Customer Reviews

Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love this book! It's so great. I'm 14, and when I read the first book, I was hooked. When I found out that there was a third one, I had to buy it. It was so worth it.

I just finished reading this book about an hour ago. I've read the other two and thoroughly enjoyed the easy to read writing and soft plot of the story.
It's not the Bite thrilled, horror and blood dread book I read about vampires most of the time. Which is why I never bought the books, instead borrowed them from my friend. But I do believe that is what I love most about the books.
I do not mean to underestimate the story line. It pulled me in, like all great books and I found my self tapping my pen in irritation and anticipation for my classes to be over so I could return to the story.

It's a great read and wonderfully written. But it's not a book that one need to plan to read. It's one where you read simply to read out of your love for the dark world and for vampire lovers, no doubt.

So, all in all:
I loved the book(s). I will read them all again, more than once this year, just when I need to pass some time or want to dream about having my own Gothic adventure.

The most boring part of any vampire-hunting expedition is probably the hunt for the vampires' coffins -- and that's the main focus of "Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville." Aside from reminding us that her self-insert is GOTH GOTH GOTH every paragraph or so, Ellen Schreiber continues to spin up a plotless supernatural soap opera that never manages to grow a plot. Instead we've got vampiric catfights and Raven stalking her nemesis.

The vampire twins Luna and Jagger are still hanging around Dullsville, and apparently have dark and deadly designs for the much-despised Trevor. For some reason, Alexander and Raven have a problem with this and set out to stop them -- so when they aren't fawning on each other (and Alexander isn't wangsting about waaaaaaa he's a vampire), they're searching for evidence of Luna and Jagger's hiding places.

In the meantime, Raven is stalking Trevor to make sure he hasn't already been turned into a vampire, while getting jealous that he's enamored of the new goth chick in town. But finding the hiding places of the twins (in a pretty random location) is only the beginning of the conflict -- Raven soon becomes galpals with Luna, but there's still a devious plan in place to snag Trevor.

Ellen Schreiber's third novel left me with one major question: where's the plot? Thus far it seems to be primarily immature teen vampires and obnoxious human teens dating, smooching and whining about how The World Doesn't Understand Them. It's a bit like the worst teen dramas of the CW, but with more mall-goth trappings (Count Chocula as a "goth cereal"?! "Nightmare Before Christmas" alarm clocks?!) and immortal wangst.

Most of the story is devoted to Alexander and Raven meandering aimlessly around, poking in corners and failing to figure out where Jagger and Luna are. When they do find out... nothing really happens. There's no real feeling of urgency, since whenever Raven finds out some vital and urgent piece of info, she and Alexander have a leisurely dinner date and eventually get around to doing something ineffectual. It feels like Schreiber was diddling around randomly to fill out a page quota.

And her prose continues to be an utter embarrassment -- readers are informed every other sentence that Raven is GOTH GOTH GOTH and everything she does has to be connected to vampires, "edgy" things or the color black. And her dialogue is painfully silly, especially when she characters try to be romanic ("Alexander's so dreamy. His eyes are like milk chocolates").

And the characters continue to be flat as boards -- Raven's drippy fascination with Alexander seems to be less about his personality, and more about him being a male-vampire doppelganger of herself. She's a snotty, self-absorbed brat who bumbles around doing one dumb thing after another. Jagger remains a 2-D villain/stalker who is as menacing as a blob of oatmeal, and his sister loses any cool factor once it's revealed that she's basically a vampiric Raven. Waaa waaa, I'm such an outsider and I hate my little brother, boohoo.

"Vampire Kisses 3: Vampireville" continues Ellen Schreiber's pitch-black losing streak -- appalling characters, poor writing, and only the barest shadow of a plot. This book lacks any bite.

I've been follwoing this series since the first book came out, and it seems to get better with each book! The characters have their own voices, thoughts, feelings. And there's always some twist.

Looking forward to the next one!

This is an excellent set of books. My daughter has them all and has read them all and loves it. She can't wait to see if another one comes out.

