Vampire Kisses
February 3rd, 2010
- ISBN13: 9780060093341
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
In her small town, dubbed “Dullsville,” sixteen-year-old Raven — a vampire-crazed goth-girl — is an outcast. But not for long…The intriguing and rumored-to-be haunted mansion on top of Benson Hill has stood vacant and boarded-up for years. That is, until its mysteriously strange new occupants move in. Who are these creepy people — especially the handsome, dark, and elusive Alexander Sterling? Or rather, what are they? Could the town prattle actually ring true? … More >>
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5 Responses to “Vampire Kisses”
It was really funny(at least to me). I laughed so hard when Raven took Trevor’s clothes that the lunch teachers asked if I was choking.
Rating: 4 / 5
I like vampires, but I often find that books about vampires are poorly written. However, this book is an exception. As far as vampire books go, this is one of the better ones. The writer, Ellen Schreiber, used to be a comedienne, and it shows. There’s some genuinely funny writing in here. The heroine, Raven, is a seriously interesting, fun character. She’s a Goth kid, and she takes the whole Goth thing so seriously, obsessing about her clothes and makeup and accessories as if they’re the most important things in her life…which as I recall from my time as a young Goth gal is exactly what it is like! But she’s got a unique personality to go with that stereotypical standard buy-’em-by-the-dozen Goth image, so she’ll still hold your interest, even if you’re not a fan of the Goth lifestyle.
I found the character of Alexander (the ‘Goth Mate’ love interest) rather less intriguing than Raven. I don’t think his character was overly well developed. I found his butler (‘Creepy Guy’) far more interesting. But then, most of the secondary characters in this book were highly intriguing. Even Raven’s geeky little brother (‘Nerd Boy’) was well written. The town in which Raven lives (‘Dullsville’) was also exceedingly well realised–anyone who has lived in a small town with intolerant small town attitudes will bond with the description of this place. And for the most part, the relationships between the characters were very sweet–they evolved beautifully, logically and compellingly.
Sometimes the plot and dialogue of this book went a little off the rails, but this was usually only because of small flaws and inconsistencies. All in all, I found it a largely satisfying read. More importantly, though, I simply couldn’t put it down! I missed out on a whole lot of sleep because I just couldn’t stop reading it. This isn’t the greatest book I’ve ever read, but it’s still pretty damn good. You’ll probably enjoy it too, if you choose to give it a try.
Rating: 4 / 5
To keep it simple, this is one of the most cliche books I’ve read. The idea wasn’t bad but it felt like a bad high school flick. the main character, Raven, was very annoying and acted more like a twelve year old most of the time rather than a sixteen year old. She just seemed so childish and felt more like a prep than a goth. She also felt like a horridly cliche protagonist. A ‘goth’ named raven, a girl who wants to meet a vampire who has watched shows such as ‘dark shadows’ since she was a child, a personality you can pour out of a box of cheerios. Raven is a name that even I’ve used for a dark character, long prior to reading this book. I have seen it in numerous original stories posted on the net. Even a few books i’ve picked up from the liberary. Her wanting to meet a vampire is borderline ‘rabid fangirl’ in nature. She claims to have watched a lot of vampire shows, and yet she approaches the subject like a child’s game, acting as though vampires were being who wispered sweet little nothings in your ears and gave you chocolates just because they could. As for her personality, i’ve seen clones everywhere. They’re always in different positions, sometimes they are preps, or valley girls, even that annoying girl in the back of class who has one subject she knows about and only one. The personality is exactly the same. actually, other than the personality and sugar-reaction to vampires i could forgive most of the things i find annoying.
Over all, i think i would have enjoied the bok had i been younger. I’d have ranted and raved over this book when i was nine. Since I was ten i’ve been reading books by literary artists such as Tamora Pierce, C.S. Lewis and Scott Westerfeld (My most recent favourite). So I supposed i’ve been a bit spoiled by them.
Now i do have some complements. The idea of dressing up as a tennis player for halloween was a nice idea and a highly amusing one to boot. The descriptions were pretty well done. The plot didn’t move along to slow, and while some parts went by a bit too fast it was still a bearable speed. Then there is the wit, the few times it appeared i was more than mildly amused.
under slightly different circumstances, or even a younger heroine rather than a sixteen year old ( I suppose that would be a different circumstance thogh, now wouldn’t it?), I think I could have enjoied the book. unfortunatly none of those circumstances occured so i didn’t. 2/5
Rating: 2 / 5
This is in no doubt an out of the ordinary vampire book, but things happened a bit too quickly for my personal liking. In reality, no one would act so in love so quickly. It’s like reading a fan fiction about some “totally hot” rockstar. I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would, but I’m still going to read the sequel, anyway.
Rating: 3 / 5
You don’t even know how many cliche vampire novels I’ve read. This was one of them.
Raven’s character is completely one-dimensional, her friend shallow. Even Alexander, the main vampire…I mean, COME ON!!!! Marilyn Manson? Earrings? Long hair? Is this the stereotype of vampires? That every vampire is Goth? And honestly, Raven is so stupid…saying she wants to be a vampire when she grows up, and even more, the whole thing was way too corny for me. Although I did like some parts, it gets very boring when you hear the whole “I like you…whoa, you like me too” routine. Especially when she mentions her outfits. Not everyone who likes vampires are goth. And I was really miffed when I noticed that the relationship is hurried into, like when Alexander invites her to dinner, and he comes off like he loves her and they are boyfriend girlfriend. Seriously…a small summary of pg. 151 is that they lie on the grass and stare at the night sky, HOLDING HANDS. Raven wants to kiss Alexander. They like each other so quickly, it’s such a superficial relationship.
I would’ve given it zero out of five stars if I had only read the middle of the book. All together, the author does an okay job of attempting to even be a favorite of vampire readers. It wasn’t that good of a choice to write a book about vampires when you read Twilight. But yes, I know, Vampire Kisses was written before Twilight (I even checked) but every single person now who reads it and has read Twilight is going to compare the two, the majority of them favoring Twilight. You can just tell by the bestsellers on Amazon: Twilight’s very influential.
A word of caution: if you compare this to any other vampire book (yes, yes, Twilight is something inevitable to compare it to) you’re probably not going to like this book at all. This was a mediocre effort, but I read the second book…it’s better by a whole lot, but still in the “okay” region.
I’m still a little angry over the whole Goth thing. So automatically if you like vampires and you believe in them, you’re considered Goth? I hope that stereotype changes soon, and boy, Vampire Kisses set it back very far.
Rating: 3 / 5