Fat Vampire by Adam Rex

Once in a while a person finds a captivating book that keeps your attention and makes you read more. Such a book to me was Fat Vampire by Adam Rex. One could take it as a young adult vampire novel, or it could also be seen as a spoof of vampire novels. No matter how you look at this book it is a good read and should be given a chance by everyone.

Doug Lee is a fat, ugly, comic book and video game obsessed teenager. And he is also a vampire. Doug has no one to go to to learn how to be a vampire, so he tries teaching himself. He does many crazy things such as drinking cow’s blood, trying to sneak into the panda cage at the San Diego zoo and drink panda blood and even stealing blood from a blood donation vehicle at comic-con. Most of these tend to have disastrous endings. He is very unpopular at school and has only one good friend, Jay, until the foreign exchange student, Sejal, came to the U.S. He develops a crush for her and becomes friends with her and the drama club people she hangs out with. Then he gets a mysterious letter from a man in the sewer. He invites them to go to Signora Polidori’s house for tea. Signora Polidori is also a vampire. While at her house Doug, and 2 other vampires, get assigned to older vampires so that they can be taught the ways of their kind. The rest of the story focuses on Doug and his life as a high school vampire.

Full of surprises and twists “Fat Vampire” was a good book. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this book about a 7. This would be an ideal book for you to read if you like the Twilight saga or vampire books. It’s not too long and can be read in a short amount of time. If you’re looking for a quick read between novels, this is the perfect book to get.

~Luke, Teen Book Reviewer

Hiest Society by Ally Carter

Heist Society revolves around a teenage girl named Katarina Bishop. Raised in a family of thieves, she leaves the life she was raised for and cons her way into an elite boarding school. Her life as a “normal” teen is short-lived though. Her old friend and former partner-in-crime, Hale, frames her in a prank that gets her expelled. His reason was that Arturo Taccone, a powerful and dangerous man, is missing five of his most prized paintings. His prime and only suspect is none other than Kat’s father, who was wrongly accused as he had a 24-hour Interpol trail on him. Racing to meet Taccone’s deadline, Kat enlists old friends to help her complete the almost impossible task of re-stealing the paintings.

If you like a suspenseful book that’s full of action, this is the book for you. I enjoyed reading every page of it and liked the irony of parts of this. Overall, I’d recommend this book to almost everyone.

~Joanna, Teen Book Reviewer

The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau

The book, The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau is a fictional book about a girl who travels the world with her mom. Each year they move to a different place, with a different culture and lifestyle. It takes a while to get used to it but the girl, Zeeta, eventually gets used to the change and can call the place her home. In her fifteenth notebook [one for each country they've lived in], which is indigo colored, she writes about meeting Jeff, Wendell, and many other people around Otavalo. Wendell is on a quest for his birth parents, and Jeff is looking for someone to settle down with. They were both on the plane with Layla, Zeeta's mom, and Zeeta. Zeeta desperately wants Jeff and Layla to like each other, because he seems like a Perfect Dad, and she thinks that she likes Wendell. The problem is, Layla isn't into men like Jeff, and Wendell is in love with his ex-girlfriend. Zeeta thinks that both couples are getting closer through their quests: to settle down and make sure Zeeta is safe and to find Wendell's birth parents. But will the unhappiness and dangers along the way ruin both relationships? Or will they continue as couples and make it through these rough times?? I liked this book because it shows how people can get over each other's differences and still love each other. It also has a little drama, danger, and adventure in it. I think that this is a great book for teens to read!!

~Catherine, Teen Book Reviewer

Gorgeous by Rachel Vail

Gorgeous by Rachel Vail is a great read for any girl above the age of 10. This book is about Allison Avery, the 14-year-old middle sister in betwewn to beautiful, perfect girls. Being always be called "interesting-looking" compared to her brainy older sister Quinn and her popular younger sister Pheobe, she always feels as if that there is nothing that sets her apart from everyone else. So when the devil comes to her one night and offers to turn her gorgeous in the eyes of seven people, she jumps at the chance. But instead of her soul. the devil wants something else: her cell phone. Soon after, Allison suddenly becomes popular with a new best friend and the boy that she has a crush suddenly is chasing after her. And like any other family, there are many issues with money challenging the Averys. All the while, Allison runs off with her new friend Roxie, a model, to New York City for an audition for a teen magazine. With all this going on, Allison doesn't know what to do or who is actually her friend or is just doing it because she is suddenly gorgeous. I would give this book 8 out of 10 stars because it shows that sometimes family and friends are sometimes more important than looking amazing. I look foward to reading "Lucky," another book set in the same family.

