Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe)

by Kimberly Pauley, Kimberley Pauley

Overview

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?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786952564
Publisher:	Wizards of the Coast
Publication date:	08/11/2009
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	HL740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 16 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Pauley loves a good book she can sink her teeth into. As her alter-ego, the Young Adult Books Goddess of yabookscentral.com, she has devoured more books than she can count. This is her first novel. She lives in Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

In this light-hearted romance, sixteen-year-old Mina struggles with the unusual choice of whether she should "turn" and become a vampire like her parents. Mina's parents are pretty normal and boring, so she has never really given the whole vampire world much thought. Mina's happy complacency abruptly ends when her existence is discovered by the Vampire Council. She realizes that her parents have been hiding her from the Council because it is against the rules for vampires to live with human relatives. Now that the Council is aware of Mina, she is forced to go to weekly vampire classes so that she can make an informed decision by her seventeenth birthday. Although having vampire parents may suck, Mina is having unusually good luck in her love life. Surprisingly Mina meets two promising boys in vampire school, and finally starts a friendship with popular Nathan, on whom she has had a crush for as long as she can remember. Luckily Mina has her best friend, Serena, to help her deal, although she cannot tell Serena the truth about her vampire problem. Mina is an appealing character with a humorous voice, and this story focuses on friendship and romance rather than vampires. The most unbelievable element is not the existence of vampires but how wonderful and kind Mina's family and friends are. This breezy book will be more satisfying to chick-lit fans looking for a quick, fun read than to teens looking for a rich and atmospheric vampire story. Reviewer: Amy Luedtke

VOYA - Amy Luedtke

Another toothless vampire novel. Mina's vampire parents (they turned right after her birth) have been busted by the Northwest Regional Vampire Council. Now 16-year-old Mina must attend teen vampire classes and decide (immediately) if she, too, wants to "turn." Plot flaws like why the Council would want permanently adolescent vampires, who would presumably be harder to place via the VRA (Vampire Relocation Agency), are par for the course in this fluffy, "fact"-filled read (sunlight doesn't kill; vampires never sleep). There are three guys to deal with-handsome would-be vampire Aubrey, sweet George, also considering turning, and longtime crush Nathan, whom readers will soon realize crushes Mina's BFF, Serena-and prom to prepare for. Mina's inconsistencies grate (she's a girly-girl with no fashion sense; she's smart enough to get upset at the sexism in Dracula but too dumb to see the obvious even as she narrates it) and the ending is telegraphed a mile away. Still, vampire stories always have readers, and this is pure wish fulfillment-a vampire romance with no biting. (Fantasy. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews