The Vampire Series by David Wellington

These vampires have as much in common as Edward Cullen as kiwis have with pears. Both are fruit, or in our case vampires, both are tasty, but the similarities really end there. 

David Wellington’s vampires are the ultimate monster. They have teeth like a shark, and they don’t so much bite their victims as they rip limbs off like they were bottle caps and chug out the blood. Yeah, it’s gruesome, but in that good way. They only way to kill a vampire is to destroy its heart. The only problem is the more the vampire feeds the more impervious it becomes. Once this happens people tend to die in large quantities really quickly.

The series focuses on Pennsylvania State Trooper Laura Caxton as she gets assigned to help Special Deputy Jameson Arkeley hunt down a new generation of vampires. Arkeley had thought he had killed the last vampires many years ago, but somehow the curse has returned. 13 Bullets introduces us to how deadly vampires can be as a small coven start to leave behind a very large body count. Somehow these vampires are connected to Arekely’s past. Caxton needs to quickly uncover his secrets and learn how to survive vampire attacks or else she will end up as just another meal, or worse, a half-dead, a reanimated corpse who does the vampire’s bidding. 99 Coffins picks up soon after as a whole cave of vampires are discovered in an underground cave at Gettysburg. It is up to Caxton to raise enough troops to fight off a vampire army that have been locked away for over 100 years. Does it really need to be said that they are pretty ticked off and mighty hungry? Vampire Zero is the latest installment and the vampires just won’t leave Laura Caxton alone. Someone is hunting Arkeley’s family and killing them off one by one. There is a horde of half-deads after her and there is something different about this latest vampire. He wears a bullet proof vest.

I really enjoy David Wellington’s books. His vampire are just the right kind of monster, scary and bloody. If you gore isn’t your thing there are nicer vampire books out there. It seems to often recently vampires are treated as just superpowered people with the same concerns and worries as anyone else. Wellington redeems the vampire in his series. These vampires are monsters, they have no concern with anything other then where their next meal of blood will come from. It makes for a very fun action/horror hybrid. I would recommend it for horror aficionados 14 and up.

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Cycler by Lauren Mclaughlin

OMG! I loved this book. Jill McTeague desperately wants to go to prom with Tommy Knutson, but she has an unusual medical condition that may stop her. Once a month, right before her period, she transmogrifies into a adolescent male for four days. Her parent’s keep Jack (Jill’s male persona) locked in the house each month for his entire four day existence. The family’s cover story is that Jill is absent once a month from school due to blood transfusions.

The problem is that Jack has a crush of his own, on Jill’s best friend Ramie, and decides to sneak out in order to express his adoration. As the book progresses the love triangle just gets more and more awkwardly humorous. As prom approaches Jill isn’t sure who is going to attend, Jack? Jill? Tommy? Ramie? Definitely pick this one up to find out, and don’t worry a sequel is already in the works. One FYI, this book does contain frank discussions of sex. Appropriate for anyone 14 and up. Highly Recommended.

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The Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner

I was really blown away by the raw power of this book. Diary of a Teenage Girl is about a young girl named Minnie growing up in 1970’s San Francisco. It is written in a diary format that also includes cartoons, much like a graphic novel, that also tell the story. Minnie comes from a broken home and has no positive role models in her life. Feeling unloved and unwanted she turns to sex and drugs to fill the void in her life. This could easily turn into a cliche, but it is Minnie’s distinctive voice and the incredible artwork that lifts the material so it becomes a truly powerful story. Throughout the story Minnie battles with depression, suicidal thoughts, sexual abuse (by a family member and a friend), and drug abuse.

Because of the subject matter, this book is appropriate for teens that are 16 and older. It should be of interest to anyone who is into alternative and underground comics, coming of age stories, or has a connection to the subject matter. Highly recommended.

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This graphic novel takes you inside to a REAL high school wiccan teenager who experiences a weird kind of love for the first time. If you are into weird, gothic, or both you should check this out.

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