Kissing Coffins (Vampire Kisses, Book 2)
Grade 7 Up&ndash;This sequel toVampire Kisses(HarperCollins, 2003) continues the love story between Goth-girl Raven and her vampire boyfriend. As this book opens, Alexander has left town and Raven decides she must hunt him down. She finds out that he is probably in a nearby town and it just so happens that she has an aunt who lives there AND it's spring break AND her parents allow her to visit without any real explanation AND Raven's aunt is extremely gullible so that Raven can sneak around and do what she needs to do. After Alexander is located and comes back to town, his evil nemesis, Jagger, decides to get revenge by biting Raven. Goofy high jinks ensue. Every step that the protagonist and her cohorts take is predictable, right up to the cliff-hanger ending. Schreiber's sense of time is extremely skewed and the mentions of bands like the Smiths (Goth fare in the mid- to late '80s) make readers question when the book is actually set until they happen upon mentions of Slipknot and Good Charlotte. Goth girls would certainly be attracted to the book based on the photo on the cover, but only middle school Goth wannabes who are closet Sweet Valley High readers will actually finish the book. Raven is far too saccharine and has no sulky-fierce Goth appeal, and the love story falls flat.&ndash;Kimberly L. Paone, Elizabeth Public Library, NJCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.