Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!

An Open Letter to Stephenie Meyer:

Dear Ms. Meyer,
In all the years that I have been writing Reading Rants, I have never received as much email about a title as I have about your debut novel, Twilight. Your story of star-crossed lovers, one human, one vampire, has been so embraced by teen readers everywhere, that they have let me know, in no uncertain terms, how extremely remiss I am in not having posted a review of Twilight on Reading Rants. So here it is, for those of you vampire lovers who haven’t already devoured it (and the voluminous sequels, New Moon, Eclipse, & Breaking Dawn).

Bella Swan loves the sun, but she loves her dad more, so she agrees to come live with him in his perpetually rainy abode in Washington State. There, she meets gorgeous, brooding Edward Cullen, for whom the rainy climate is perfect. You see, Edward and his family are all vampires and tend to turn translucent in sunlight (as opposed to shrivel into smoldering ash), which can be difficult to explain, hence his frequent absences from school when the weather’s fine. Luckily for Bella, who has fallen head over heels for the stunning bloodsucker, Edward and his clan only hunt animals, not people. But the teen lovers are forced to keep their ardent kisses in check, because as Edward’s Bella-lust begins to rise, so does his bloodlust, and the chances that Bella will suffer more than just your run-of-the-mill hickey. The two manage to balance their unusual relationship until a roving band of real bloodsuckers invades Edward’s family’s territory and threaten Bella. Can Edward overcome his natural desires to save Bella? Or will the new vampires cause him to cross over to the dark side? Lushly written and hauntingly atmospheric, you’ll want to follow up this read with Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, and The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause.

What if all the movers and shakers of the world, the billionaire power-brokers, the elite country-clubbers, the crème de la crème of high society – what if all those old school blue bloods were REALLY cold-blooded vampires? Reincarnated over and over and always passing down the power, these powerful Blue Bloods maintain their secret identities by keeping their human “familiars” alive and well by feeding off of them in shifts and perpetrating silly myths about garlic and crosses to keep humans in the dark about their existence. But now their way of life is being threatened by the Silver Bloods, an insane group of bloodsuckers who feed on other vampires instead of humans. Can the Blue Bloods be saved? Or will their secret be exposed and cause a Blue Blood/Silver Blood war that can only end in death and destruction for human society? De la Cruz’s imaginative take on the privileged upper crust, though a little convoluted, is nevertheless great fodder for the imagination. So THAT’s why those rich little debutantes never gain weight - they’re UNDEAD! Fans of vampire fiction will drink this one right down, along with it’s lip-smacking sequel, Masquerade.

Chameleon author Hautman never writes the same book twice, and, in my opinion, never writes a bad book! And this original story is no exception. Lucy Szabo hates to be labeled. Just because she injects insulin a couple times a day, don’t call her a DIABETIC. So she wears black clothes and heavy black-eyeliner, doesn’t mean she’s a GOTH. Lucy’s sick of all the labels people give her just because they don’t understand what she REALLY is. See, Lucy’s theory is that anyone who depends on medical science to live, who would normally be dead without the help of penicillin or a pacemaker, is actually UNDEAD, or, if you like, a VAMPIRE. Lucy’s blood needs insulin, so it’s easier to think of herself as a take-no-prisoners-vampire instead of a sickly teen with diabetes. She even participates in a chat room with other pseudo-vampires, who claim to drink blood and shape-change. Lucy knows they’re all full of it–except the guy who’s screen name is Draco. His details about vamp life are so scarily realistic that Lucy, screen name Sweet-blood, thinks he might actually be the real thing. Does she dare meet him and find out for sure? Not your typical horror story, Hautman incorporates Goth culture, diabetes facts and vampire myths into a thought-provoking thriller that you won’t soon forget!

Risika is one lonely vampire. She was turned blood sucker about three hundred years ago and since then, has lived in her big old mansion in Massachusetts, sleeping by day and hunting for unsuspecting victims by night. Her only buddy is a meat-eating tiger she visits at the local zoo (they have a lot in common). Her routine is pretty regular, and after three hundred years, also pretty boring. Then one night she is challenged by her arch enemy, a vampire named Aubrey, and the fur begins to fly! Aubrey was responsible for the death of Risika’s mortal brother, and she has never forgiven him. Now she has a chance to make him pay…and if you’re starting to think that this story has shades of Anne Rice and L.J. Smith, you are not mistaken. Forests was penned by young Amelia, a huge Rice fan, when she was only 14. While not the most original fanged tale, you might want to check it out anyway and see if that stash of stories in your desk stacks up to what other teens are writing (and publishing!).

Chris is pretty used to vampires–in his world, which is startlingly like our own, a vampire is just another common criminal that you hear about on the evening news: arrested for loitering in graveyards, driving while under the influence of plasma, and performing ritualistic murder. Yep, Chris knows vampires. That’s why he’s so concerned when he starts losing his reflection in mirrors and feeling very, very thirsty–a thirst water doesn’t even begin to touch. He thinks he might be turning into a vampire and is desperate to stop the process. Lucky for him he meets Chet, an angel-like guy with the Forces of Light who claims he can help Chris if Chris will act like a double-agent between the humans and the vamps for awhile. Only Chet isn’t keeping up his end of the bargain, and Chris fears that his future lies at the bottom of a coffin. This one will have you laughing uneasily and rubbing your teeth to make sure you don’t feel fangs…

Zoe could use some cheering up. Her mom is dying of cancer, her best friend’s moving, and her father could care less about her life. A sympathetic boyfriend sure would be nice right about now–and lo and behold, one appears–a pretty cute one named Simon. The only drawbacks are that he is a lot older than Zoe (like a couple of CENTURIES older) and he has to drink blood to survive. But Zoe manages to overlook these minor details and falls for Simon anyway. But the one thing she can’t ignore is Simon’s little vampire brother, who unlike Simon, is truly vicious and brutal, kind of like a cuter, blonder version of Chuckie. Simon has been trying to stop him for decades. Can their love survive Simon’s blood sucking tendencies and his brother’s murderous rampages? A very romantic vampire tale–like Romeo and Juliet for the undead.