Youngblood

 

My Thoughts:

There's conspiracy, there's Mean Girls Action, queer love, bullying, classism, Vampire(racism), secrets, lies, boarding life, high school drama and mystery. 

Don't let the cover turn you off. It really is much deeper than it seems. The conflicts are more complex than teen drama and bullying. Thereʻs a little bit of Harry Potter feel to it because the adults are also not as they outwardly seem. The social justice aspect gives it a nice twist. 

The main character, Kat, knows she is a vampire, but she has been raised with humans. She is able to kee her secret because unlike vampires of old, humans are suffering from a blood pandemic that can kill vampires so vampires have stopped feeding on humans. However, the Hema, a lab created blood substitute is expensive and Kat and her mom struggle to eat. The alternative is to buy Hema from the black market because she has already lost her dad who was starting and died during the plague from infected human blood. 

When Kat gets into the elite vampire school and an anonymous donor pays for everything, she thinks she is finally making a better life for herself and her mom. She is so wrong. 

From the Publisher:

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.
 
Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through a two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.
 
When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.

Publication Information:

Author: Sasha Laurens

Publisher: Raxorbill (July 19, 2022)

The Beautiful

 

My Thoughts:

Renée Ahdieh bring vampires back to New Orleans and I'm hooked! Not since Anne Rice have the New Orleans vampires been so beautiful and captivating. Ahdieh knows how to weave a binge worthy romance series. This is a must have for the YA classroom or library. Swoony, sumptuous, sultry, hot. Oh my.

From the Publisher:

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a safe haven after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent in the middle of the carnival season, Celine is quickly enraptured by the vibrant city, from its music to its fancy soirées and even its danger. She becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's enigmatic leader, Sébastien Saint Germain.

When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in Sébastien's own lair--the second dead girl to turn up in recent weeks--Celine battles her attraction to Sébastien and suspicions about his guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

After a third murder, New Orleans becomes gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose--one who has now set Celine in his sights. As the murderer stalks her, Celine finally takes matters into her own hands, only to find herself caught in the midst of an age-old feud between the darkest creatures of the night, where the price of forbidden love is her life.

At once a sultry romance and a decadent, thrilling mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet.

The Beautiful

My Thoughts:

Renee Ahdieh brought us a samurai story like Mulan and court intrigue in Flame in the Mist and Smoke in the Sun. She also wrote about the mythical Arabic world in the Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger. As far as girl power, exotic environment, YA romance goes, these books have been devour worthy.

However, this latest by Ahdieh, set in New Orleans, is a vampire story with no real vampires until the very end. The protagonist, Celine  seems to want to be difficult and independent without the street smarts or power to do so. What that does is it makes her irritating and immature. 

I was disappointed by the writing that felt trite. The publishers always over deliver on the write ups, but the author normally comes through. For example, TheWrath and the Dawn was touted as an Arabian Nights. It was not. Flame in the Mist was supposed to be like Mulan. Never mind that the publishers are mixing up the Japanese (Samurai) and Disney Chinese (Mulan) culture.  But the main characters were intriguing and strong. But to promise an Anne Rice type of vampire novel, set in New Orleans and deliver no vampires as any of the main charactersor love interests is a little deceiving. 

I will not be seeking out the follow up novel The Damned. 

From the publishers:

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a safe haven after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent in the middle of the carnival season, Celine is quickly enraptured by the vibrant city, from its music to its fancy soirées and even its danger. She becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's enigmatic leader, Sébastien Saint Germain.

When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in Sébastien's own lair--the second dead girl to turn up in recent weeks--Celine battles her attraction to Sébastien and suspicions about his guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
After a third murder, New Orleans becomes gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose--one who has now set Celine in his sights. As the murderer stalks her, Celine finally takes matters into her own hands, only to find herself caught in the midst of an age-old feud between the darkest creatures of the night, where the price of forbidden love is her life.
At once a sultry romance and a decadent, thrilling mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet.

