Customer Reviews

Uninvited

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

THREE QUICK POINTS:
* Point 1: This book reads like the anti-Twilight. The characters are shallow and the plot is paper thin. The difference is, rather than a clean cut new honor student who's completely enamoured by the vampire who's been stalking her, it's the story of a constantly drunk honor student wishing she weren't being stalked by the new vampire.

* Point 2: Redefines the term "lush life." Everyone is drunk and high (except maybe the parents, but I can't be certain) throughout most of the book.

* Point 3: Jordan needs to develop an actual personality. I really wanted to like her character, but didn't. Throughout the book, we're trapped inside her head while she complains about every facet of her life and it feels as though the air is slipping away fast.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:
It begins with Jordan talking to a vampire who's perched in a tree outside her bedroom window, and then walks us through how that situation came to be. Michael Green, who dated Jordan for two months a year prior to his untimely death, reappears at her house on the night of his funeral. Eventually she figures out what happened to him.

For three months, she holed herself in her room before nightfall and waited for Michael to come calling. Every night he'd ask to be let in and every night she'd deny him. Finally Jordan has an epiphany about her life and what she's doing to herself and decides to do something about it, starting with Michael.

MY THOUGHTS:
I wanted very much to like this book; it has such a cool cover and plenty of positive reviews. However:

Half-way through the book, I began mixing up the characters because they all seem to be the same one dimensional person struggling for a voice. By chapter six, I wanted to put the book down and not really pick it back up again because I was afraid the whining about life would continue endlessly. And when I closed the book, I said "meh, that's it?" and then it just became another foggy memory.

Jordan, who narrates the story, has a social anxiety disorder and a self-centered absentee mother. Jordan's way to deal is by partying, and by partying, I mean drinking to get "faced", partaking in various illicit substances, and having random "flybys" with guys she doesn't know.

But that's not my problem with her; her ennui drones on for about a hundred pages and when other characters did pop in, they were just another version of Jordan. There's some effort to make them different, but it never quite worked, and some were exaggerated to the point of being unbelievable-- especially Michael, Jordan's vampire stalker, and Lisa, the convenient catalyst who makes an appearance too late in the game.

The first half of the book is Michael and Jordan's back story. Unfortunately, it was banal and redundant. I stopped caring that Michael smelled like coconut suntan lotion, that he was an SOB who chased anything with legs, and that Jordan felt she wasn't stalk-able because she was some lowly prole he dated for two months.

The final let down came when we learn Michael's reason for stalking Jordan. This is going to be a spoiler, but necessary to see the plot's paper thinness. (If you don't wish to know, skip to the final sentence.)

Don't believe the back cover. Michael did not dump Jordan. The first line ("when rejection comes back to bite you...") is a play on the storyline in which Michael begins stalking Jordan because he can't believe she, the pathetic lush, dumped him. I guess when you have an eternity on your hands, it's best to torment the one that got away.

Then to throw a chunk of salt into that gaping wound, we have Lisa who enters the story as Jordan's catalyst. I didn't believe for one second that the two were ever close friends so the situation was unbelievable. In that vein, Lisa's character could easily have been replaced by Nutty, Jordan's cat. The conversation could go something like:

Michael: "If you ever want to see Nutty alive again, you'll beg me to come in..."

Jordan: "Oh gawd, no, not Nutty...Michael, come in. Please. I'm begging you to come in. Just leave Nutty alooonnneee."

Michael: "I knew you'd cave." Starts climbing in window, then stops. "Oh wait...I think I'll still kill Nutty just because I'm a Really Bad Man™. Muahahahaha!!!"

Jordan: Uh oh, no. I love Nutty so much I can't let him do it. I better grow a pair and do something. Where'd I put that stake again?

My apologies for the snark, but, I hope it helps to get the point across.

While I don't regret reading the book, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it either.

These days, Jordan's got a lot on her mind. Her social phobias are getting the better of her, she thinks she messed things up with a guy she really connected with... and her ex-boyfriend, popular jock Michael, has been appearing at her bedroom window since the night after his funeral. It seems the rumors that Michael killed himself aren't true -- he was attacked by a vampire, and became one himself. Now he wants Jordan to join him. Every night, he pleads and cajoles and turns on his charm, trying to get her to invite him in, and Jordan's arguments are starting to crumble.

UNINVITED is a tense, scary book that manages to throw in a little humor on the side. Marrone does a superb job of building the suspense about Michael's true intentions and how Jordan will deal with them. Nothing works out quite the way the reader will expect, and Jordan's struggles will have them on the edge of their seats, unable to put the book down. The climax is thrilling and dark, and the ending is hopeful without leaving its heroine unscarred.

