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"Vamped is a total delight! Diver delivers a delightful cast of undead characters and a fresh, fast take on the vampire mythos. Next installment, please!"
—Rachel Caine, New York Times bestselling author of the Morganville Vampires series
Gina Covello's Perks and Pitfalls
of Vamp Life
1. Hello?! Eternal youth and beauty!
2. Free. Designer. Clothes.
3. My hot new boyfriend Bobby went from chess dud to vamp stud.
4. No reflection! First order of business: turn my own stylist to stop the downward spiral from chic to eek.
5. Vampire vixen Mellisande has taken an interest in my boyfriend, and is now transforming the entire high school into her own personal vampire army. If anyone's going to start their own undead entourage it should be me.
I guess I'll just have to save everyone from fashion disasters and other fates worse than death.
Teenagers will likely bite at the fun premise of Diver's YA debut, first in a planned series. When Gina awakens in a grave and discovers she's a vampire-her senior prom didn't end well-one of her first concerns is facing "an all-liquid diet, a life without tanning options." She continues to focus on fashion (and to deliver feisty insults) even as she finds herself embroiled in (and eventually leading) a vampire war, which involves a mysterious prophecy-and many of her former classmates. The story's appeal lies in Gina's snarky narration, though readers may have trouble tracking all of the characters. The plot takes a while to arrive at its gory action scenes, complete with severed limbs and garlic bombs. Readers will be entertained by some great one-liners ("Yup, just a day in the life of a typical teen... only instead of dodging gossip and pop quizzes, it was stakes and [holy water] spritzing") and a nascent romance for Gina, though the open-ended finale leaves answers about the prophecy and other questions until a later volume. Ages 14-up. (May)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
I’m here to tell you, rising from the dead just purely sucks. I woke in a blind terror. Literally blind … my eyelids tried to flip upward like cartoon window shades as con-sciousness kicked my butt, but they got nowhere fast. Something was holding my lids shut. My hands banged against the sides of my prison as I tried to raise them to my eyes, and a scream bubbled up from somewhere around my toes, but nothing came out of my mouth. Oh God, my mind gibbered—no breath! No air. I was suffocating
A microsecond later I realized how silly that was. I couldn’t suffocate because I wasn’t breathing. No heartbeat either. In fact, all was silent as … well, as the grave.
My mind stuttered to a halt. Somehow, I didn’t think that was just, you know, a simile or metaphor or … what-ever. No heartbeat equaled no pulse. No pulse equaled dead, right? And yet here I was. I fought down my rising panic—no, too calm a word—hysteria, with great unnec-essary breaths … until my inner Cosmo girl witch-slapped me with an order to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. I was Gina Covello, dammit. I’d survive now, panic later.
Okay, there was only one way I knew to wake up dead— well, two, but I didn’t feel like a flesh-eating zombie. So I must be, like, a vampire. A creature of the night, as in Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, and all that jazz. That could be cool, right? I mean, beyond the sucking blood and pointy-stick phobia, there was eternal youth and beauty and all … assum-ing I found a way out of the grave. Otherwise, it wouldn’t much matter. I’d be doomed to unlife, watching the worms crawl in and the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout … the childhood rhyme played in my head.
Ack! I felt around, appreciating that my parents must have sprung for the deluxe model coffin with silk lining and all, and managed with some squiggling to get my fin-gers up to my eyelids, which—ewwww—were held shut by creepy plastic things that felt like tiny, spiny sea urchins.
Gross! I didn’t remember Buffy-verse vamps having these kinds of problems.
I tossed the freakshow eyelid doohickeys aside and moved straight into screaming for help (after filling my lungs like bal-loons so that I had air to force through my vocal cords) and pounding on the lid of my coffin. Ten or twenty blows later, things were actually popping and I figured this whole unlife thing must have imparted some cool superhuman strength to me. Either that or my grave hadn’t had enough visitors yet to really pack down the earth, which stood to reason. I’d only been dead three days, if the legends could be trusted. My parents, if they ran true to form, had prob-ably taken themselves off to some exotic locale right after the funeral to drink away the discomfort of my death. It wouldn’t be so much that they didn’t care as that they didn’t like caring. Emotion messed with their Botox treat-ments, causing unsightly wrinkles and all. Crying made you blotchy.
