Annette Curtis Klause

This audio book came with two short stories-Summer of Love (my favorite) and The Christmas Cat, one read before the novel and one read after. If it weren't for these, I probably would have rated the novel by itself 3 stars. I liked her writing style and every element of the plot except for the romance, which didn't make a lot of sense to me. That's OK, though, because there's a lot more going on besides vampire boy falling in love with human girl. I definitely enjoyed it enough to read more of her books.… (more)

I'm going to start this out by saying the cover is beautiful and by one of my favourite artists.

That said, I agree with most of the reviewers of this book in that it does talk about the boy and his out of control sexual desires quite a bit. It doesn't make the book any less appropriate for an older teen audience (14 ) but it does get a little tedious. We know how a boy his age would react to an enticing topless dance. We don't need to hear about it every time he has a dream, honestly. I did enjoy the story, though, and would recommend it for people interested in a rarely used subject in YA of circus acts and sideshows. It seems that Klause did quite a bit of research on the subject while writing and you actually get transported to the time and place with ease - the history doesn't seem forced.
I didn't like it as much as I remember liking Blood and Chocolate but I like it much better than The Silver Kiss (which seemed quite juvenile and ordinary to me).… (more)