The Reformed Vampire Support Group, Catherine Jinks

I'm making my way through the ALA's list of top 10 YA novels, (except I keep skipping ones that are written in the present tense or about teenage suicide). This one was great. Set in Australia it's kind of an anti-Twilight story; vampires are listless, tired, often sick, and can't do anything fun like go out or meet people. Nina, our heroine, has published a couple of books about a kick-ass vampire out of sheer boredom because her real life as a vampire is so miserable. She is stuck with the same group of vampires bitching about their lives every Tuesday night and has been for 30 years. The only people she gets to talk to are the local priest who runs the support group, and her mom. Then someone kills a member of their group, and Nina is forced to try and be the brave, smart, daring vampire she's only ever written about. 

There is a very sweet little romance, some moral debate over when (or if) it's ever okay to kill anyone, some terrible bad guys, and a lot of super annoying background vampires (and other things, too) that I had a little bit of trouble telling apart because I read it so fast. But if I were a teenager THIS would be a vampire story I'd actually enjoy and identify with, and I am totally going to read the sequel when it comes out; The Abused Werewolf Rescue Group.

Grade: B

Originally posted 2010