It may take readers a little while to warm up to Jordan, whose binge-drinking and pessimistic ways may seem too depressing. But it quickly becomes clear that she has every reason to want to drown out the rest of the world. Her growth as she fights her fears and destructive tendencies is both believable and inspiring. The supporting characters are well-developed as well, from Michael's twisted personality to Jordan's quirky friend, Rachael.

Readers who enjoy books a little out of the ordinary, especially the dark and suspenseful, should run out and grab this one as soon as possible. It takes one of the most familiar creatures of the supernatural genre and manages to tell a story unlike any you've read before.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

If you like vampire novels, read Uninvited. If you are tired of vampire novels, read Uninvited. If you never thought you'd like a vampire novel, read Uninvited.

This book tears into the common cliches of the other vampire books on the shelves these days. It's realistic, gritty, heart-wrenching, and very exciting. I couldn't put it down!

Jordan, the heroine, is in a state of deep depression after the death of her ex-boyfriend, Michael. Of course, it doesn't help that Michael visits her windowsill every night, moaning about how much they loved one another and begging her to let him in.

This is not a book about vampires, but rather, a book with vampires in it. It has more in common with a book like SPEAK, by Laurie Halse Anderson, in that it focuses intently on the inner life of a troubled adolescent. Highly recommended!

I was sorely upset with what this book had to offer. When I saw it at Borders I was intrigued by the cover of the book and it seemed like a good light read. My friend had advised me against it but I didn't listen, instead I bought it. I should have listened to the old proverb of not judging a book by it's cover because I could have written the story better.

The story seemed to drag out very slowly and the characters personalities were never really developed. For some reason in my point of view our main character seemed to laid back and lazy. Instead of trying to solve the problem of having a dead boyfriend trying to sneak into her window, she decided her best plan is to whole herself up in her house and drink herself silly. Also I didn't appreciate how her ex was made out to be completely evil. Maybe it's from reading to many vampire books where the vampires are good but i thought that the cliche evil vampire was too much. He could not have been completely evil.

It also bugged me that they never really used any foreshadowing to let you know how evil her boyfriend was when she was dating him. Until as soon as she dumped him he turned into an uber evil son of a b****.

Another issue of mine was when she went to the party. First of all her friend bothered me when she decided to go topless for no apparent reason. Maybe it's because I'm only 14 and don't understand hormones, and all that crap, well enough yet but it seemed a little rash and sudden. It also bugged me when she was getting hooked up with a guy and she led him on and then was all noble and acted like she was innocent of being bipolar all the sudden. This is another scenario where the guy turns out to be incredibly evillll.

Maybe it's just me but i hate it when stories only have vampires as the bad guys. And maybe it's also just me who hates it when a book character is drunk and/or high half the book. Well maybe it was just me I don't know. If you share my view pints i would not recommend buying the book. If your still intrigued you should check it out of the library.

I did not enjoy this book at all. I thought it would be an easy, quick read since it's just about 200pgs...well it felt like 1000! I could not get with Jordan at all. It seemed like Marrone wanted to reach every type of teenager out there by making her character everything at once. A brain, a rebel, an alcoholic, a jock...etc. I'll be the first to say that teens have more to them than just one level, hell I was involved in loads of stuff and even now, you will find Jay-Z in my iPod right along with John Mellancamp, I can be go-carting and then to a Wine tasting so I understand complex. But all of Jordan's characteristics seemed to contradict themselves just for the sake of contradiction. We never really understand why she is the way she is...why she sleeps around and gets drunk all the time. If it was a result of Michael's visits then I'd understand that, but it seemed Michael's visits only forced her to drink in the house instead of at parties. Marrone tried too hard to make Jordan cool or awkward or an outcast or a brain (I mean, she looks down on one of her "friends" because the girl doesn't read enough--huh? This girl is drinking, and smoking and sleeping around and she judges someone because they never finished a book? Come on!) Because of this, she fell flat to me. I don't care about the "bad" behavior, I'm not a prude and I think it has a place in YA stories, but this was all telling and no showing so it read very much like Marrone just wanted to make it edgy.

As for the actually writing, this book read like mediocore fanfiction to me. The over use of exclamation points was astounding. Did she have an editor? Was anyone aware of the basic mechanics of writing? It was like Marrone didn't know how to convey excitement, anger, frustration, happiness, or passion with the skill of writing so she used exclamation points! It is said that exclamation points should be used SPARINGLY and most writers at least know that means no more than five thoughout the entire manuscript. Now this is not set in stone--there can be more or less--but as Marrone's book is just over 200 pgs she had four exclamation points within the first 11 pgs, (yep, I counted) Later in the book the pages are peppered with them. A conversation Jordan has with her mother stuck out to me because her mother seemed frustrated and a little sad but everything she said had an exclaimation point punctuating the sentence. It was like reading a really long text message. She even has someone saying "Hmmm!" Now, how does that sound? I don't understand...was the person shouting hmmm, or were they excited? The context didn't support either, so why the punctuation? The main reason writers need to limit exclamation points is because the more you use them, the less impact they have and that's exactly what happened here.

