Book Reviews: Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.

Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She's forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn't enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What's a nice undead girl to do?

After reading Driving Mr. Dead (which I probably should have read last), I knew I had to read more of Molly Harper's novels. As with Driving Mr. Dead, the story takes place in the universe where vampires have been outed to the living.

The protagonist, Jane Jameson, is a former librarian who is turned after being shot because she's mistaken for a wild animal by a drunk hunter. This is, of course, after a few too many drinks at Shenanigans after being fired from her library job. Luckily, Gabriel Nightengale, who Jane was chatting with at Shenanigans, was following her to see to if she made it home alright showed up and changed her from the dying to the undead.

As devastating as being turned into a vampire should be (and is), Jane takes it in stride, and, generally, wherever Jane goes, hilarity and mayhem ensue.

I absolutely loved this story. I often have a hard time with stories that are meant to be humorous because it feels forced into the story, but Molly Harper had me chuckling often and genuinely throughout the story. Her way of telling a story lends itself to the humor peppered throughout.

Also, her characters are all, if not likable, quite memorable.

Jane's family is both ridiculous, annoying and amusing. Her aunt Jetty, a ghost, who has been hanging around the house she left to Jane is awesome. She seemed to be that kindred spirit in a family where Jane often feels like a misfit. Regaining a relationship with her deceased aunt is probably one of the better parts of Jane's new undead status.

Jane's mother, sister and grandmother, on the other hand, are enough to leave a person banging their head against the wall. Jane's dad is more sympathetic to Jane even if he may not understand her all of the time.

Zeb, Jane's best friend, is also an enjoyable character. You can see why he and Jane would be best friends, and his character also adds an interesting side story to the book. I'm looking forward to more of that in future books.

I liked Gabriel, but I feel like there's more to be learned about him in future books. He seems like a good guy, but there's still a lot of mystery to him that I'd like to unravel.

And, also, Dick Chaney is possibly my favorite character in the book. Not only is he named Dick Chaney (it was his name before the former vice presidents!) he's just a hilarious character.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to reading the next book of the series because Molly Harper has set up an interesting world full of great characters that I can't wait to revisit.

In My Mailbox #1

This is my very first In My Mailbox post, so I'm very excited! I set a goal for myself early in the year to read more books from the library, and that's where all of my books this week came from (even the one I bought)!

Library

Audio

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Amazon | Goodreads)
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (Amazon | Goodreads)

Print

Blood On My Hands by Todd Strasser (Amazon | Goodreads)
The Night She Disappeared by April Henry (Amazon | Goodreads)
Wish You Were Dead by Todd Strasser (Amazon | Goodreads)

Bought

Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning (Amazon | Goodreads)


In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren.

Book Review: The Night She Disappeared

Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

 

On the night when Gabie normally delivered pizzas for Pete's a man called to order a pizza to be delivered to an address that didn't exist. Before ordering he asked about the girl in the Mini Cooper, but instead of Gabie, Kayla was sent out for the delivery. And she never came back.

When I read the synopsis for the novel, I was intrigued, so I picked it up at the library. However, I've been trying to figure out how and what I wanted to say about this book since I finished reading it because my feelings are a bit mixed. As far as the writing goes, I enjoyed the storytelling, and while I thought the plot had a lot of promise and it was a fast paced read, something about it just left me unsatisfied.

The novel skips around to various characters, but Drew--the boy who took the order and sent Kayla out on the delivery--and Gabie--the girl who was supposed to be working that night--are the most predominant characters. While I liked them both and could understand their confusion and guilt about Kayla's disappearance, I never really felt like I connected with them or any of the other characters.

As much as I enjoyed seeing different aspects of the novel, I almost wonder if the story would have been better if we weren't privy to all of those sides of the story. The glimpses of Kayla throughout the story did add a sense of desperation to the story, but I think the story might have been more suspenseful without the parts from her kidnapper's point of view. Sometimes I think the unknown is more gripping than knowing something the other characters don't. I also found the police to be quite frustrating and incompetent.

However, I did enjoy some of the non-traditional ways of storytelling, such as 911 transcripts, police interviews and newspaper clippings. Those helped to move the story along and glean useful information. I also liked that the story was tracked by how many days Kayla was missing.

I think, without a doubt, April Henry can tell a compelling story, but The Night She Disappeared just didn't quite do it for me. However, I will be checking out more of her work in the future.

