Title: Never Bite A Boy on the First Date
Author: Tamara Summers
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: Teen Vampire Detective/Romance
Synopsis: Kira is an American teen vampire, living with her newly aquired vampire 'family' and trying to blend in with the humans. When a boy at her school is found dead with bite marks on his neck, previous offender Kira is the main suspect. She faces a few years in a padded coffin unless she can expose the real murderer.
As a teen, I devoured vampire novels. Anne Rice, Christopher Pike, L J Smith, Bram Stoker, you name it, I'd probably read it. I got older and did my degree and found legitimate vampire reading in the Gothic and the Literature of Terror course. The recent vampire 'craze' supposedly spawned by the Twilight franchise didn't come as a surprise ot me the way it did to many in the media, however it has been hard to get away from teen vampire fiction of late and the teen vampire's 'voice' has become more than a little clichéd. Summers attempts to walk that most subtle of lines between indulgence and farce in Never Bite a Boy on the First Date. I'd say that by the end of the novel it's a sucess, but it did start off a little shaky.
The plot is thankfully less melodramatic than the aforementioned, and Kira is a likable character. She makes the big mistake of converting her first post-transformation boyfriend into a vampire, and the banter between Kira and Zach which ensues from this is entertaining, and the fact that Kira can kick his butt anytime she likes is a nice change. There's plenty of the boys, fashion and school for a light-hearted novel. The detective element gives the story drive and depth. The revelations about Kira's untimely death come at nearly the end of the novel, and feel a bit rushed, however the ending does leave it open for a sequel. Overall, an enjoyable read.
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