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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Cute, May 26, 2009
This review is from: Vamped (Paperback)
I was hoping for so much with this book. It looked cute, silly and fun. Instead it felt a bit awkward and tried really hard to be cute and light.
I would still read further work by this author, as I liked her overall style.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 20, 2009
This review is from: Vamped (Paperback)
Gina Covello's life-altering night in only six words: went to prom, became a vampire.
Well, it's really not that simple. There were some things Gina could have done to prevent this. For one, she could have stuck with her boyfriend, Chaz, during prom instead of making out with the transformed, now uber gorgeous chess geek, Bobby. She could have found a better place so Chaz would not actually see this occur. She could have not gone in the car with a now angry and a little tipsy boyfriend who might just be a little off while driving.
If only all these "could haves" were processed before Gina could actually make an executive decision. In the end, the car crashed, Gina thought she was dead, woke up in a grave, and discovered that Bobby was not a normal chess geek, but a newly vamped one.
After clawing her way out of her grave with her superpower vamp strength, and being saved by her "vampire boyfriend," Bobby, Gina thinks that with her new life, she can rule the world. Of course that is once she gets out of the hideous ensemble her parents buried her in and shops til she drops with an addition of a serious makeover (vamps can do that, right?).
Little does Gina know that another vamp is vying to take over the vampire world and the army she is building is all too familiar with Gina and the entire town.
What's now in store for Gina? There is discovering that Bobby may not be just a normal vampire, and can he get any sexier? Then, of course, there are the harsh interrogations and treatment by a freakshow, and a dragon lady, and a revival of her arch-enemy. And who could forget the all-out battle to the end.
With a huge influx of vampire inspired novels, it is hard to choose the ones that are worth taking a bite out of. VAMPED is one novel you will want to sink your teeth into... more than once.
Lucienne Diver introduces the newest and hottest couple to the vampire world. Gina, who knows how to kick butt, take control when needed, and look good while accomplishing it all; and Bobby, the perfect gentleman vampire who knows exactly how to make Gina happy and is an amazing kisser. Watch out Edward Cullen, you have major competition.
With the combination of witty banter, intertwined with small curl-your-lip-up romantic scenes, scheming plots, and a war no one will want to miss, VAMPED is the newest, biggest vampire novel around. Do not miss out on what everyone else will be reading!
Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I wanted to love this book, really I did., March 26, 2011
When I requested a sample of this novel for my Kindle and read the first couple of pages, I clicked "Buy Now" immediately and was amped to keep reading. Sadly, my hopes were dashed somewhere around chapter three when I realized that the "vapid Gina" act wasn't really an act, it was the real deal. To be perfectly frank, this novel is a train wreck and it's difficult to point a finger at one particular problem, so I tried my best to parse them out into list form (this was more for my own sanity than anything else) in the hopes that I could better isolate the larger issues.
**Spoilers**
1. There is absolutely no character development. Period. None. I have no idea why Gina (the protagonist) was turned into a vamp by her quasi-boyfriend Bobby. I know only that Gina had a boyfriend, not Bobby, until the night she sneaked off and made out with Bobby who subsequently bit her. There is little to no emotional connection between the characters, other than the author telling us there is, and I was left wondering why or how they ever came to be a couple in the first place.
2. Almost immediately, the reader is thrust into the midst of a war of sorts, where baddie Melli is creating and collecting newborn vamps in order to create an army. She is the cause of Bobby's vampirism and is none too happy that Bobby has turned Gina. So here's what doesn't work. There's no explanation of the purpose of this battle. I'm sorry, maybe I'm being picky, but I like to know why things are happening. Not knowing the motivations of characters I'm expected to love or hate or feel sorry for is a huge flaw.
3. Ugh, the over abundance of hip lingo and biting sarcasm from Gina. I get that the author is trying to portray Gina as this tough on the outside, squishy on the inside kind of character, but it doesn't resonate. Gina simply comes off as snarky and rude, not misunderstood.
4. Hero to zero to hero. In the beginning of the book Gina is popular and the "it" girl at school. As newborn vamp, she's shunned by her fellow newborns. Then, for no apparent reason, she's their hero after providing some much needed hairstyling for some underclassmen. Okay, perhaps I'm oversimplifying, but not by much. Things happen in this novel that make no sense at all. I adore the underdog story. I love to see a character find their footing and take on the world, but they have to earn their way to that place, they need to work for it. Gina simply shows up and poof, all her former haters are now lemmings. Huh?
5. Issues are eluded to yet never excavated. We're told Gina has a family who clearly has some issues, we're even briefly introduced to Gina's sister - literally less than a paragraph dedicated to this little run in - and that's it. This is only one example of a thread introduced and never explored, there are tons of them. If only the author took the time to delve a little deeper, this book could have been salvaged. If Gina was real, I could connect. If her motivations were clear, I could have overlooked some glaring problems, but nothing ever gelled because the reader is never given enough of anything to allow for a connection of any kind.
So those are the major flaws, as I noted there are quite a few niggling little flaws as well, I just don't have the energy to go on. Anyway, I was hoping for some really amusing, campy vampire fun and what I came away with was a lot of frustration and irritation. Needless to say, I won't be going on to the sequel.
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