Cassandra Gray and her family are like vampires but instead of living off blood, they live off people’s tears. So that means they have to somehow be involved wherever there is sorrow: hospitals, bereavement groups, high schools. Cass began a peer counseling group in her high school and she volunteers at the hospital, both abundant sources of tears. On top of that her best friend Robyn, whose little sister is dying of cancer, was just dumped by her boyfriend after she confronted him about rumors that he cheated on her. Cass is also a heartbreaker, hooking up with boys, making them fall in love with her and then breaking up with them, but always offering them a shoulder to cry on. Inexplicably that is how she gathers the energy of the tears that she then dispenses to her extended family including mom, her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother. Sound confusing? That is just the half of it. Throw in a bunch of subplots including a love interest for Cass (but tear vampires are supposed to be incapable of love), a reunion of “the family” (an extended group of tear vampires), a rogue tear vampire who is kidnapping young boys and torturing them, and the impending betrothal of Cass to that same rogue tear vampire, Alexei and you have a confusing mix. Cassandra’s voice sounded stilted and self-conscious and allusions to her performing oral sex run through the book. ( )

She collects tears to survive but wants to change
( )

Think all the teen vampire novels are the same? Then you definitely need to check out The Tear Collector, in this new tale, Patrick Jones really does find a new approach to the 'vampire' novel.

Cassandra (Cass) Gray and her family and not human, they don't burn in the sunlight or cringe away in horror when presented with garlic but they do need something extra to survive: human tears. And tears of joy or happiness won't do either, they have to be tears or sorrow...so you can just imagine what sort of life Cass lives, all the pain she is surrounded by.

But while the rest of her family is fine with this life, Cass has grown tired of it. Aching to be human and be done with her family 'duty' Cass has become discontent with the way things are.

The Tear Collector--which I find a hard book to summarize and still keep with my 'no spoilers' rule--is really a great twist on the recent explosion of 'teen vampire romance' books. The story is Cass's and her struggle keeping her identity secret from her friends and school (and dealing with high school drama like every other teenager) while still serving her family and deciphering how she feels about them and what they all are.

I really liked that there was Cass's family and her friends in fairly equal measure and not a 90/10 proportion because it was really need to explain who Cass was and why she had to deal with everything she did. Her family and friends were, though, where one of my few problems with one of the book came in. There were a few times where it felt like the storyline was at a sort of plateau to tell about both family members and different friends without really progressing to a peak/climax. Those parts weren't long or often, however.

I also really enjoyed that all aspects of Cassandra's life seemed to have been factored into the 'needing tears.' One hundred percent of her life (from the weather to her chapped lips and on) had something to do with her and her family's need for the moisture. It really added a lot to my enjoyment of the story that it wasn't, 'Oh, Cass finds people when they're crying then her life is more or less normal.'

It mirrored a traditional vampire story well in that there was still death that the characters had to deal with (in a high school setting no less). In this there weren't vampire killings, obviously, but I found it a nice symmetry to still have death be a part of the story and affect the characters.

One last bit, there was a character that added more drama to the story--and news reports interspersed with the story introduce that early on and that added another touch of drama and intrigue to the tale.

(Thank you to the author for this book) ( )

I think there is a misconception for the Tear Collector. So far I’ve seen many call this book a new twist to an old vampire lore. “…she’s just like me now—not human, but not a classic horror movie vampire either. I’m more of a succubus that maintains a human form to get along in the world but is void of so much of what makes a person human—such as the ability to love.” This is where things throw me off track. I’m not sure if I can call this a vampire novel or not. There are certain attributes that make a vampire just as being able to transform into a wolf makes a werewolf. I’m grasping at thin straws right now; I guess it’s up to the reader to decide. Anyway that’s the least of my worries.

While I do think that The Tear Collector is unique within its idea and premise, the execution faltered. There seemed to be a lot of high school drama, redundant scenes, and many missing details.

I found the whole scenario of high school a bore actually. Jones starts a great idea then stops short from anything really excited. We have the generic mean girls, the popular but still nice cheerleader, the why-do-you-keep-mentioning-that-Cassandra-gives-blow-jobs-often-to jocks, the weird but deep Goth/Emo girl, and finally the not-the-best-looking-but-so-sweet guy. It’s a battle between which environment is dominate—high school or Cassandra’s family. There are times when they both intermingle but other times it’s more of a Monopoly game—pass Go and collect $200.

Cassandra hangs out in high school, comforts people, collects their tears, gives them to her great godmother, goes back to high school and collects tears again. This is where the redundancy comes into play. You can throw in random hissy cat fights but that doesn’t make it any better. I did, however, like the friendship with Samantha and Cassandra. We follow them when they were enemies to being something special. I thought her story was touching but had missing details to make it even more of a pow.

I couldn’t fully connect with many of the characters. I wasn’t as empathic to Cassandra as I would have liked, I didn’t like Scott as much as I hoped, and I couldn’t get the full intimate details of why they like each so darn much. I mean there were scenes that I thought “wow” but the conversations they had were very similar to other conversations she had.

Then there’s Alexei, her cousin whom she was promised to. A third of the novel was a build-up to this point and even then it fell short and anticlimactic. Again it showed promise, the chapter articles of children kidnappings, the suspense, and the anticipation but in the end all I could say was “that’s it”?

And the ending! Oh goodness. *no comment*

Overall: It’s frustrating because it had so much potential not because it was horrid! I craved for something more. ( )

In a time of vampire obsessions, the idea behind this book was fantastic. I loved the idea of some other creature that is dependent on humans and feeds off them but needs something besides their blood. On that note, I also had a great appreciation for Samantha and her obsession with classical vampires.

Often times, it was hard to remember that Cass really was just a high school student and not someone that was essentially immortal and had been through this for decades rather than just...more In a time of vampire obsessions, the idea behind this book was fantastic. I loved the idea of some other creature that is dependent on humans and feeds off them but needs something besides their blood. On that note, I also had a great appreciation for Samantha and her obsession with classical vampires.

Often times, it was hard to remember that Cass really was just a high school student and not someone that was essentially immortal and had been through this for decades rather than just a few years, given her voice and her view on things. Given that, there were times I felt like things didn’t really progress in a logical way to the character, including the changes Scott introduced in her- sometimes it seemed like it changed too quickly and without any real prodding but at the same time, if everything was for love it still would seem logical.

Overall, I did like the book as well as the shifts between typical, drama filled high school and the deeper going ons of Cass’ life and family. I also thought Scott was a very adorable character and the incorporation of religion into the book was also well done- even for nonreligious readers, the addition won’t detract from the story or put it in an ill light. ( )