VAMPIREVILLE follows right on the heels of its predecessors, and it is strongly recommended that the previous books in the series, Vampire Kisses and Vampire Kisses 2: Kissing Coffins (Vampire Kisses), be read first, otherwise things will not make sense and you're sure to be confused and unable to fully enjoy the story.

Alexander Sterling is back in "Dullsville," and Raven couldn't be happier about that. However, Jagger and his twin sister, Luna, are also hanging around, which is the reason why Raven has started carrying garlic in her purse. To make matters worse, now that Luna has been turned into a vampire, she's on the search for her true love, and she's convinced she's found him in Trevor.

Trevor may have been Raven's arch nemesis since kindergarten, but that doesn't mean that she wants him to fall victim to Luna's charms. Not to mention her fangs. So Raven takes it upon herself to protect Trevor--after all, the last thing "Dullsville" needs is a vampire-Trevor!

Raven is also trying to deal with having a nocturnal boyfriend. She mourns the loss of Alexander's company during the day, just as she despises the school that prevents her from being able to keep the same hours as he does. The time they do have together is spent searching cemeteries and other spooky deserted areas for Jagger and Luna's hideout, determined to drive them away before they turn "Dullsville" into someplace infinitely less dull--"Vampireville."

VAMPIREVILLE is a fun continuation of the VAMPIRE KISSES series, and will definitely leave readers eagerly awaiting the fourth book, Vampire Kisses 4: Dance with a Vampire (Vampire Kisses). The writing and storyline doesn't quite live up to some of the other young adult books in this genre, but it is nevertheless an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

Reviewed by: Andie Z.

Alright so this book was great. Didn't expect it to come out until late August but I happened to spot it in the very last shelf of the fiction section. I thought the series would end at Vampirevill but I guess not.

There were some unexpected things in Vampireville but of course Raven and Alexander are still going strong.

I wonder when he'll just give in and turn her into a vampire.

this is such an awesome series. in this book Raven finally finds out who Jagger really is and also meets Luna, Jaggers sister. Alexander and Raven try to get Jagger and Lune to leave Dullsville and go back to Romania before Luna turns Trevor into a vampire.this was a very good book.

Who Should Read It? This book is for middle grade vampire lovers! Also, if you enjoyed the first two, you will like this one even more. If you were only so-so about the first two, I'd say still give this one a try!

What I Have to Say: This series is FINALLY starting to get to me! I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I enjoyed the first two. In a way, I feel like Ellen Schreiber is finally starting to find her groove.

Raven is finally starting to act her age, and in the process, she's turned into a cool, understanding, likeable character - no longer the annoying brat I found her to be in the first two installments. There were still cliches, but they were immensely downplayed. I think the term "gothic mate" was used only twice (maybe more, but not much more) throughout the entire book. What a relief! In my head, this is a major improvement.

The story itself also finally took off. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it was action-packed, there was definitely some major good-guy/bad-guy action going on. The bad guys are evil, but understandably so, and through their interactions with Raven, Alexander, and Trevor, we really begin to feel the loneliness and solitude that comes from being an outcast, something I thought was missing in the first two books.

Thanks to the new-found action and the new characters introduced, I actually enjoyed reading this book the entire way through (not so for the first two). While I was once again glad that it was short, I was also shocked to never once find myself bored.

I wouldn't go os far as to say this book was excellent, as it still had its fair share of problems, but it definitely opened me up to the possiblity of reading the 4th book. It's good, and I think most middle grade readers will thoroughly enjoy it and finally begin to relate to Raven.

I feel like I'm being a little generous giving this 4 stars, but it was such a vast improvement over the first two in the series. Raven stepped out of the one dimensional goth girl image for awhile in this book. I was glad for that because for some reason it still bugs me that Raven has to be goth. And the way it is described seems more a fashion statement than anything. Anyway, I also feel I learned a little more about Alexander in this book. He gains a little needed background. It gives him strength as a character. I also enjoyed what Jagger and Luna brought to the story. Jagger was creepy and you never know exactly what he up too. I couldn't figure out Luna either. All together a better story that the first two book!