Superhuman strength or no, by the time I broke through to the surface, my manicure was totally shot, my nails were split, and I was covered in dirt. And I mean covered. I was about to wig out when I realized just what I was brushing off—and one shock kind of cancelled out the other. My par-ents had buried me in a truly heinous dress of white eyelet, which made me look like a stylistically challenged child bride. I had a vague repressed memory of being forced to wear it to my first communion years ago and marveled that it still fit. Not that I’d grown out, except for, you know, up top. Sadly, I hadn’t done much growing up either; I’d maxed out at, like, five foot nothing. Anyway, if anything deserved to be covered in grave dust, it was this old rag.
I shook out my mane of black hair, trying not to think of all the things that might have fallen into it. Had there been maggots? Oh please, please, please don’t let there have been maggots. I forced that mental image down into a deep dark mental box labeled Spiders and all things icky, but somehow lifting the lid unleashed a hoard of other creepy crawly thoughts. The memory swarm knocked me to my butt on the fresh earth of my grave.
I had a pretty good idea of how I’d become a vamp. I had flashes of prom gowns, yelling, screaming, Chaz haul-ing me around by the arm, his breath smelling of cheap beer, tossing me into his car, swerving all over the road, the painful shriek of metal on metal as we were sideswiped by a green muscle car, spinning out, a tree rushing at me way too fast …
I brought my mental shield crashing down on the memory that followed: the world careening out of con-trol, the sudden shock of impact, and … Anyway, that was how I died, not how I’d become a vamp—which must have happened earlier, I thought, at the post-prom party when I’d somehow found myself necking with Bobby-freakin’-Delvecchio, who’d become all mysteriously irresistible. And yeah, there’d been a bit of nipping involved too, which must have been where the whole blood-exchange thing took place. The details were a little fuzzy, maybe due tohaving dipped into Marcy’s punch, but that was probably just as well.
My stomach gave a lurch. I thought at first it was a rebellious reaction against the idea of blood, but then recog-nized it as hunger—no, bloodlust. I cringed. Well, that sealed it. Despite my attempt to sunny it up, undead equaled uncool. I was starting to realize why vamp films qualified as horror.
I mean, an all-liquid diet, a life without tanning options. I’d be doomed to an eternity looking like the bride of Fran-kenstein, especially in the gunnysack I was currently wear-ing. As soon as I got my hands on my sire, I was going to wring his scrawny little neck.
Speaking of which, you’d think the advantage to being turned by a geekboy like Bobby Delvecchio would be endless devotion, like he should be waiting for me to rise with a cup of warm blood and a spa robe or something. I flashed back to those Elijah Wood blue eyes of his and the way he’d looked prom night, with his kinda shaggy brown hair contrasting with his tailored tux. Okay, maybe not so geeky after all. Maybe his new vamp mojo had given him a totally inflated sense of himself as a ladies’ man. He could be out flashing those baby blues at some other girl right now. Creating his own harem, even. The very thought made me rise again from the fresh earth of my grave, fists clenched.
“Gina!” As if I’d conjured him, Bobby’s voice called out to me from across the cemetery. I almost turned toward him in relief before remembering I was mad at the two-timing bastard.
“Gina!” he yelled louder. “Wait.”
I allowed him to approach me, timing my turn for when he was about three steps away—optimum range for the whirl-and-glare maneuver. I was kind of amazed at how well I was able to pinpoint his position; my new vamp senses made the tiniest sound seem full volume.
“You’re late,” I informed him, ignoring the fact that I’d nearly whapped him with my hair as I spun. I punctu-ated my comment with a hand to one hip.
Bobby looked like he wanted to pull on the collar of his shirt, only he wasn’t really wearing one—a collar, that is. He had on a V-necked sweater the exact same shade as his eyes, and a black leather jacket that looked like it would be soft as butter. I wondered if the vamp transfor-mation had given him supernatural fashion sense and, if so, why everyone wasn’t doing it. It stopped the breath that I … wasn’t using anyway. And that was beyond weird.
