Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley

Guess what??
The lovely YA Book Goddess, Kimberly Pauley, published her first book!
(This’ll be my attempt to try and give an unbiased account, but this book was so amazing, I think I’d rave about it whether or not I was the ex-official review there or not!!)
Okay, here it goes:

Mina Hamilton is your average kid…sort of. Normal except for the slight fact that her parents are vampires. Despite this minor technicality, Mina’s lived a pretty good life so far (sure, she has to remind her parents to get food now and then, and feed herself since vampires don’t have to eat), that is, until the day the tax collector came (ah, those pesky people!). Now the Vampire Council know that Mina exists and she’s forced to go to vampire informational classes and decide if she wants to chance or not. The worst part is, she’s got to make that choice soon, and Mina’s not even eighteen yet!

What should Mina do? What would her best friend Serena think? But it would be pretty cool to live forever and see the world, right? But she has to drink blood to survive! Ahh!! The pros and cons are tearing Mina in two and the big decision is just weeks away!

At least there’s a bit of eye candy during the classes which are taught by creepy “Grandma Wolfington”—a completely hottie, Aubrey. But George is kinda nice too, and Mina’s been crushing on Nathan since before she even met either of the vampire candidates! Ack! Now Mina’s having vampire problems and guy problems! As if she doesn’t have enough to worry about!

Sucks to Be Me follows Mina’s bumpy road on the way to her big decision that includes much more than vampire-related stuff! But no matter what happens, Mina still has to make the choice and it’s much harder than she thought. And what happens if you pick ‘no’ in the end anyway? Will the scary Vampire Council get rid of you, since you know too much?

Sucks to Be Me is a great YA novel filled with drama, romance, and tough decisions. Nathan seemed almost a little too nice for a high-and-up-there It kid, but I liked how things turned out for the main characters! I especially loved the little “myths and truths” at the beginning of each chapter! I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending, and it felt a wee bit rushed, but that’s personal preference. The writing there was as good as the rest of the book, it’s just that I don’t entirely agree with the ending.

I’m sure it’s been said many times now, but the number of books in the YA vampire genre is shooting up, yet some seem to miss the mark, since many of us have high expectations after reading Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. However, there is one book that (for me) shot above many others and all I can say is, I could not put this book down! With that said, I’d definitely recommend Sucks to Be Me to all vampire genre fans, or all those out there looking for a good read! Grab your copy August 26, 2008!!