Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? – Allyson Beatrice

This book was found on the shelves in the office of a Buffy-loving coworker. I really loved it! I don’t know how exactly to explain it. A series of essays about fandom? Or internet fandom? Or, communities that spring up around TV shows. It wasn’t exactly about the Buffy fans in particular, but of course, prominent Buffy characters featured prominently. It seemed to be more about the internet, and community. Something that is near and dear to my heart, because of my involvement in NerdNYC.

My favorite sections of the book talked about how riled up and angry the author gets with interlopers and trolls in her community and the frustration she feels when the community gets all hugs and ponies about it, instead of the “Cut a Bitch” style that she (and I) favor.

I loved her story of the internet as a family. As a girl whose closest friends all now live within blocks and were met on the “interwebs” – I can relate.

In terms of Buffy – it was a little sad to hear that while she is in close touch with some of the writers, Joss really has no idea who she really is. But I loved how much credit she gives to the writers, and not the actors. And that she goes into fanfic, and who stories really belong to.

I wasn’t expecting to like this book much at all, but I found the writer engaging, funny and  – the book just kind of hit a chord with me. The only criticism I would offer is that sometimes it felt a little disjointed – some stories were repeated, or characters reintroduced. You don’t need to be a Buffy fan to like the book (but I am sure it helps), but I think you definitely need to be an internet nerd.

Devilish – Maureen Johnson

Okay, I love Maureen Johnson. Not only have I met her in real life (NAME DROP! she is friends with a friend – who this book is actually dedicated to!) but I just think she is a really fun YA writer.

Maureen describes Devilish:

At St. Teresa’s Preparatory School for Girls in Providence, Rhode Island, rebellious senior class genius Jane Jarvis is worried about her best friend Allison Concord. Ally is lovable, but a little clueless, and badly in need of Jane’s help. She needs to get a freshman “sister” at the school’s annual Big-Little celebration. When Ally blows it (rather literally), Jane knows that they are in for a rough few weeks.

She has no idea just how rough they will be.

Strange things start happening in Providence. Hail storms rip into the city. A strangely polite gourmet in a silver roadster turns up every time Jane turns around. A freshman guy from neighboring St. Sebastian’s starts to stalk her. A lanky, cupcake-loving sophomore transfer steps into their lives to save the day . . .

Then Ally begins to change. She looses the awkwardness that Jane has always known and loved and becomes the model of cool. Things don’t go as well for Jane, and she soon winds up facing the threat of expulsion and ruin.

But these are only the beginnings of much bigger problems. Jane’s life is about to get much worse. Ally claims that she sold her soul, and Jane throws herself on the line to get it back. But this battle is big. A crowd of strangers is about to descend on Providence, and they’re not there to go on a campus tour of Brown.

It’s Jane versus the demons, and nothing is what it seems. There will be perfume bottles, dogs, explosions, dancing, death, badly misused textbooks, ex-boyfriends, very long falls, unusual weaponry, and lots of sugary snacks before it’s all over.

Hey, you do what you have to do. Everyone knows high school is hell.

Not really sure what else to say. I love YA, sassy, brilliant heroines and “Glory” style demons (c’mon, you have to watch Buffy, right?). It was cute, it was well-written and it made me laugh and want a cupcake. Then again, most things make me want a cupcake.

The cutest part, was that this was a library book, and some kid wrote on the cover page “Maureen Roxs! Get her other books!” and (s)he listed them all out. It was cute! Note: Vandalizing library books = not cool.

Revenge of the Spellmans – Lisa Lutz

I totally forgot to blog about this book. I think I read it last Wednesday or Thursday?

I love this series, and read the second in it almost exactly a year ago. To briefly recap, the premise of the story is that it’s the adventures of a family of private investigators. In this one, Rae is more grown up and it focuses more on Isabel and her figuring out if she wants to take over the family business, or leave altogether.

I really enjoyed it, because I love the characters and the writing – but I am a little worried that this series is running out of steam, a la Stephanie Plum. I think the ongoing love quandry has been resolved in this one, but if it isn’t, its going to peter out and get boring like Morelli and Ranger in the Plum series. And the little sister is written kind of oddly. She was always a strange character, but now we are supposed to believe she is seventeen – and now the weirdness just seems really irritating.

I don’t know if there is going to be a fourth in this series, and if there is – I would read it.  But I almost wish Lutz would end the story here, and start something else that I could fall in love with.

Blood-sucking Fiend – Christopher Moore

Fluff from the library. Mousy woman with relationship issues gets turned into a vampire and finds a wannabe author to be her Renfrew. Full of lots of chapters full of characters that don’t do anything for the plot and lots of one-dimensional “wacky” folks like the Emperor of San Francisco (who I believe was a real person). She tries to only kill people that are dying of AIDS – seems weird for a book written in 2000-something. There is some sort of vampire who murdered her and is trying to kill her. I keep hoping that he WILL for most of the book. Chapter titles were tongue-in-cheek references to pop culture vampire books.