“Um, yeah,” he answered, his ability to talk to girls still lagging behind his spankin’ new style. “There was some-thing I needed to do first.”
That was when my eyes lit on the shopping bags. Two of them. That most gorgeous Macy’s red. All my negativity just disappeared.
gina gets bitten by bobby and dies in a car crash that same night. when she wakes 3 days later( so twilight) she finds out shes a vampire. gina and bobby get kidnapped and are taken to the vampire who turned bobby. great book, with great and funny characters.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.No sparkly, brooding vampires here. Main Character Gina is turned Vampire and with her to the other side she took her good fashion sense, her desire to keep her hair dresser, her same confident (not-quite-but-almost) man-eating attitude.
This is a fun quick read about Gina, the boy who turned her, the boys gifts (which is causing all of the hair tangling ruckus,) and a lair, or in the case house, of vamps being used as a mini-army. No matter what the situation Gina is as much worried about her inability to dress herself in a mirror as she is about kicking-butt to stay un-dead.
Action, humor, and a girl who isn't relying on anyone to get her out of a situation. Gina takes charge and offers a different side to the girl-who-falls-in-love-with-a-vampire then many of the books today. This is fairly written, using the storyline and characters personalities to hold the humorous story well.
That is what I was saying when I started reading this book. It was so engaging that time was flying by so fast I didn't realize how late it was. I really love all of her work. Lucienne knows how to write with a good mix of drama, action, humor, and sarcasm. You just have to know what is on the next page.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.No sparkly, brooding vampires here. Main Character Gina is turned Vampire and with her to the other side she took her good fashion sense, her desire to keep her hair dresser, her same confident (not-quite-but-almost) man-eating attitude.
This is a fun quick read about Gina, the boy who turned her, the boys gifts (which is causing all of the hair tangling ruckus,) and a lair, or in the case house, of vamps being used as a mini-army. No matter what the situation Gina is as much worried about her inability to dress herself in a mirror as she is about kicking-butt to stay un-dead.
Action, humor, and a girl who isn't relying on anyone to get her out of a situation. Gina takes charge and offers a different side to the girl-who-falls-in-love-with-a-vampire then many of the books today. This is fairly written, using the storyline and characters personalities to hold the humorous story well.
I was wary of this when I bought it, and I realized as soon as I started this book, I was rightfully so. I...hated it. I try not to use hate, but that's what I felt. I just did not like it. The plot was boring, the characters and relationships unbelievable. Just...not good.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I love vampire books but i hated this book. It wasnt clear and it was hard to understand what was going on. The whole book was confusing and you couldnt follow it easily. Reading this book was more boring than watching paint dry.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Gina Covello wakes up in a coffin after she dies in an accident. To her horror she realizes she is a Vampire and the boy who made her one, Bobby, is one of the geeks turned dashing and handsome vampire too. Bobby is kidnapped by Mellisande and Gina is sent to a dungeon like place where she finds many of her classmates, apparently turned into vampires too.
Now Gina has to discover Mellisande's purpose in building a teenage vampire army. And also why Bobby is singled out by her? What exactly does Mellisande want?
Gina is such a likable vamp. She cares about her manicure, brands, her hair, but yes, she also has a conscience which makes for interesting conversations with herself.
This book was so much fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author, Lucienne Diver, has a sarcastic and snarky sense of humor and a very fresh voice.
If you want to read a chic, cool and fun vampire story, you should definitely read this one. If you want to read something different than the hordes of dark vampire books, Vamped is definitely it.
The only problem with the book was that the action was a little difficult to follow at times. As there is one POV to the story, Gina's, the reader is left as confused and in the dark as Gina is. You kind of discover and understand what's going on along with Gina. The end is open ended so I am guessing there is a sequel? I have read this book being compared to Buffy, but I wouldn't know as I haven't seen a single episode yet. Sad, I know.
If you like Young Adult or Chicklit, this book is definitely for you. Vamped could be a perfect beach read.