Blood of Eden Series

What I like about this trilogy - main characters die. I just think if I am  invested in a story, then important people need to die otherwise it is not satisfying and I do not get the emotional impact needed to continue reading.

Check on the OMG factor. 

Finally, I like imperfect strong female main characters who do not act like men but can still kick ass.

Check on the Xena factor.

Cirque du Freak Volume 5: Manga version

Author:  Darren Shan
Artist: Takahiro Arai
Paperback: 195 pages
Publisher: Yen Press

Now that I have absolutely no time to read anything besides my graduate class materials, I thought that I would drown in all the YA books coming out that I won't be able to read in the next three years. Three years in YA time, that's like one generation.

Now that we have no local bookstore (our Borders stores closed around the island), I can pretend that there are no YA books, but when the local elementary school had a book fair, I couldn't resist. Instead of gobbling up all the books, though, I was selective and just bought graphic novels and manga, my true way into the hearts of reluctant male readers. Plus, with school on fall break, I can slip in twenty minutes to finish a manga and then go back to statistics.

My thoughts:
Cirque is a great series for reluctant readers, but it does go a little long for kids that don't have the reading stamina. Don't judge that awful movie as an indication of the series, the producers didn't have faith in the readers.  The manga versions are a great bridge, and volume 5 is the most exciting in the series, both in manga form and in written form.

Our little half vampire protagonist, Darren is in Vampire Mountain at the Trials of Death. This story has challenges, betrayal, fighting and death in a fast-paced package.

Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar

Publisher: First Second (May 2006)
Paperback: 192 pages
Genre: graphic novel
Rating:  3 out of 5

From the front cover:

Meet Ferdinand, a vampire who bites his victims with only one tooth in order to pass as a mosquito, who loves the music of dead folk singers, and who has no end of trouble trying to make sense of his relationships--some with the living, some not.

 Vampire Loves follows the strangely romantic adventures of Ferdinand and his friends as they flirt with, seduce, cheat on, break up, and make up with all manner of unearthly creatures including ghosts, other vampires, tree-folk, and the occasional golem.

My thoughts:
Considering how long Ferdinand has been alive, one would think that he'd be a much better boyfriend, but he is just as clueless and naive as a young teenager. This first volume starts off with his cheating tree-folk girlfriend asking for his forgiveness for her cheating, and when he freaks out, she leaves again. Ferdinand learns nothing from this exchange. At the end when he seems to have the same argument with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Lani, it's just proof that this is really about the misadventures of Ferdinand, but it's not about the maturation of Ferdinand. 

What makes this GN somewhat charming is Ferdinand's a lusty vampire with no skills. He truly doesn't know what to do with women and he seems to only like women who won't like him back. Still, he's a gentle sort, trying to be moral in an immoral world. The main frustration, again, is that the reader does not see any change from the Ferdinand in the beginning to the Ferdinand at the end.

Source: Liliha Public Library, Hawaii
 

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade Kills by Heather Brewer

Title: Twelfth Grade Kills
Author: Heather Brewer
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (September 21, 2010)
Genre: paranormal, action, vampires, romance
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:  from product description

As a teenage vampire, Vlad has spent the last four years trying to handle the pressures of school while sidestepping a slayer out for his blood. Now he's a senior, and in this final, action-packed book in the series, Vlad must confront the secrets of the past, unravel the mystery of who he really is, make decisions about his future, and face his greatest enemy. It's a senior year that totally bites. 

