Friday, July 17, 2009

And then Buffy staked Edward. The End.

Today I bring you three (THREE) books about vampires that aren't at all scary, except for maybe in their views on love, women, and relationships.

Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) Kimberly Pauley

Mina (yes, named after the character in Dracula) is experiencing a crisis of epic proportions:

1. Prom is just around the corner and she hasn't even had time to think about it.
2. She turns into a tongue-tied idiot whenever she sees a cute guy, especially her crush.
3. What is up with all this English homework?!
4. She has to take really boring vampire classes to decide if she wants to be a vampire.

Yeah, a vampire. Her parents are vampires. And now she has to decide if she wants to be one, too. And she has to decide soon, because she didn't have enough on her plate already. It also soon becomes apparent that the decision is even trickier and stickier than she thought it would be.

First of all, it's just plain funny. Everything from Mina's voice to the beginning of every chapter that had a vampire myth, the truth, and a cute/funny little doodle drawing to illustrate it. Second of all, this would still be a pretty workable book if you cut the vampire stuff-- there's a lot more going on than regular vampire knowledge. Also, a lot of talk about Dracula, because they're reading it in English class. I love how Mina wants to stand up for vampire rights. The romantic sub-plot is entirely predictable, but I like that it involved more than two guys.


Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side Beth Fantaskey

At his first day as an exchange student in her high school, Lucius dumps a lot of Jessica. First off, he’s a vampire and she’s a vampire princess and they’ve been betrothed since birth. It’s time for them to get married, move back to Romania, and rule the vampires. But, until then, he’s going to live in her barn. What makes it worse is that her parents seem to know all about this! She always knew she was adopted from Eastern Europe, but vampires? They don’t even exist!

A fun romantic comedy that gets heated up by the hott boy next door and the meaner than mean cheerleader. Plus, possible vampire war. Lucius was a little too moody and tortured for my tastes, but Jessica could stand up to it, and did. I can handle controlling male leads if the girl is willing to give him a reality check. And Jessica was.


Got Fangs? Katie Maxwell

Fran's mother is a bonafide witch. Her best friend is 400-odd years old (she's related to vampires) and Fran is stuck traveling around Europe in the Goth Faire where everyone can use their freaky talents, because her dad got remarried and wanted 6 months alone with his new trophy wife.

Fran also thinks she's a freak, because she can read your memories and emotions just by touching you with her bare hands. She tends to wear gloves.

And then Imogen's brother shows up, and he really is a vamp. And he says Fran is his "Beloved" and can save his soul. Yeah, right. She's not buying it, but why does he have to be so cute? And why is her mother so determined to get her to appreciate her "gift" to the point where she's blackmailed into solving a mystery.

Funny and light, I really enjoyed this one and want to read more of Maxwell's works, especially her more realistic fiction like The Year My Life Went Down The Loo.

4 comments:

DougWheeler said...

True, a totally different genre, but have you read The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova? It will give you a genuine modern day/old school vampire creep factor. I really liked it.
Jen’s Dad

Jennie said...

I LOVED The Historian. So much, I gave it to Mom for Christmas. ;) In addition to the modern day/old school vampire creep factor, you have Cold War vampires and librarian vampires attacking you in the stacks. What more could you ask for?

DougWheeler said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DougWheeler said...

Oops - I forgot that is where our copy came from. I shudda known - if not you then it is your sister that keeps our bookshelves overflowing.