Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

How far will you go to keep your family, to save your people, to stop a plague?

Nedra has finally won a scholarship to study medical alchemy in the city. She’s been anxious to leave her village in the north, she wants to learn, and to see more things and people. Once there it is evident she is very different from the other students. They are privileged and see no need to befriend the new girl. Nedra doesn’t care, she is there to study; she wants to find a cure for the plague before it gets to her village. But the plague is spreading fast and the cost to stop it might be more than she can bear.

I keep thinking about this book. I currently have it shelved in fantasy, but wonder if I shouldn’t move it to horror. Maybe I’ll see where the series goes. I loved that Nedra really didn’t care what the other students thought of her. She has her mission and wasn’t about to be distracted by rumors or gossip. She did let herself be slightly distracted by Grey, but not when it really counted. The darkness in this one creeps up on you, and it is not a neat and tidy tale. Nedra is a driven anti-hero with little left to lose at the end of the first book, but determined to keep what she has.