The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

They're the Midnighters. By day, they're teenage outsiders, dressed in black coats and bad attitudes. By night, they just might be our last hope...

As the new girl at Bixby High School, Jessica Day expected some unwelcome attention. What she didn t expect was to feel an instant connection to a stranger in the corridor...

Who is this boy dressed in black? And why can she feel his eyes following her wherever she goes?

The answers will have to wait until the sun goes down, for here in Bixby, midnight is the time for secrets; secrets that Jessica is going to find out, whether she wants to or not.

Jessica has just moved to Bixby with her family. Back in the big city, she was just another number, but here, being the new girl means that she's become quite popular. It's a nice change of pace, but as she tries to settle into this new home of hers, she finds herself drawn into a strange and mysterious hour that not many people have access to. Actually, there are only four other people that can stay awake during the midnight hour--an extra hour in the dead of night.

Three of those people--Dess, Melissa, and Rex--have powers, and all dress in black, plus look like outsiders at school. The other, Jonathan, seems to be a bit of a rebel, but he's actually the one that draws her into this strange and wondrous nights. But there's a problem, other people aren't awake, but the darklings are. And for some reason, they want to kill Jessica. It's not until they figure out what her talent is that it all comes together.

The Secret Hour was an interesting read, but not my fave from Scott Westerfeld--I loved his Uglies series, as well as his Peeps series. Still, it's a nicely and unique written addition to the YA genre filled with sympathetic characters, weird creatures, and a very strange place.

The Secret Hour: Midnighters: Book 1, September 2010, ISBN 9781907410031, Atom Paperback