ARC Review: Bloodthirsty

Bloodthirsty

Flynn Meaney

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: October 2010

Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Pages: 240

Author Site: http://www.flynnmeaney.com/

My Rating: 5/5

Source: Won from giveaway from Yankee Romance Reviewers

Synopsis:

[from goodreads.com]

Some vampires are good. Some are evil. Some are faking it to get girls. Awkward and allergic to the sun, sixteen-year-old Finbar Frame never gets the girl. But when he notices that all the female students at his school are obsessed with a vampire romance novel called Bloodthirsty, Finbar decides to boldly go where no sane guy has gone before--he becomes a vampire, minus the whole blood sucking part. With his brooding nature and weirdly pale skin, it's surprisingly easy for Finbar to pretend to be paranormal. But, when he meets the one girl who just might like him for who he really is, he discovers that his life as a pseudo-vampire is more complicated than he expected. This hilarious debut novel is for anyone who believes that sometimes even nice guys-without sharp teeth or sparkly skin--can get the girl.

Review:

Finbar is definitely at an awkward and lonely stage in his life. His twin brother, Luke, may not be the smartest guy in school but he pretty much excels at everything else. And to top off his popularity and sport skills he attracts all the girls. Finn on the other hand gets walked all over. He spends most of his time avoided kids at school and watching chick flicks with his mom on the weekend. He has a tough time standing up for himself and he happens to be allergic to the sun, which definitely doesn’t make him seem any cooler. So when he starts his junior year at a public school he decides he needs to do something different… He decides he’ll become a vampire.

But Finn doesn’t expect that he’ll actually make friends with his own personality at his new school. And he certainly doesn’t expect that he’ll meet a girl that actually likes him for him. Add in the fact that being a vampire is a lot tougher than one would think… he may just be in WAY too over his head this year.

I honestly didn’t think I was going to enjoy Bloodthirsty as much as I did. And I admit, at the beginning, I didn’t really like the book very much. Sure it was snarky and mildly funny but it came off a bit annoying as well. But as I got more into the book I really started to like Finbar and the mildly funny turned into laugh-out loud. First off, Finbar is just a hilarious name. And I can’t believe his parents would curse one son and let the other off the hook. Of course there was a pretty hilarious part where Finn goes on a tangent about how he got all the crappy genes and then got the crappy name when he was born. Speaking of Finn’s parents, they are pretty funny on their own and definitely stand out as characters. I also liked how Luke wasn’t an ass. I mean he’s got it all compared to Finn and I sort of expected him to be a jerk. But he definitely wasn’t and that made the story better.

I really enjoyed the “coming-of-age” feel of the novel. Finn grows and matures while still keeping his quirky attitude about life intact. Meaney completely won me over with Finn’s personality. The supporting characters had just the right amount of development. They all had a significant amount of personality that didn’t take anything away from the point of the story. With vampires being the forefront in a lot of books and movies out right now, Bloodthirsty is a really fun and funny addition that I recommend to everyone.

P.S. (cover talk)

My copy was an ARC so I had this purple book with red font on it that made no sense whatsoever. However, if I may comment on the other two covers I’ve seen: The one I included above is my favorite. It depicts Finn pretty well and captures his quirky personality. The other cover has a white heart with fangs against a black background and it just seems weird to me. Cute, but weird =)