My thoughts:  **Spoiler Alert for Book 4**
      After being totally sucked in to book four Eleventh Grade Bleeds where Brewer ends with the sudden resurrection of Tomas Tod, Vlad's father,  this book will seem anticlimactic, but it's inevitable. This is the end of a series that I've invested several years reading. I initially picked up book 1, Eighth Grade Bites  because Vlad was the same age as my students, going through the same middle school angst of school crushes, dealing with bullies and spending time with a best friend who accepts him for what he is (a half vampire/half human). Vlad was an alternative to moody Bella, and Brewer's books, at half the size were more appealing to reluctant readers who wanted vampire adventures without the bulk of the Twilight series.  Each book has Vlad literally fighting for his life from someone or something determined to stake him in the heart. It made for exciting reading, not because he might die, (of course he's not going to die, the series carries his name), but the excitement came from watching Vlad try to hold onto his strong ethics and morals despite the various enemies that come into his life.

As Vlad gets older, though, the books get darker. He's faced with larger issues, and his innocence and strong morals inevitably corrode as his enemies get more powerful and more people that he loves are threatened. This last book is the darkest yet and Vlad, through the five years of this story has not only grown stronger, but a bit more cynical and jaded. In the end, anger and sorrow replace innocence. In the end, Vlad grows up, and as readers, the end is never as good as the beginning, but it's an  end. I'm not really happy with what happens, but I wouldn't change it either. It's like watching your kids grow up -- you can't protect or shelter them from evil, even if you know it will change them.  You just have to watch them go.

Tenth Grade Bleeds

Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer is the third book in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series.  Despite surviving the latest assassination attempt, and actually getting the girl, Vlad's drudge and best friend, Henry, is drifting away. It seems like everyone leaves Vlad, his parents, Henry, and even Otis. The only things he can't get away from are the vivid nightmares of torture and death.

Review I'm going to say this again: I like Vlad. There's something about his innocence and morality that are so refreshing. Even in the face of evil, he refuses to be a monster.

Ninth Grade Slays

Ninth Grade Slays: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer is the second installment in the messed up life of half vampire Vladimir "Vlad" Tod. He had a date with his dream girl at the end of the last book, but since he was too chicken to kiss her, he's now too chicken to talk to her on the phone. His uncle Otis is sending him to Siberia to get vampire training, but no one wants to talk about the prophecy surrounding his birth. Could he really be the Pravus? Is that why he's being hunted again? And will he ever get up the nerve to talk to Meredith?

Review
Poor, angst-ridden Vlad just can't seem to catch a break. Even though he is potentially the most powerful vampire ever, he still continues to be bullied by mere mortals and someone exposes him in the school paper. Vlad is likeable in his dorkiness.

Cirque du Freak #3: Tunnels of Blood

Cirque du Freak #3: Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan

Synopsis:
Darren and Evra, the snake boy, leave the Cirque and follow Mr. Crepsley on a mysterious mission. While the boys enjoy the city, Mr. Crepsley spends night after night on the town, however, when six bodies are found in an abandoned building with their blood drained out of them, Darren has to find and kill the monster, even if the monster is Crepsley.

Review:
The third book of Cirque du Freak is fast paced and easily devoured with a suspenseful climax that had me questioning Darren's motives. Will Darren ever see his love interest again? And seriously, while he's in the city, can't he get rid of that pirate costume?

Cirque du Freak #2: The Vampire's Assistant

Darren Shan's Vampire's Assistant is the sequel to A Living Nightmare. Darren, turned into a half vampire in order to save the life of his friend in the first book is the reluctant assistant of Larten Crepsley, vampire, and cirque du freak member. Darren explores his new powers as a half vampire, meets new friends at the cirque and desperately tries to retain his humanity by fighting the need to feed on human blood.

Fast paced and interesting, this is a great weekend read.

Teaser Tuesday October 26, 2009

Meme hosted by Miz B at shouldbereading.wordpress.com

Tenth Grade Bleeds: Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, book 3 by Heather Brewer

Ignatius slipped the curved blade into the leather holster on his leg. It wasn't the only tool he would need in torturing the Tod boy, but it was by far his favorite. - page 54

Eight Grade Bites (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod) by Heather Brewer

Vladimir Tod, 8th grader, "goth boy" and punching bag for the 8th grade bullies also happens to be a half vampire who just lost his parents (vampire father, mortal mom) in a mysterious freak fire, and the best friend of Henry, who Vlad accidentally bit when they were 8 years old.