One of the passages just to give you an example of the writing style:
Superhuman strength or no, by the time I broke through to the surface, my manicure was totally shot, my nails were split, and I was covered in dirt. And I mean covered. I was about to wig out when I realized just what I was brushing off-and one shock kind of cancelled out the other. My parents had me buried me in a truly heinous dress of white eyelet, which made me look like a stylistically challenged child bride. I had a vague repressed memory of being forced to wear it to my first communion years ago and marveled that it still fit. Not that I'd grown out, except for, you know, up top. Sadly, I hadn't done much growing up either; I'd maxed out at, like, five foot nothing. Anyway, if anything deserved to be covered in grave dust, it was this old rag.
(Any mistakes, in spelling or grammar, are all typos from my side)
Okay, maybe the idea was good, but there seemed to be something missing when i read this book. The story is somewhat good, but it gets lost along the way. The idea is that our heroine Gina Covello gets bitten at Prom and is transformed. The rest of the book is devoted to seeing her get kidnapped by a fringe vamp group bent on taking it over, and the kids at Gina's high school have all been transformed as a vamp army. It has its entertaining parts, especially where she has to make nice with the mean girls from her school. But the book still lacked a certain grab for me. I still recommend it for anyone hungry for something new.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Gina Covello's life-altering night in only six words: went to prom, became a vampire.
Well, it's really not that simple. There were some things Gina could have done to prevent this. For one, she could have stuck with her boyfriend, Chaz, during prom instead of making out with the transformed, now uber gorgeous chess geek, Bobby. She could have found a better place so Chaz would not actually see this occur. She could have not gone in the car with a now angry and a little tipsy boyfriend who might just be a little off while driving.
If only all these "could haves" were processed before Gina could actually make an executive decision. In the end, the car crashed, Gina thought she was dead, woke up in a grave, and discovered that Bobby was not a normal chess geek, but a newly vamped one.
After clawing her way out of her grave with her superpower vamp strength, and being saved by her "vampire boyfriend," Bobby, Gina thinks that with her new life, she can rule the world. Of course that is once she gets out of the hideous ensemble her parents buried her in and shops til she drops with an addition of a serious makeover (vamps can do that, right?).
Little does Gina know that another vamp is vying to take over the vampire world and the army she is building is all too familiar with Gina and the entire town.
What's now in store for Gina? There is discovering that Bobby may not be just a normal vampire, and can he get any sexier? Then, of course, there are the harsh interrogations and treatment by a freakshow, and a dragon lady, and a revival of her arch-enemy. And who could forget the all-out battle to the end.
With a huge influx of vampire inspired novels, it is hard to choose the ones that are worth taking a bite out of. VAMPED is one novel you will want to sink your teeth into... more than once.
Lucienne Diver introduces the newest and hottest couple to the vampire world. Gina, who knows how to kick butt, take control when needed, and look good while accomplishing it all; and Bobby, the perfect gentleman vampire who knows exactly how to make Gina happy and is an amazing kisser. Watch out Edward Cullen, you have major competition.
With the combination of witty banter, intertwined with small curl-your-lip-up romantic scenes, scheming plots, and a war no one will want to miss, VAMPED is the newest, biggest vampire novel around. Do not miss out on what everyone else will be reading!
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This was a really fun read. The main character Gina cracked me up constantly. Oh the woes of a valley girl turned vampire. I wont give away the plot, but in a nutshell. Popular girl gets turned into a vampire by geek boy at school. Love, or more likely infatuation ensues. The plot enters as girl finds her new boyfriend is the key to a prophecy. Mayhem is had, fashion disasters are averted, thwarted and noticed.
Its a great spin on the whole vampire genre that sometimes takes itself too seriously. For great laughs and a fun read, this is a great book!
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Overview
"Vamped is a total delight! Diver delivers a delightful cast of undead characters and a fresh, fast take on the vampire mythos. Next installment, please!"
—Rachel Caine, New York Times bestselling author of the Morganville Vampires series
Gina Covello's Perks and Pitfalls
of Vamp Life
1. Hello?! Eternal youth and beauty!
2. Free. Designer. Clothes.
3. My hot new boyfriend Bobby went from chess dud to vamp stud.
4....