really liked the storyline but damn this book was a bore. lol

I only got a couple chapters into it, but I couldn't really get into the book. It just didn't hold my interest.

This book was about Mina Hamilton. Her parents are vampires, and the time has come for her to decide if she wants to be a vampire as well. She is thrown into vampire courses for the to-be vampire where she meets a bunch of people. And that's the most basic way to put it!

The plot line in this book was creative enough, but it was lacking fine points. Reactions to BIG things were minimal. And especially, there were a few phrases that were repeated OVER and OVER. That's one of my pet peeves!

As for the characters, they were brilliant in my opinion. I loved Mina, George, and Uncle Mortie especially. There were all different (which is hard to do sometimes) and were all fun in their own ways. And annoying, in their own ways with the other characters. (Aubrey, Raven) I could really relate to Mina most of all.

The biggest thing of all was that the story was wrapped up jagged. The ending came at a bit of a random time. And a random place! [notaspoiler] Mina invites her parents to the beach at the end while she's with George. Ummmmmmm. . . .what REAL teen would do that? You can definitely tell with that fact and along with others that the author was trying to wrap up asap.

Characters=9/10
Ending=4/10
Plot=7/10

Thanks for reading! Please check out more reviews here: http://charissabooks.blogspot.com/

I don’t know what I was expecting when I started SUCKS TO BE ME, but it sure wasn’t something this funny and fresh! SUCKS TO BE ME revives the admittedly somewhat tired vampire subgenre with a lot of humor, spunk, and plain-old teen girl heart.

Kimberly Pauley’s vampires are unlike any any others I’ve read. Forget about the perfect, model-gorgeous, graceful undead: the ones in Mina’s life can be bumbling, overprotective, silly…and just plain normal. The vampires give a cute spin to this book, but SUCKS TO BE ME is really more about typical problems that a high school girl might face: fear of losing her best friend, anxiety over talking to her crushes, worry over her future relationship with her parents. It’s vampire lit with a large dose of what the cold and calculating species often misses: heart.

Mina is a teen chick lit star, constantly running around and on the verge of freaking out, but still endearing. Supporting characters, too, are winners, particularly the way Mina’s various potential crushes get developed.

SUCKS TO BE ME doesn’t take its vampirism too seriously, which is something that I never thought I’d need but found I actually greatly appreciate. I can’t wait to dive into the sequel, STILL SUCKS TO BE ME, the next time I need a lighthearted paranormal laugh and read!

I've had this on my to-read since 2009. Figured I'd dive into my to-read list and give one of them a shot.

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Electricity out at work. Work where I am not allowed to read anymore. Which, of course, makes me want to read even more. Haven't had to hide books under a desk since high school. I am not a fan.

Midway through this book, I thought, "This is super cute. I won't bother with the sequel, but it's a cute book."

Yeah, I went ahead and put the sequel on the to-read list. I'm not absolutely dying to read it, but I'd like to see where Mina's life goes next.

This is a fun book, with great characters who feel real. Just the right taste of tension, regarding the council and all of those bits. Anyone who has seen Buffy knows the word "council" never leads to anything good.

Speaking of, couple of Buffy references in here. Those did not go to waste on me. Also girl power dissection of Dracula, also appreciated.

I liked the three love interests. I was a little worried

Spoiler

Nathan was going to turn out to be a huge jerk, and was pleasantly surprised when he didn't. Aubrey's exit was about as perfect as you can get. Was the author supposed to be a wannabe Ann Rice? Oh, please say she was supposed to be a wannabe Stephenie Meyer and Aubrey was a twihard. That would make it even sweeter.

Loads of fluffy fun.

