Title: Life as a Teenage Vampire
Author: Amanda Meuwissen
Genre: YA M/M Paranormal Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
The last thing Emery expected at the end of his senior year of high school was to become a vampire and fall in love with his best friend… Emery Mavus just wants to survive his senior year of high school. Becoming a vampire complicates things. So does a bizarre mentor, a group of vampire hunters, and an unexpected, new attraction for his openly gay best friend, Connor. An occasional uncontrollable hunger for blood might be the least of his worries.
I didn’t have very high expectations when I started Life as a Teenage Vampire. The plot sounded not that original, kind of like Twilight except the main character, Emery, was a male in love with another male – his best friend Connor. But, don’t be mistaken by the short synopsis. This book is very different, and it’s quite frankly, a whole lot better than your standard run-of-the-mill vampire story.
Emery never expected his senior year would go down like this. That he would become a vampire. That he’d fall in love with his best friend, Connor. That he’d get chased down by vampire hunters. The focus was more on the characters and their blossoming relationship than on the vampirism, but it did bring a nice touch. As Emery is transforming into another creature, he’s also transforming as a person – growing up, learning who he truly is. There’s a symbolism there, between the act of growing up, and the whole vampire angle, that I thought worked really well.
The characters were very realistic, especially Emery. Sometimes they’re a little immature, sometimes they’re surprisingly mature for their age, but they all sound very realistic, like typical teenagers. The story pulled me in, but the writing and characters made me fall in love.
Thank you so much for the stop and for the very thoughtful review. My intention was indeed to make people think umm…Twilight? And then be surprised that the focus and nature of the story is actually something quite different. I am so happy you enjoyed it, and I want to thank you again for being part of my tour to help spread the word about this title.