I was really surprised that I didn't enjoy this book. I read the reviews and even though there aren't many, I assumed I'd like it somewhat, but I didn't. I'd recommend Tithe, Valiant, or Ironside if someone was looking for a quick read. I finished each of those in a couple days and enjoyed them...the writing is light-years better than this!

I picked up this book on a whim. I was stuck at Borders for four hours and decided to pay some attention to the bottom shelves of the Young Adults section. The title was unique and caught my eye, I'm a huge fan of vampire books so once I saw the cover I kind of assumed what it was about. The back summary made me laugh, although that might have been from exhaustion.

The book took a few chapters to gain my respect, the plot still seemed shallow and some of the slang was off. Since I'm part of the generation that coined the overuse of the word "like" I was offended to see it used so incorrectly in a sentence. While no one may be able to define the grammar of the word "like" there is some sort of logical sense in the way it must be used.

During the first few chapters I thought that extreme attention to drug use was a bit too much, but than I realized- high school is like that. I have friends going to universities everywhere that partied every weekend just like Jordan and her friends. I may not be like the characters, but people like them do exist. People that are still able to keep there life looking like it's tied in a neat little bow.

Despite my being clean from all drugs and alcohol since forever I could still relate to the social anxieties that Jordan faces. I was glad to finally see a character that was semi-friendless and mention it! I read between 4-6 books a month and I can't ever remember seeing a character face their awkwardness. I see the characters that are overly popular or friendless and "okay" with it because the hot boy falls for them. But, never this.

Though a tad unorthodox I enjoyed the ending, shedding a new light on the vampire genre.

It is a fast read though, took me about five hours while traveling on the bus, but the plot was still there and left me feeling full.

Like many others I've been taken with the vampire rage in books and picked this book up. The cover is inviting and the description the back sounded good. After getting about 80 pages into this book I was sorry I bought it. Jordan is pretty much just a drunk who doesn't deal with her dead ex-boyfriend. It starts off like you just stepped into the middle of movie. I didn't find it worth reading and was frankly bored by the book. My biggest pet peeve is Jordan saying she hated drinking this or that or smoking this or that but she did so anyways. I don't recommend this book to anyone, it was a waste of my reading time.

For a book that only reaches about 200 pages, I enjoyed this one really well. I like that the character of Michael is one that our protagonist finds hard to resist, as much as she tries to reason that giving into his demands is a bad thing. I would have enjoyed a bit more fleshing out in certain parts of the story, like what happens to certain characters in the end, or the stuff on Michael being a vampire, and Jordan's sudden moment of change (when she decides she doesn't love Michel, confronts her mother, confesses to Danny, etc).

What I specifically liked about her inability to resist Michael was the fact that he was handsome, popular, and every so often spewed out pretty words. Often enough, those are the reasons women will allow men to treat them badly, and I'm glad that in the end Jordan learned not to fall for all of that.

While I found the behavior of a lot of teenagers a bit extreme, I think that's simply because I wasn't like that at all when I was a teen. In fact, it's specifically because I have a mild form of social anxiety that I chose not to attend parties and such. Jordan's behavior I understood, even though her handling of it and my handling of it weren't the same, that doesn't mean hers was unrealistic. It was really just the general atmosphere of other teenagers that I found to be a bit much.

Other than that, I enjoyed it very much, and though I know a lot of the fangirls will hate me for this, I'll add that I found this a definite relief from reading the Twilight series. I'm of the opinion that Edward is abusive, and I think Jordan does what Bella should have done in her own situation.

Uninvited is a much darker story than the typical YA vampire fare. Jordan, a troubled teen, is being visited by her ex-boyfriend Michael, now a vampire, who waits outside her window every night begging her to invite him in. This isn't a love story, though. Michael plays the role of a deadly stalker, not a romantic interest. It's pretty clear that even before Michael's undead appearance, Jordan's life was in disarray, and her friends don't seem to be much more stable. Marrone paints a compelling picture of Jordan's further spiral into darkness and depression. As dark as it is, Uninvited has a surprising ending. Recommended for those looking for a slightly different take on the young adult vampire book.

I honestly had to force myself to finish this book. It's about a teenage girl named Jordan & her deceased ex-boyfriend who has become a vampire. The majority of the story focuses on him sitting outside her window, wanting her to invite him in. I know this is a young-adult book, but it just seemed so juvenile and amateur. I'm sure there are some teenagers who would enjoy the simple story line, but at the same time, I'm not sure I would want my teenager reading a book that puts so much focus on doing drugs, getting drunk, and sleeping with random guys....If you're looking for a young-adult vampire story, there are plenty that are much better than this one. Don't waste your time on it!