Mina is named after a female character in [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula (Critical Edition)|Bram Stoker|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255650730s/17245.jpg|3165724], which is ironic because her parents are actual vampires. Mina has always known about her parents true identity, but she soon finds out that the Council of vampires did not know about her. Thanks to her parents dodging of the Council, Mina has been able to avoid vampire law and stay with her parents. But now, at age 16, she has been discovered and must make the biggest decision anyone can be asked: become a vampire and stay with your family, but lose your friends and home OR stay human and stay with your friends, but lose your family. To help her accomplish this huge decision, Mina is given a mentor in her Uncle Mortie and is forced to take Vampire classes two nights a week. All this is going on, but Mina still has to live her life as a normal teenager- trying to figure out who to go to prom with, how to keep a huge secret from her best friend and how to get her crush to ask her out.

I really enjoyed this book. It took a normal teenage realistic fiction novel and added a fantasy twist to it. It also had some romance and humor thrown in.

Mina Hamilton, a Junior in High School, has a very big decision to make: whether to become a vampire like her parents, or stay human. To help her make her decision, she has to receive help from her weird Uncle Mortie, and take vampire classes. And like most teenagers, Mina also has boy trouble on top of all of that.

Overall, this book was enjoyable. I felt myself changing my mind along with Mina over if she should become a vampire or not. I also felt that while the book is one of many vampire novels out there, it's unique in it's own way.

As if high school isn’t hard enough, now Mina also has to decide whether she wants to become a vampire. Both of her parents happen to be vampires and they’ve kept Mina a secret from the Vampire Council, until recently. Now that the council knows Mina is in on their secret she has to decide whether she wants to join her parents in immortality. That means leaving behind her best friend Serena and the crush of her life Nathan.

What a great debut novel that is sure to stand out amongst the sea of other vampire books! You might think the main premises for this book is vampires, but I found that the story is more about a teenager finding herself than anything else. Even non-vampire fans will like this book. It is a funny and fresh look into the typical vampire myth. Pauley’s vampires aren’t glamorous or irresistible, Mina’s dad is an accountant, you can’t get much more unglamourous! They are just regular “people” and I think that is what gives this book it’s edge. It is also delightfully funny and well written. Mina is a great female protagonist; funny, smart, sarcastic, and insecure. This is a Story Siren recommended book!

Author: Kimberly Pauley
Pages: 293
Source: Purchased from Barnes and Noble
Series or Standalone?: 1st of two


Mina Hamilton's parents want her dead. (Or undead to be precise.) They're vampires, and like it or not, Mina must decide whether to become a vampire herself. But Mina's more interested in hanging out with best friend Serena and trying to catch the eye of the too-hot-for-high-school Nathan Able than in the vampire training classes she's being forced to take. How's a girl supposed to find the perfect prom date and pass third-year French when her mom and dad are breathing down her neck--literally?

* * *

In today’s YA fiction, vampires are the current genre royalty. Ever since the dawn of a series which will remain nameless *cough*Twilight*cough*, vampires have become this overtly and most times clichéd and smoke and glam act. But not in Pauley’s novel. Nope, these vampires are as normal as one can get for being the blood sucking dead. Hell, Mina’s dad is an accountant. Does that scream sparkling, seductive creature of the night?

But this aspect is what makes this novel so enjoyable. Instead of focusing so much on the OMGOBLINS IT’S A VAMPIRE part of the novel, it’s more focused on Mina trying to find who she really is. Vampires are really second row in this book. I actually really appreciated that.

That being said, this book is hilarious. Funny enough to make me snort out loud in the middle of a dead silent math class. There are just so many pieces of teenage humor, that it’s kind of hard to believe Pauley isn’t a teenager.

Really interesting and entertaining was that each chapter started out with a little tidbit on vampires, either debunking an old myth, or proving one true, or something cute like that. Also, the little bat drawing were totally adorable.

I liked Mina. She was just trying to be a normal teenage girl, with normal teenage crushes, and normal teenage problems…. Except she had to make the choice to become a vampire. But I think she really made her decisions well.

Pauley wrote fantastically and kept the pace going well. I finished this book in just under a day.

I enjoyed this novel very much, and I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a fun read.

Other books in this series:
Still Sucks to Be Me (Sequel)