As if 8th grade weren't hard enough, he's also being followed by a mysterious substitute teacher who seems to know his secret.

This is an action-packed read, even for reluctant readers and Vlad is likeable as the dorky vampire whose caretaker, Nelly, keeps him supplied with his blood from the local blood bank. No human feasting in this one.

Cirque du Freak #1: A Living Nightmare

A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan Reading level: Ages 9-12 Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (April 1, 2004) My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lead:

I was in the bathroom at school, sitting down on the toilet, humming a song. I had my pants on. I'd come in near the end of English class, feeling sick. My teacher, Mr. Dalton, is great about things like that. He's smart and knows when you're faking and when you're being serious. He took one look at me when I raised my hand and said I was ill, then nodded his head and told me to go to the bathroom.

Back cover:

In the tradition of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, the bestselling Cirque du Freak is the frightening saga of a boy whose visit to a mysterious freak show leads him on a journey into a dark world of vampires. Author Darren Shan's vivid detail and original voice will have readers glued to their seats in terror.

Thoughts: Since the movie, The Vampire's Assistant, is coming out this month, I decided to reread this book. I read it when it first came out in 2000 and over the years have added the other books in this series.

Reading it again has reaffirmed my belief that this is an EXCELLENT book for reluctant readers. This is not high brow literature. Shan's ability to word smith is not on display here, but the character of Darren is immediately likeable. The descriptions of the freak show are vivid and horrific without being over-the-top gross, the action is fast-paced, and the ending still makes me cry. As far as books for reluctant readers goes, this series flies out of my classroom library and I've had to replace the books several times because they've been "well loved."

View all my reviews >>

My Sister the Vampire: Switched

My Sister the Vampire: Switched (book 1)
Author: Sienna Mercer
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic (2007)

Lead: Here we go, Olivia Abbott thought as her mother's car pulled away from the curb.
Olivia stood on the sidewalk and smoothed the skirt of her new pink dress for the millionth time. She usually felt her best in pink, but for some reason it wasn't helping at all this morning.

Back cover: When Olivia Abbott moves to town, she's excited to join the cheerleading team and make new friends. Then she meets Ivy Vega. At first, Ivy, pale and dressed all in black, looks like Olivia's opposite. Then the girls look beyond the glittery pink blush and thick black eyeliner to discover they're identical -- identical twins!

Thoughts: This series joins the hot vampire bandwagon, but caters to the tweens who like the allure of vampire books, but don't want the sex, gore and blood thirst of other vampire series. Take away the vampire aspect and it's still about two girls from opposite worlds who not only find each other, but find out that they not only are twins, but they complete each other. The two girls, Ivy and Olivia are likable, fully-fleshed out characters, and Mercer leaves lots of rooms for more adventures in this series.

Teaser Tuesday October 6, 2009

Tuesday Teaser is hosted by Should Be Reading and asks you to...
1. Grab your current read.
2. Let the book fall open to a random page.
3. Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
4. Please avoid spoilers!


As if they shared a secret, Mr. Otis tapped his forefinger against his temple and pointed to Vlad, who looked quickly back at the paper he'd chosen and read the word once again: vampire. There it was, in plain English.

--The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer, p. 50

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (October 5, 2009)

Go to J. Kaye's blog to play along.
This internet meme (concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet) is an interesting way to start off the week. I find that making goals at the beginning of the week is nice, but on this first week, I've already gone off track from my goals. That just makes it more fun!

Read this week:
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
My Sister the Vampire: Switched by Sienna Mercer (review to follow soon)

Currently reading:
A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
Eighth Grade Bites: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer (We just started a book club ning for our middle school students, and the theme is vampire books in anticipation of the release of Vampire's Assistant this month, so my reading choices have just changed)
Dracula (All-Action Classics) by Michael Mucci - graphic novel

Upcoming rereads:
Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer