Happy Halloween, Snarklings! For this visit to the Nocturnal House, I’ve decided to take a break from the usual sort of gruesome and terrifying vampires I prefer to read about, and instead, in the spirit of trick-or-treating, indulge in a sweet and spooky treat.
Now, I read a lot of YA vampire books. (I read a lot of vampire books, period.) But the various YA takes on vampire fiction fascinate me, in part because the YA books often have a bit more plot going on than some of the “grown-up” market vampire novels. Probably because YA authors don’t have the easy narrative drive of vampire sex scenes.
(An aside: hey, I’m all for well-written vampire smut! WELL-WRITTEN being the key words there. There are certain authors who rely a bit too heavily on sex scenes, with the end result being kind of boring, and there is nothing sadder in a vampire novel than tedious, yawn-inducing smut.)
Anyway! YA vampire books! There are a couple of series I read which cause me to eagerly wait for the newest volume to be released. My very favorite series has earned a place on my comfort reading shelf, and the first book of the series is one I indulge in when I need cheering up.
Vampire Kisses, by Ellen Schreiber
This book is adorable. It’s a cloud of pink and black cotton candy; fluffy, sugary, but with a sweetly spooky overtone. Here, maybe the opening will show why I mentally draw glittery hearts and bats around this book:
It first happened when I was five.
I had just finished coloring in My Kindergarten Book. It was filled with Picasso-like drawings of my mom and dad, an Elmer’s-glued, tissue-papered collage, and the answers to questions (favorite color, pets, best friend, etc.) written down by our hundred-year-old teacher, Mrs. Peevish.
My classmates and I were sitting in a semicircle on the floor in the reading area. “Bradley, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Mrs. Peevish asked after all the other questions had been answered.
“A fire fighter!” he shouted.
“Cindi?”
“Uh”¦a nurse,” Cindi Warren whispered meekly.
Mrs. Peevish went through the rest of the class. Police officers. Astronauts. Football players. Finally it was my turn.
“Raven, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Mrs. Peevish asked, her green eyes staring through me.
I said nothing.
“An actress?”
I shook my head.
“A doctor?”
“Nuh, uh,” I said.
“A flight attendant?”
“Yuck!” I replied.
“Then what?” she asked, annoyed.
I thought for a moment. “I want to be”¦”
“Yes?”
“I want to be”¦a vampire!” I shouted, to the shock and amazement of Mrs. Peevish and my classmates. For a moment I thought she started to laugh; maybe she really did. The children sitting next to me inched away.
I spent most of my childhood watching others inch away.
How could I not fall in love with the book at that point? Vampire Kisses is about sixteen year-old Raven Madison, the only goth girl in the small town she calls Dullsville. Her parents, little brother, and best friend Becky love her, but don’t necessarily understand her black-clad, vampire-obsessed ways. There’s her nemesis, soccer jock Trevor, who loves to torment her. Then, on Raven’s sixteenth birthday, a family rumored to be vampires move into the haunted Mansion in town!
“I saw a Mercedes parked at the Mansion!” I informed my family at dinner. I was late as usual, this time for my own birthday dinner.
“I heard they looked like the Addams Family,” Nerd Boy said.
“Maybe they have a daughter your age. Someone who doesn’t like to get into trouble,” my mother added.
“Then I’d have no use for her.”
“Maybe she has a father I can play tennis with,” my father said hopefully.
“Whoever it is will need to get rid of all those old mirrors and crates,” I added, not realizing what I had said. They all looked at me.
“What crates?” my mom asked. “Don’t tell me you’ve snuck into that house!”
“It’s just something I heard.”
“Raven!” my mother said in that disapproving mother tone.
It seemed no one in Dullsville had seen the new owners. It was wonderful to have a mystery in this town for a change.
Over the course of the story, Raven gets into assorted scrapes while trying to find out the truth about the Stirling family, including run-ins with golden boy Trevor, a stint in an after-school job to pay for her dad’s tennis racquet, which she lost on Halloween night (why yes, she dressed up as the scariest thing she could think of – a preppy tennis player), sneaking into the Stirling Mansion, and finally, finally meeting Alexander Stirling: seventeen, nocturnal, home-schooled, and the handsomest Goth boy she’d ever dreamed of.
Gothy girl meets Gothy boy, Gothy girl still suspects that her spooky dreamboat really is a vampire. Gothy girl also has to deal with the harassment from Trevor, the gossip around Dullsville about the weird Stirling family, being nervous about asking Alexander to the Snow Ball dance, and why is Becky being so unenthusiastic about the Snow Ball, anyway?
Yes, it’s a teen romance. But Raven rings true as an outcast babybat teen girl longing for a more spooky world. I’m self-aware enough to know that if Vampire Kisses had been around during my adolescence, I would have identified with Raven so hard I might have vanished into the book. As fictional characters to identify with go, Raven isn’t a bad choice. She’s fiercely loyal to her family and friends, she’s determined to be herself in a town full of people who think she needs to fit in, and she refuses to be a doormat. No matter what taunts Trevor throws her way, she returns fire with snarky wit, frequently showing him up as the insecure jerk he is. In fact, the only thing that I didn’t like about Raven is that she’s not that interested in school. Every Goth I’ve ever known is some flavor of bookworm; maybe not everyone liked school, but we all liked reading and learning about the world. When you’re yearning for a darker, more glamorous world than the one around you, books offer a glimpse into other, possible worlds.
As teen romances go, it’s a better one than most. Raven doesn’t make Alexander her whole world, and decides that the reality of having a sweetheart she can relate to is better than her dreams of being swept away by a darkly handsome vampire prince. But because it’s a teen romance, there’s a big scene at the Snow Ball, confusion, and a Big Reveal at a party. Not to mention that Raven may have to revisit some ideas she once held dear, especially ones about vampires ”¦
He walked me to the door and playfully bit me on the neck with his vampire teeth.
I laughed and tried to pull the fake teeth out of his mouth.
“Ouch,” he exclaimed.
“You’re not supposed to Superglue them on!”
“Raven, you don’t still believe in vampires, do you?” he asked.
“I think you’ve cured me of that,” I answered. “But I’m going to keep the black lipstick.”
As I said at the beginning of this post, the entire Vampire Kisses series is a sweet and spooky treat. Each book is just as charming as the one before, and Ellen Schrieber explores some interesting ideas in between dollops of gothy teen romance: Should you change your life to be with the person you love? What about keeping secrets? How difficult is it to live in the daylight world when your heart belongs to the night? My favorite of the series is probably Vampire Kisses 5: The Coffin Club, but as it is a book set primarily in a Goth club with a secret vampire club in the basement, how could it not be?
The Vampire Kisses series is in no way scary, and the vampires aren’t that monstrous. But I find the books adorable, and I re-read them when I am in need of something sweet, comforting, and adorably gothy. What are your favorite dark or spooky comfort books?
They’re not vampiric, but I love Jacqueline Catrey’s Kushiel books. There’s many elements that appeal to the dark, Gothy side — the mannered living, the clothes (the CLOTHES!), the BDSM, the alternate reality setting. They’re delicious fun.
I also rely on the Pengiun book of Vampire stories and Poppy Z. Brite’s 2 compilations of vampire short stories, Love in Vein I and II, as comfort reading. They’re perfect trying-to-slip-into-sleep reads, since they are short stories, or, in the case of the Penguin book, excerpts from classic to modern vampire stories.
Darn — now I want to crawl into bed with the Penguin book and a pot of spicy hot chocolate.
That sounds darling! I’ve never read them, but I think I need to pick up the first one for sure.
One of my favorite comfort books is definitely The Graveyard Book.
While not vampire, I love Holly Black’s Tithe as a comfort read. Spooky and glittery.
It’s not necessarily Goth in the typical sense but I always love to reread the Godchild Manga series when It’s raining outside and I’m feeling like curling up on the sofa with a hot drink and a roaring fire. The story as well as the setting of the volumes are exquisite and dark. It always makes me feel extra special that I can escape into a secret corner of spooky Victorian London….
Actually Vampire Kisses is my comfort book also. I have read and reread the series about a billion times. 🙂
Well my first choice of comfort is Harry Potter, but for darker and more morbid things I tend to lean towards:
The Flowers in the Attic
The Series of Unfortunate Events
Oh My Goth
Sweetblood
for vampire novels:
The Vampire Academy
Bluebloods
(and kind of) House of Night.
My sweet dark treats are the My Sister the Vampire series (it’s about a preppy cheerleader,Olivia, who moves into a new town. There she meets the goth girl, Ivy, and her group of black clad kids [who are really vampires]. When they look beyond the glittery pink blush and thick black eyeliner they discover that they’re identical twins. But one’s a vampire and one isn’t)
Then there’s Diary of a Fairy Godmother (its about a witch, Hunky Dory, who wants to become a fairy godmother against her families wishs [don’t know why but then again my parents don’t really get how I see a beanie baby bat as cute x3] however she does stay true to her spooky ways throughout the book. There’s also a recipe in the back of the book which I plan to make this year.)
I got them as a kid and I read them every Halloween. I hope to write something as cute and spooky as them one day….or design clothes for the dark at heart, can’t decide 😀
Ahhh, Vampire Kisses! I read those years ago and adored them. Thank you for reminding me of them.♥
As for my other favorite comfort reads, I love Ghostgirl, A Series of Unforunate Events, Coraline, Emily the Strange, and The Asylum For Wayward Victorian Girls.
Oh, I almost forgot the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett! I adore those books, especially the ones featuring Nanny Ogg.
I have to say, as a middle schooler I loved this book. It is still a comfort book and a bit of a guilty pleasure despite the fact that I can step back and admit how cheesy and cliche the plot actually is X)
I will warn older readers though, as the series goes the writing all together begins to fall flat and leaves many older fans like myself disappointed. The writing style resembles the work of young fanfic writers, the characters become rather shallow and the plot is redundant. This happens around the 5th or 6th book. It’s sad to go back and look at now as a young adult, even a tad embarressing, especially since I myself write.
My personal theory is that since the first book was never meant to be developed into a series the writer didn’t quite know what to do. Then after being contracted for about 8 or 9 books total she has become rather tired of the series and is eager to get it done with so she can move onto other things. (though her newest series appears to be the exact plotline but with a werewolf instead)
Overall, a good choice for middle school age babybats but I wouldn’t suggest it to any avid readers.
I’m so glad you talked about Vampire Kisses. I (and my hippie roommate) love this series for it’s comedy and wonderfully mature outlook.
When I’m not reading Raven, my hot chocolate book is the Bunnicula collection by James Howe. The juxtaposition of vampire and bunny hooked me on as an elementary student. I keep going back for the way the mundane and the off kilter exist side-by-side.
Ahh yes those good old books I own and have read all 8 books. They are quite the read and I have been able to pass along my own love of these books to a fellow non-goth co-worker who loves them dearly as well. A very good read for those wanting an escape to a dark and glittery world for a time.
I LOVE These series!!! I’m still waiting for Immortal Hearts, the 9th book that’s supposed to come out in May! ^-^ I’ve been reading Vampire Kisses since it first came out, and Alexander is absolutely dreamy! :’) I actually fold the pages with her outfit descriptions, just so I can dream of my own wardrobe! The series is so adorable, I love reading them over when i’m feeling for something not so intense ^.^
I remember first reading this back in middle school, and I still go back to it as a comfort book (: It was one of the first series that really got me into the whole Vampiric Romance. Although the reading level is a little lower, it’s still a great series to just make you smile (:
I second Courtney’s recommendation of Oh My Goth. Cute, a little silly. Sweetblood is also good. About a girl with diabetes and her very interesting (and from the little I know, very legitimate) theory on the genesis of the vampire legend.
I also second the Kushiel’s Dart series for adult fiction. They are definitely fun and glittery, but smart and complex with a lot of intrigue.
Francesca Lia Block also writes some amazing YA stuff, though she’s not really very Goth. I suppose she is more magical realism. Her descriptions are just lush. I can think of no other word to describe her writing.
I was finally able to start reading the Vampire Kisses books recently (my local library got them in after me begging them for the last year \o/) and, while I did enjoy them, there were times I found them crossing the line from “adorably cliche” to “over-the-top cliche”. I’m most attracted to them because its very, very rare to find a well written Goth character and, well. I’ve only recently crossed out of the babybat zone. Everyone needs to be exposed to fictional characters they can relate to, but I think especially teenagers and ESPECIALLY in today’s world that is filled with so much bullying and hatred.
I love the Vampire Kisses books. They are my favorite romance novels of all time. When I started a vampire book club at my school, I even named it the Coffin Club after my favorite book in the series. I also adore Coraline, Gothic Charm School (of coarse!), and Edward Gorey books for pleasant bedtime stories. And there’s always the Raven and the rest of Poe’s work.
My comfort books are the Scary Faerie trilogy by Holly Black (the first book, “Tithe”, was mentioned in a previous comment). Also “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman.
The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger is pretty awesome as well!
Oh, one of my favourite book series.
“.. I would have identified with Raven so hard I might have vanished into the book”, that was exactly what I did when I read some of the books a few years ago.
Thanks for writing about them.
Have you ever heard of the book “Eight grade bites” – The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer?
It is a lovley book about Vlad, who is dealing with his problem of beeing a vampire. Well, it’s not only one book, but a few, plus a side story…
Can’t comment on the OP as I am not much for cotton candy of any kind, but I did want to note that those Kushiel books are NOT cotton candy. They are pretty good, at least the first few, but they are *intense.* This should be pretty apparent from the covers, but I just thought I’d mention it.
Let me put it to you this way: in the world of those books there’s an official Angel of BDSM. (The titular Kushiel, in fact.) He has flesh-and-blood descendants in the world as well as avatars. They all like to do pappy proud.
OH MY GOD I love vampire kisses 🙂 i cant wait for the ninth one!
One YA book about vampires that I find myself reading from time to time is “Jessica’s guide to dating on the Dark Side”. Lucius is a very charismatic character, and I would love to hang around with him in high school, or anywhere else for that matter. The author is releasing a second part book next year.
I always have a book on the go, and, like the Lady Of The Manners, I also read a lot of YA series. (I’m 32.) First up – The Morganville Vampires. I am hopelessly addicted to it, and I also adore the Beautiful Creatures books. Neither series is finished yet, but I snap the latest installments up as soon as possible! Vampire Beach is a great series also, and on a much sillier note I really enjoyed a 2-part Twilight parody: ‘New Moan’ and ‘Breaking Yawn’ – both had me shrieking with laughter throughout – I found them way more entertaining than the originals, but that’s just me.
Keep the Nocturnal House reviews coming, they are a wonderful addition to the site.
I love vampire kisses I first read them a few years back and I run to the bookstore every time a new book is released in the series, my copy of the first book is so well loved that the spine is all messed up and pages are starting to frequently fall out!
I typically lean towards manga and anime for comfort-ness. Particular Gothy ones I like would have to be Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler (, Pandora Hearts, Dolls, etc.
But for books I love Harry Potter, the House of Night, V.C. Andrews, Sookie Stackhouse.
Not Twilight, though.Blech.
I love the vampire kisses series! 😀 i read all the books and fell in LOVE with the comic!
Sigh…. Klause looks so gorgeous in the comic!!! 😀
My personal favourite books are:
The Twilight Saga, I know it’s extremely overrated and so are the films, but I just like them for their dark air.
Coraline, I like it because it’s a simple book 🙂
Series of Unfortunate Events, I have loved this series since I picked up the first book.
And you just can’t beat Emily the Strange, especially as she has my name 😉
haha, yeah.
I really like the House of Night series, and the Morganville sereis (one of the main characters is a gothy girl called Eve -firey temper and quick comebacks…. I love her!!)
Also, I know that it’s not vampire-related, but I love Jane Eyre ( I’m re-watching the TV series as I write this 🙂 ) It has to be one of the best books I have ever read.
I LOOOOVE VAMPIRE KISSES!! I’VE BEEN READING THE SERIES SINCE I WAS IN SIXTH GRADE! LOL IT’S SO CUTE!
Milady:
‘But the various YA takes on vampire fiction fascinate me, in part because the YA books often have a bit more plot going on than some of the “grown-up” market vampire novels. Probably because YA authors don’t have the easy narrative drive of vampire sex scenes.’
Such a beautifully sarky statement. Here is mine: “Young Adult”: a term used in the publishing industry to refer to something other than material suitable for a young adult.
“I’m self-aware enough to know that if Vampire Kisses had been around during my adolescence, I would have identified with Raven so hard I might have vanished into the book.”
I am not quite that bad / far gone / _____, but in your brief quoting and description, I identified rather strongly with Raven. I am a 50-year-old man (51 next Saturday). I think that it is the sense of alieness. My dad and I are very different. Friends of my mom are intellectual types (like I am) and adopted me somewhat. Their son, whom they love dearly, is a hands-on sort. Maybe our families should have swapped us.
Ahh, Vampire Kisses. It’s adorable. :3
My comfort reads are, as have been mentioned, Harry Potter and Black Butler. In terms of vampire…Dating on the Dark Side was pretty good, but I prefer the Vampire Academy series. There’s bloodsucking and butt-kicking…what else could a girl ask for? X3
I love vampire kisses books! but my favorite book series is morganville vampire series! it is amazing! the only thing that erks me about it is that because im only in 6th grade i can’t tell my friends to read it because all my friends arnt very grown up and the books have a lot of cursing and sexual stuff in it.
but for mature readers it is amazing!
Vampire Kisses and the Emily the Strange books are definitely my comfort books.
This book series was one of the first vampire series i read; for any gothic girls stuck in Surburbia (that is a boring Dullsville lacking even the Edward Scissorhands castle) Raven is incredibly easy to relate to and Alexander is the ulitimate dream date.
i love these so much! they’re more intelligent and have more heart than most YA vampire stories and one of only ones i continued following after i read Anne Rice (other than Bram Stoker, its difficult for anyone to surpass her).
And all of the references to the gothic subculture make me smile; plus her aunt is a total hippie and as a goth who loves Jim Morrison to death and long after (40 yrs he’s been buried, hard to beleive) i found that detail extra amusing.
the graphic novels are great too, except that the new artists aren’t as good in my personal opinion in capturing the author’s tone and characters as the arist that did the first two of them. They’re still good though 🙂
and…just a little question…
can the next book review entry be on Interveiw with the Vampire or Anne Rice’s brilliant newer novel “Pandora” which is the history of that character and how she and Marius became vampries in ancient Rome.
<3
then again, an entry on "The Vampire Lestat" would be great as well…
Spooky books?
Ooh…lessee…
I’d have to go with the old favourites.
I adore Dracula, Frankenstein, and the like.
Recently brought the entire series of Edgar Allen Poe from my school library, only to discover I’m the only person who’s read that copy EVER.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a great read too.
Oh, and as a younger child I always loved A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Vampire Kisses is the best YA vampire series I’ve stumbled upon, and I’m glad to see it get some recognition!
However, when I’m in the mood for something sweet to read (with a dark twist of corse) my pick is “The Hollow” by Jessica Verday. Murder, Ghosts, and pleanty of romance 🙂
I love this series! The second I started reading it, I knew the world of the goth was for me. It’s such an amazing romance and awesome young adult book. Every one should read it! <3
Ou! Lots of good books here, some of which I recognize! *Grins* But, for myself, here is my list:
Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fataskey
The Evernight Quartet by Claudia Gray (Evernight, Starlight, Hourglass,& Afterlife … maybe not in that order, but that’s all four!)
And The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, while NOT about vampires, is a wonderfully whimsical read about 2 orphaned boys who run away together to Venice, and are taken in by “the theif lord”. It’s a tale about childhood, innocence, belonging, and it’s edges are touched with magic, both figuratively and story-wise.
I do adore books … But the only books I get to read lately are university textbooks. *grumbles*
ive never gotten the chance to read a vampire kisses but this book sounds so epic and ill read anything that has to do with vampires XOXo
I love the series the book are always amazing of raven and her love i cant wait to meet alexanders lil sister stormy
Oh and this was the book that inspired me to be who i am today ^-^ i thought it wonderfull of her and i felt inspired
Check the word’s spelling carefully. Botch it anyway.
In #31, that was supposed to be “alienness” (the quality of being alien), not “alieness” (a female alien?).
I hope you all had a good Hallowe’en, however you define it.
I just have to comment this is a really good book there is only one bad thing that comes to mind and that is the plot for book two and three are pretty simalar in my opinin i have yet to get my hands on the rest of them. I also to point out that Alexander is pretty amazing.
Milady, I was so happy to see that you reviewed my favorite series! I agree with others that it falls a bit flat around…well at least the seventh book (I’m still holding out hope for until I read the last one!) but in fantasy with mystery, and whimsy with spooky charm, it’s second to none!
I feel these books are a “kindred spirit” to my own series-in-progress (which I’m writing book 2 of for NaNoWriMo, yayy!), in the atmosphere and types of characters. And their impeccable fashion sense. Sooo jealous of Raven’s ripped black dress with a bloodred chemise underneath… Not to mention all of her clothes in the manga, lol.
I’m thrilled that your favorite book in the series is #5, as it’s mine too! ^^ The whole book is wonderful, but what really, really got me was the reveal in the last scene. It’s so touching in a very powerful way.
Anyway, I hope you had a good Halloween! I send all my fae-loli-perkygoth love, and wish you the best. ^^
Oh! For bonus goth points (and because I wanted to) I went as Death this year…with a (cardboard-and-aluminum) scythe. I felt kind of awesome. 😀 And in honor of Raven and Alexander, I am at this moment wearing a plastic spider ring I got while trick-or-treating. Oh, yes.
I am so glad that you did a Vampire Kisses post, the series needs a lot more love. I love it so much and Raven is my favioret charater out of all of them. She’s in her first romance but she’s smart and level headed. I have run into people who don’t like her and honestly it boggles my mind, she’s probably one of the most well rounded charaters I’ve ever seen. I love her to death, and she’s so adventrous to.
Hmm…I’ll have to say that my favioret book in the series was Royal Blood, I loved meeting Alexander’s parents. I actually have the newest book but haven’t gotten to reading it yet. Seeing this post has inspired me to quickly finish the books I’m reading to get to it. As always I love these Nocturnal House posts, almost like an informal book club.
I’m now reading more classics than ever before, Jane Eyre, Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, The Woman In White, The Moonstone… Anyone else here read The Mysteries Of Udolpho? Amazing gothic novel that I got lost in for days thanks to its spooky atmosphere..and the fact it’s over 600 pages long. It is a beautiful book, even the writing style is hypnotic and draws you in – so atmospheric, and still has it’s fair share of scary moments. Has the lady of the Manners read Udolpho?
My comfort books tend not to take vampire for very often – usually it’ll be something along the lines of Poe, Lovecraft, or the wonderful Oscar Wilde. However, I do tend to re-read ‘Stealaway’ by K. M. Peyton quite a lot, especially when I’m feeling a bit stressed or upset. It’s a kid’s book I’ve had since I was about eight, that somehow manages to combine every little girl’s love of horses with a terrifying ghost story that wouldn’t be out of place in a YA or even adult horror story. I also re-read ‘Black Beauty’ a fair bit, too.
Edgar Allen Poe!!! Nobody, and i mean NOBODY, can even come close to his works. they are so freaking creepy. Stephen King would be close…that is, if he had even a 1/4 of Poe’s brilliance!