Amanda Marrone

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

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 show more 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. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

SLAYED is a little like what Buffy might have been (with a Romeo & Juliet twist) if she’d partnered up with Cordelia and had to teach her the vampire slaying ropes. There is shallow fun dialogue, a somewhat campy foe, and a forbidden romance that you root for from the start.

This is an example of a great premise (the teenage descendants of the two most famous vampire hunters: Van Helsing and Harker, meeting up and falling for each other despite show more their feuding families) that turned out to be a good book.

The characters were all very believable and pitiable in their own way. Daphne as the bitter slayer whose parents don’t seem to care about the danger they constantly put her in or the truly cloistered life she’s had to live. Then there’s Kiki, the washed up former child star whose parents kicked off the family TV show when she put on weight at the age of five. And finally Tyler, the slayer who has been living in a car with his disturbed father ever since his mother got turned and had to be staked.

Everyone is a mess, but in a can’t-look-away-car-crash-on-the-side-of-the-road way. Daphne cuts out magazine pictures of the friends she imagines having (and the prom date she fantasizes about getting to second base with), Kiki is a plastic surgery addict with serious promiscuity issues, and Tyler is barely hanging on to his father’s sanity.

Compared to the more thoughtful character development early on, the ending of SLAYED felt pretty rushed and much too easy. Another fifty pages would have gone a long way towards smoothing out some of the convenient plot developments and jumpy action sequences (not to mention the much too perfect epilogue). But the feuding vampire slayer dynasties and fascinatingly damaged characters make SLAYED a fun, if flawed, read. I believe this is a stand alone story (although there is ample opportunity for a sequel, so you never know), but Amanda Marrone has several other Paranormal YA’s under her belt that I plan on picking up.

Sexual Content: References to sex. References to homosexuality. A scene of mild sensuality. show less

The book's a good one, and it's a fast read. Oh, I had a few nitpicks--I would've liked a little more setting towards the beginning, and there's an opening sentence about the noise Jordan's hair makes across the pillow being so loud she grimaces (hair makes noise on a pillow? Really? Maybe my hair's too fine to do such a thing...)--but there's nothing in the tale to pull one out of the story, and Marrone's work with her protagonist is really good. She sounds like a real teen, and she makes show more real decisions too, which is what made this book so satisfying. :)

For a full review, which does include spoilers, please click here: http://calico-reaction.livejournal.com/46532.html show less

When I picked up the book, I was definitely not expecting THIS!

There’s little paranormal in the story, actually I think that the book should’ve been a Realistic Fiction, the whole vampire thing could’ve been dismissed so the story can only revolve around Jordan and her addiction and family problems plus the death of her ex-boyfriend and how she tries to handle all these with a messed-up and broken mind.

The atmosphere is really dark, this is my first book that deals with a teen girl show more who muddle through her angst and anxiety issues by smoking pot, sniffing coke, no-tomorrow flings and “getting trashed and wasted” at almost every party.

Though it’s YA novel, I think it’s more suitable for older teens (16 and up). show less