother?), but eventually agrees, partially out of sheer curiosity as to why they'd want her. Once she gets there, she's even more curious. Unlike her, all the other students have a special talent or skill on which their curriculum focuses, while she takes ordinary classes. Why are there such strict rules about where they can go on the campus? And what is with the military-type training exercises? Does she really want to know? With a nudge from her mysterious fellow-student Jack, she determines to find out what is really going on at Delcroix. This book is designed to appeal to younger teens, and could easily be turned into a movie or television series. Reviewer: Marlyn Beebe

VOYA - Marlyn Beebe

Dancia isn't the top student, the best athlete, or the most talented artist. She doesn't mind that her drab clothing and unpopularity make her invisible, because the alternative could be dangerous. Dancia has powers she doesn't know how to handle. When she sees someone in trouble—car crashes, people falling—Dancia imagines unusual things happening to save them, and suddenly, they happen. Letting people into her life, she fears, will only make matters worse. When Dancia accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Delcroix Academy, she fears she won't be able to maintain her low profile for long. Will her new teachers find out about her gift? Can she risk making friends and keep her powers at bay? Teen readers will enjoy uncovering the mysteries behind Delcroix Academy in Inara Scott's The Candidates. Though Delcroix is fictional, Dancia's struggles to find truth, identity, and friendship inside its gates are engaging and real. Reviewer: Caroline McCoy

Caroline McCoy

Gr 6–10—Dancia works hard at being nondescript because of her supernatural powers: not too smart, not too pretty, not too friendly. So when recruiters from the prestigious Delcroix Academy show up at her house the summer before her freshmen year of high school and offer a full scholarship, she is sure that there has been some kind of mistake. Once at the academy, the teen begins to make friends and let people in to her life, including two equally interesting but very different young men. While this should be a good thing, Dancia can't help but worry; caring too much causes trouble. When she feels threatened, her protective instincts kick in and things happen that she can't control, like windows breaking and things collapsing, and sometimes people getting hurt. At Delcroix, Dancia realizes she is not alone with her powers and that a program can help her to control and strengthen her talents. Unfortunately, while great for Dancia, not everyone whom she has grown close to feels the same way. While nothing about Scott's premise is especially groundbreaking, the plot is quick and gratifying, and Dancia is much more empowered than the female protagonists in some other popular supernatural thrillers.—Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

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