Sucks To Be Me by Kimberly Pauley
Summary
Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck--literally? (courtesy of Goodreads)
Review
An ordinary girl finds herself in an unusual situation.
Quite the cliche. Sucks To Be Me could have just been a rehash of every vampire or other paranormal YA book that's currently all the rage. But it's not. Mina Hamilton is a very normal teenage girl, unlike most YA protagonists. She spends a lot of time complaining about how her life "sucks," but you can tell she's pretty happy. In fact, she knows it too. She has two parents who love her, and she gets along with them well. Yes, they are vampires, but that doesn't seem all that odd to her; it's just the way it is. She has a fabulous best friend, Serena (whose life is clearly not as happy as Mina's). Mina is neither popular nor hated...just sort of there.
Suddenly, the Vampire Council shows up and says that Mina has to decide whether or not to become a vampire - quickly. She has to take a series of Vampire Introduction classes before potentially graduating to vampirism. Being a vampire means that she can be with her parents forever. But it also means having to start a completely new life and leave her home, school, and Serena. And choose not to be a vampire means having to give up the life she's always known too. This could quickly dissolve into angsty sob-fests...but it doesn't.
Mina always has a sense of sarcastic humor. She nicknames her vampire teacher Grandma Wolfington, after the grandma in Little Red Riding Hood. She always keeps a good head - she meets lots of interesting people in the vampire classes but she stays true to herself and makes wise choices about friends and boys.
The book has hilarious myth-busters about vampires in little vignettes at the start of each chapter. Even funnier and more ironic is Mina's English class unit on Dracula. Very well-timed.
I really like Mina. Occasionally her sarcasm is a little overdone, but it's mostly tempered by common sense. All in all, a very enjoyable read.
Rating: 4 / 5
I agree- enjoyable and funny. Great review.
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ReplyDeleteBeing read by lots of my friends daughters, perhaps I'll get to read one of their copies. Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDeleteFound you from the blog hop! This book sounds quite funny. And Vampire Training Classes? I am intrigued by the thought of that. My TBR pile is growing faster than I can read them!
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Great review! I've seen this one in the bookstore a couple of times, but now I think I'm going to pick it up. It looks really cute, and I love sarcastic humor!
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ReplyDeleteI have this book and haven't read it yet - I will have to move it up on the TBR. I didn't even know there was a sequel. Thanks for the heads up.
I was going to read this book one day but then I 'accidentally' read the ending in stores when I went to see how many pages there were. I didn't end up getting the book, so I still haven't read it....
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of it but this book sounds like a fun little read.
ReplyDeleteI've never paid much attention to this, but your review makes me want to go look into it more. :-)
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