From the reviewers:

Oregonian teenager Francesca only wants to be normal, but that is difficult when you are six feet tall, bigger than most males in the school, and can read minds by touching objects. Making it more difficult to be a norm is her recently divorced mother, a witch who has dragged Fran to Hungary on a traveling show tour filled with freaks and geeks.

Fran is almost run over by a motorcycle. The driver is a hunk who is actually taller than her, which is what freaks her out. She does not blink when she learns he is Benedikt Czerny, a Czech Moravian Dark One over three centuries old. As she suffers from a crush over the geriatric vampire who does not look a day over his early twenties, he believes she is the one who will save his soul. Of course when it comes to battling a demon, Benedikt thinks Fran and his sister should stay home while he fights alone; he obviously does not understand an American Amazonian princess who is prepared to kick demon butt and his if necessary between their kisses.

Loaning to a friend before I read it.

*October 12, 2005: My friend returned this to me a while ago, without having made a journal entry. I'm going to read it now and pass it on to vampire book lovers at TOC later this month.

OK. This book has some fairly disturbing similarities to Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series. I shall list them for you:

1. Main character is a psychic. She (and some others) think she is a freak because of this.
2. Main character meets mysterious vampire character who falls in love with her.
3. Magic and magical beings are relatively commonplace and accepted to characters (although they are a unique bunch, so that may explain why they are so accepting).
4. This is perhaps the biggest crime. Elvis is in this book. He appears as a vampire in Harris' books, whereas here he is a regular guy with magic powers, and we are left to wonder whether he really is the *real* Elvis as he claims.
5. There is a mystery to solve.

This is pretty hard to forgive because it is pretty freaking blatant. However, there are enough differences to make it worthwhile to give this a shot. For one, this book is written for a YA crowd, so it is a little fresher and younger than the Sookie Stackhouse books. The characters, despite their similarities, are written differently. The relationship set up between main character Fran and the vamp Benedikt is actually quite sweet, and because this is for a younger crowd, it is a much simpler, innocent relationship. No hardcore vampire sex here. It's basically light fluff, but with enough sweetness, sensitivity, and funny quips thrown in to be rather enjoyable.

On a side note, I once tried to read a book written by the same author (under the name Katie MacAlister) that I absolutely abhorred. I think she does a better job with this one.

Goes to whichever vamp-loving TOC member snatches it up the fastest in October.

Supernatural Teen-Lit. The kind of book I would have loved to read when I was in Jr. High (why weren't there books like this back then?). Still a fun read - if not a little inocent.

Will pass on to ghir at the next meeting.

Received at TOC lunch.

For something titled "Got Fangs?" it's got no bite. Other than saying that certain characters are vampires, there is nothing vampy about them. (The only bloodsucking portrayed is between a brother and sister --- eeeeeuuuw!) This is a YA romance masquerading under a nominally supernatural theme, tiptoeing around vampire activity as if (pre)teens aren't aware of a link between pleasure and sucking.

And yes, it's better than the Macallister stuff, because this ploy aimed at adult readers is cloying and patronizing, whereas it's only naive and dorky aimed at teens.

I'm sad that chick lit has spawned a jr. chick lit sub-genre. Now even younger girls can believe that it's cool to vacillate between insecure and aggressive until you hook the guy who can overpower you and take charge of your life. Who's afraid of vampires and demons when female authors are stealing the souls of our girls instead of helping them grow?

Released at TOC lunch.

I guess I'm in agreement with the opinions above, but with one additional observation. While it's not the best literature, teens WILL read it. Kids who are not readers don't start with Jane Austen; they start with something light and perhaps silly. They might just decide that reading non-assigned books is not so bad. That's something I look for in teen lit, and I think this one offers enough that it just might do the trick.

Back to TOC for more bashing!

RELEASE NOTES:

On the sidewalk near the entrance. Enjoy!