I'd been wanting to read this for a while, as I felt that Somtow would
be able to do something dark yet extraordinarily beautiful on the
theme of the vampire. However, although I absolutely love some of
Somtow's books, he can be rather hit-or-miss.
This wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't overwhelmingly wonderful,
either, and was definitely aimed at an early-teen audience.
The main character is a teen boy, Johnny. His family has recently made
a lot of money after his mother published a book of his grandfather's
stories and reminiscences (he's a native American), and his mom has
insisted on relocating to a tony California neighborhood. Johnny
doesn't really fit in at his new school, and he's got a bit of a
not-one-thing-or-the-other identity crisis.
However, when he meets a new classmate, Rebecca, he realizes that his
issues aren't much compared to hers. Rebecca's father is a vampire,
and soon, Rebecca must make an irreversible decision - will she become
a vampire, at a grand 'coming-of-age' party, or will she remain human? ( )

Cute and interesting. Enjoyed the refreshingly new plot to the vampire genre, and even though I hated the ending I appreciate how it tied up the rest of the book. ( )

I borrowed this book---as an interlibrary loan, no less---because someone recommended it on AJL's listserv. It must be deeper than I understand. A teenage boy, who's mother is Jewish and father is Native American, and who lives with his mother and Native American grandfather and half-sister, meets a teenage girl, whose father is a vampire (perhaps THE vampire, Dracula) and whose mother was human. She must decide very soon whether or not to remain human or become a vampire. I suppose the book is about choices, and how the way you are raised deeply influences the decisions you make about how to live your life or undeath. And the ending proves my point, that it makes no sense to claim that you can raise your child impartially so that she can decide objectively what she wants to be when she grows up. ( )