~Divya, Teen Book Reviewer

September Sisters by Jillian Cantor

For the Teen Review Blog, I read the book September Sisters written by Jillian Cantor. In this wonderful book, Abigail and her younger sister Becky are always fighting and bickering. Their mother always pretends their friends but they aren’t. Then one day Becky disappears at night. Abigail and her family are upset and are calling everyone including police. Abigail feels it’s all her fault but it really isn’t.

I would recommend this book to all girls because its about a girl going through life feeling lost because her sister isn’t their. I doubt boys would want to read this book but you never know. September Sisters is an amazing book. The details are vivid and very descriptive. You can really use your imagination in this book. I could barely put it down, thats how good it was for me. September Sisters is a very enjoyable book and I hope you all enjoy it too.

~Alex, Teen Book Reviewer

Brain Camp by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan

The book Brain Camp, by Susan Kim is a very interesting book. The main character, Lucas, is a long-haired boy who breaks into cars and is a slacker. Jenna is a geek, and people consider her to be a freak because she acts very strange and weird. In Jenna's family, all of her relatives want to be doctors and lawyers and other jobs that require high levels of intelligence. Jenna doesn't seem to want to be a doctor or a lawyer. Both Lucas's parents and Jenna's parents try sending them to summer camps that can get them smarter. However, in the past, both of them were rejected by every summer program that their parents tried to get them into. This time, a tall stranger visits both Lucas's and Jenna's parents and offers them the opportunity of having their children enroll in a special summer camp that can prepare children for the SATs and other exams. Both Lucas's and Jenna's parents decide to enroll them. But when Jenna and Lucas set foot in Camp Fielding, they sense that something is wrong with the campers. At first, most of the campers seem just like them. Then, the campers seem to change from deeply dumb to suprisingly intelligent. They don't notice how gross the food is anymore, and they have deep interests in highly advanced subjects. Also, Lucas and Jenna notice lots of dead baby birds on the ground and feathers throughout the camp. They realize something isn't right at Camp Fielding, and they become determined to find out what it is.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery books, because this book makes you want to finish the whole book in one sitting, due to the highly entertaining plot of the story. It makes you wonder if there actually are camps out there that can be so mysterious.

~Carson, Teen Book Reviewer

Zues: King of the Gods by George O'Connor

I read the book Zeus: King Of The Gods by George O’ Connor. This book is a graphic novel and it started off talking about Gaea. Gaea is also known as Mother Earth and she is married to Ouranos. Then the titans came along, and two titans named Kronos and Rhea had many kids. Every time they had a kid, Kronos would eat them. But when they had Zeus, Rhea did not tell Kronos about Zeus and she tried her best to hide Zeus from Kronos.When Zeus got older, he realized that he was lucky that Kronos did not eat him.

Later in the story, Mother Nature told Zeus that if he gave this herb plant to Kronos, Kronos would eat it and then Zeus’s brothers and sisters would be set free. When Zeus gave this to Kronos, Kronos ate the plant and then all of Zeus’s siblings come out of his stomach. But now Kronos was furious and he wanted to kill Zeus and his siblings. It is up to Zeus to stand up to his own father in a dangerous battle that could change the whole universe. I enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about Greek mythology.

~Kyle, Teen Book Reviewer

Mahtab's Story by Libby Gleeson

Mahtab's Story, by Libby Gleeson, is inspired by a true story. Mahtab's life in Herat, Afghanistan is perfect. She is well educated, has a nice home, and is surrounded by friends and family. However, her life gets turned upside down when she gets forced to secretly but quickly move to, in her perspective, the faraway land of Australia. With her father missing and her journey to a faraway land this book will show you the real life story of being a refugee, living in constant fear and grief. This book is truly amazing and will make you take a second look at life.

~Chelsea, Teen Book Reviewer