Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever.
by Caissie St. Onge
Genre:
Paranormal/Vampire/Humor
Reading Grade: Young
Adult
Publishing Type:
traditional
Publication Date: May 10,
2011
Source: public library
Age Rating: 13+
For Jane Jones,
being a vampire is nothing like you read about in books. In fact, it
kind of sucks. She's not beautiful, she's not rich, and she doesn't
"sparkle." She's just an average, slightly nerdy girl from
an ordinary suburban family (who happens to be vampires.) Jane's from
the wrong side of the tracks (not to mention stuck in the world's
longest awkward phase), so she doesn't fit in with the cool vampire
kids at school or with the humans kids. To top it all off, she's
battling an overprotective mom, a clique of high school mean girls
(the kind who really do have fangs), and the most embarrassing
allergy in the history of the undead, she's blood intolerant.
So no one's more
surprised than Jane when for the first time in her life, things start
to heat up (as much as they can for a walking corpse, anyway) with
not one, but two boys. Eli's a geeky, but cute real-live boy in her
history class, and Timothy is a beautiful, brooding bloodsucker, who
might just hold the key to a possible "cure" for vampirism.
Facing an eternity of high school pressure, fumbling first dates, or
a mere lifetime together with Timothy, what's a 90-something year-old
teen vampire to do?
My Review
How do I begin to write
about how funny and clever this little novel was? I'm going to have
to do my best. Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever. sounded like
a hilarious title, and, although not a raucous knee-slapper ever
other line, it was still overall witty and full of comedic, lovable
characters that shaped it into a fun, fast read. I found myself
enjoying this title so much, I wanted the judge at the hearing I had
to attend in support of my sister to be quiet so I could concentrate
on it!
This story's true
strength was its characters. Jane was sarcastic in order to deal with
living life as a perpetually rejected teenager with no hope of ever
growing out of her eternal awkward phase. Her mother was hysterical
and overprotective, and I found myself feeling sorry for Jane for
being bound to her as her child, and treated like one, forever. That
is not fun, especially when you've been around for 90-some-odd years,
but it was easy to laugh about it here. Even her little genius,
perpetually 10-year-old brother, Zachary, was adorable while still
irritating her all the time.
Astrid filled the role of
the high school mean girl, but in this case, she happened to be a
vampire, too, and she loved to make Jane's life miserable. She came
off as more hilarious than cliché, which was a nice surprise.
But, my favorite
character had to be Timothy, the old calligraphy-writing vampire who
looked like a 17-year-old pin-up with a “perfect pouty pout”. At
first, he just talked like any other funny guy his apparent age, but
when he started talking like a centuries-old vampire who lives in a
castle on a nearby hill, I started rolling on the floor. That was
genius comedy, and Jane's reaction to it was hilarious:
“I unfolded the second
sheet [of Timothy's letter], expecting more of Timothy's calligraphy
saying something along the lines of, 'Dearest Jane, I am still
awaiting your answer. Please remit forthwith. Ceaselessly, Timothy.'”
- from page 164
What I wasn't expecting
was a great plot that had quite a fitting ending, albeit abrupt,
tying up all loose ends and making Jane out to be the deserved
heroine of her own story. This was such a great book to spend a day
reading. I highly recommend it to those who not only love vampire
lore, but the occasional story that pokes fun at it a bit, while also
making fun of the types of real life people we see everyday.
My score: 5 out of 5
stars.
