Vamped »

Lucienne Diver is a literary agent by day and a writer by night. A graduate of SUNY, Potsdam, New York, she is the author of the novel Playing Nice, and her fiction, The Problem with Piskies, has been serialized in Quantum Gothic magazine. The author lives in Florida. Find out more by visiting www.luciennediver.com.

"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.

Publishers Weekly

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.