Book Review: Driving Mr. Dead

After failing as a magician's assistant, a photographer, and most recently, a bride, Miranda Puckett takes a position as a driver for Beeline, Half-Moon Hollow's premiere vampire concierge service.

Miranda's assignment? Driving Collin Sutherland, the world's most fastidious vampire from Washington to Kentucky, so he can deliver a mysterious black case to Council official Ophelia Lambert.

Collin, a paranoid, aristocratic vampire with a debilitating fear of flying, refuses to let the case out of his sight. Miranda needs this time on the road to decide whether to permanently cut her ties with the fiance that had an "emotional affair" with a childhood pal, but Collin’s neatnik tendencies are driving her around the bend. The man acts as if leaving a fast food wrapped on the passenger seat is reason for a full-on CDC de-contamination scrub-down of the car. All she can do is promise to stop intentionally doing the things that make his stiff upper lip twitch with irritation.

As more and more mishaps occur on the road trip from hell, Miranda and Collin work together to meet his delivery deadline. Hotel rooms are destroyed. Beloved cars are defiled. And somewhere along the line, client-driver hostilities become snarky flirtation.

Will Collin and Miranda make it to the Hollow in one piece? And if they do, will Miranda leave old, safe relationships behind for something new and well, just plain weird?

For months, I'd been meaning to give Molly Harper's book a shop. A friend told me that she thought I'd like one of her work, but, as is often the case, it took me a little while to get around to giving her a shot.

Driving Mr. Dead seemed like a good place to start because it just sounded like a fun book. As I was reading, though, it seemed as if it took place in the same universe as herJane Jameson series. I was, however, able to follow the book without any problem, so I don't think it's dependent on that series.

As for the book itself, I thought it was a fantastic read, full of great humor and characters. Miranda and Collin's interactions had me smiling from the start, and the mishaps they encounter during their cross country road trip were so ridiculously amusing; I could not get enough of this book.

My only complaint is that there wasn't more. It was a wild, thoroughly enjoyable ride. I am certainly looking forward to reading more of Molly Harper's work in the very near future.

Book Review: The Butterfly Clues

Penelope (Lo) Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. Her dad's consulting job means she's grown up moving from one rundown city to the next, and she's learned to cope by collecting (sometimes even stealing) quirky trinkets and souvenirs in each new place—possessions that allow her to feel at least some semblance of home.

But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers a beautiful, antique butterfly pendant during a routine scour at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as "Sapphire"—a girl just a few years older than Lo. As usual when Lo begins to obsess over something, she can't get the murder out of her mind.

As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues," with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld much closer to home than she ever imagined—a world, she'll ultimately discover, that could hold the key to her brother's tragic death.

I quite enjoyed The Butterfly Clues. It was an good, solid mystery, but, aside from a solid plot, the characters were really what drew me into the book.

Lo has some very serious issues with stealing, OCD and hoarding that seem to be at an all new high after her brother Oren's death the year before. Her mother is non-functioning and, while I think he's trying to hold it together, her father is often absent.

While wondering the streets during the late night hours while in Neverland, Lo is nearly shot by a stray bullet. She finds out later that on that same night a girl, Sapphire, was murdered. Then, when she discovers pieces of the girl's jewelry at the flee market, Lo feels drawn to find out who killed Sapphire.

Along the way, she meets a host of colorful characters who live in the run down area of Neverland. Among them is Flint. She feels drawn to him much in the same way she feels drawn to Sapphire, but as she meets danger at every corner, it becomes increasingly difficult to know who to trust.

The story had quite a few twists and turns along the way. I did also enjoy that, instead of the story focusing solely on the mystery of Sapphire's murder, there were several things happening with the plot, involving school and her home life. It helped to keep the story grounded in reality.

Also, I felt quite sympathetic to Lo's need to complete her rituals. It added an interesting layer to her character that I hadn't seen before in other books. I often felt frustrated right along with her when she had to stop and do something (sometimes several times if she messed up or lost count).

My only issue with this, though, is that I'd hoped that at some point her parents would do something to try to get her help. It was clearly something she had been doing for a very long time, and while I could understand her dad's frustrations with it, it seemed like it would be been more productive to actually seek some sort of help instead. That being said, I felt quite endeared to Flint because of his easy acceptance of Lo's rituals.

All in all, I thought it was a very solid novel with great characters and plot.