Bloodthirsty

What is it that attracts teenage girls, and grown women, to vampires? They’re pale and brooding, with strange eyes, not tanned and athletic. But they’re somehow also mysterious and sexy. So when a girl on the subway mistakes Finbar for a real-life vampire, he sees it as an opportunity to create

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a new identity. Time for this bullied geek who is allergic to the sun to finally start to get the girls.

Moving to a new city and starting over at a new school where no one knows him gives Finbar the opportunity to set his plan in motion. At first it works. Hiding behind the vampire persona he has created, Finbar is able to relax and, ironically, be himself. After all, a vampire doesn't worry about the impressions he makes. Girls like him simply because he is a vampire. He makes friends, finds the nerve to stand up to a bully, and brazenly points out the sexual content of a poem in class. But not everything goes smoothly as freshmen girls start trying to attack him with garlic and he's chased by vampire hunters at a fantasy convention. And what's up with Kate, who seems to like him but doesn't seem to believe the vampire image?

In Bloodthirsty, Meaney creates an enjoyable send up of the vampire craze. But this book is much more than a simple satire. Teens will relate to the themes of peer pressure, fitting in, to party or not to party, and trying to figure out who you really are. Finbar's not the only one hiding behind a facade in an effort to fit in. All in all, this book is a fun read that explores real teenage concerns in a light-hearted way.

Disclaimer: I received this book as a free Advance Reader Copy from Hachette Book Group.

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Sixteen year old Finbar Frame is tall, pale and geeky. When he switches high schools he decides he will capitalize on the vampire craze and his newly-diagnosed allergy to the sun by reinventing himself as a vampire with mixed results. A sweet and funny story, marred only by the heavy reliance on

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pop-culture references which will date the book prematurely. Recommended.

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A story of a gawky teenage boy finds a way to attract girls by mimicking the trendy vampires in novels. The book seamed interesting and fun, but slowly became tedious and boring. And the topping on the cake was the total inaccuracy of having the Public Librarian hinder Finbar from checking out a

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book, citing that the book had a Parental Advisory category that would meant the librarian had to call his parents. Being a public librarian myself, I felt this was such a gross inaccuracy of our profession.

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Finbar has come to terms with the fact that he's skinny, pale and unpopular, and the complete opposite of his dashing twin brother. Unfortunately, he can't get over the wish to have a girlfriend, so when his parents move him and his brother to a new city and new schools, Finbar decides to reinvent

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himself as a vampire, banking on pop culture's recent vamp obsession to get him the girl.

This was fun, though light. Finbar learns to accept himself (of course), with a couple of hiccups along the way, and yes, he gets the girl. Other than that...not much here. *Shrug*

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The book was funny. That is it's strongest feature.

Other than that, I found it a bit shallow and hollow. The main character does grow and learn throughout, but only a bit and mostly on the surface. The secondary characters are all fairly card-boardy.

I also got the feeling that the author was trying

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to be satirical about YA vampire type books but hadn't actually read that many of them. It came across as mocking from a distance but without being as familiar with the source material as he probably should have been. This was particularly evident in the book the girls in the story are swooning over (called "Bloodthirsty"). The fictional book was apparently Victorian era vampiric erotica which... does not really resemble the super-popular books he probably intended to target. That seemed a little odd. (Although he does mention Twilight more than once, there was a Harry Potter reference which made me think the author hadn't actually seen the movies.)

Anyway, it was funny and it was short. Don't bother if the idea of spending however many pages in the head of a teenage boy doesn't appeal (it didn't to me).

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I had a lot of fun with this book, like I haven't in a long time.

Now, as I was reading it, I could tell it wouldn't be something that would survive a rereading. The voice, as a teenage boy, is a little iffy and the characters aren't particularly complex.

This isn't something that will last the ages,

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or even much more than a year, with all the pop culture references that even I caught.

However, while the voice may not have convinced me, I fell for its turn of phrase. Even the simple characters had individual twists enough that they didn't feel like cardboard cutouts.

All in all, it's not brilliant, but if you can go along with the premise and take it as is, a comedy almost in the vein of P.G. Wodehouse.

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This book was hilarious pretty much the entire way through! I think it took me longer to read because I had to pause to laugh so many times. The protagonist is Finbar Frame, a 16-year-old boy, also called “Finn”. He goes to an all-boys Catholic school in Indiana and is basically considered a

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total loser/geek. He has no friends, and to top it off, he has a very good-looking, popular jock fraternal twin brother named Luke who is his opposite in every way. That's so not fair!

They move to New York City for their junior year of high school, and, thankfully, he and Luke end up going to different schools. Finbar starts to notice that vampire romance fiction is really, really popular with all the girls at school ('cause it's in everyone's face 24/7. Even we know how that is). He also notices how a few not-so-right-in-the-head girls actually believe vampires exist. Or, at least, they can be made to believe that quite easily. He decides to use his own weaknesses, very pale skin, being a loner, having a sun allergy, to create an opportunity to make the girls at his new school believe he is a real vampire. This guy's out to get some tail however he can.

He ends up making some friends-that-are-girls for the first time in his life, and discovers something perfectly befitting the after-school special: that your real friends will always like you for who you are on the inside. Aww... But, it really is a great story. The characters are colorful and realistic. Finn is super funny and his mom is hysterical—nearly worthwhile enough to make me read the book solely for her (although, she's a minor character).

This book is great for those who hate vampire fiction and are tired of the Twilight fad. But, it's also great for those who love it, so long as they don't take their sparkly vamps too seriously.

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I can't believe no one has used this premise before: Finbar Frame, pale, bookish high school student, discovers all the girls at his school are obsessed with a vampire book/movie called Bloodthirsty and decides to pretend he's a vampire in order to attract girls.

The clever premise and the author's

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authentic, funny teen boy voice sustain the book long enough to keep it satisfying. I do wish it had gone in less predictable directions a couple times, and though the lack of resolution in some characters' subplots clashed with the tone of the ending. But: cute, clever, and genuine, which is more than you can say for a lot of books.

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I can't believe no one has used this premise before: Finbar Frame, pale, bookish high school student, discovers all the girls at his school are obsessed with a vampire book/movie called Bloodthirsty and decides to pretend he's a vampire in order to attract girls.

The clever premise and the author's

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authentic, funny teen boy voice sustain the book long enough to keep it satisfying. I do wish it had gone in less predictable directions a couple times, and though the lack of resolution in some characters' subplots clashed with the tone of the ending. But: cute, clever, and genuine, which is more than you can say for a lot of books.

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Funny and quirky! Great little book about a boy using the faux-vampire mystique in order to become cooler and attract girls.

Characters: I really liked Finbar. He is very sweet, smart, and extremely observant. He went from being the awkward, nerdy boy that all the other guys liked to pick on to being the confident, school badass that people were afraid to mess with. His transformation happened quickly, but was completely

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believable. He meets two completely different girls at his new school and they each help him realize that being himself is all he needs to make people like him. All of the characters in the story really help him realize this.

Plot: I’m not going to lie, I’m starting to get a little tired of all the YA vampire books because that’s pretty much all anyone will write about these days. I was a little hesitant to read this one, but I’m definitely happy that I finally decided to pick it up because it was completely different from what I had expected. The main character is a “vampire”, but that is only a small part of the overall story. He is just a normal teenage boy trying to figure out who he is and where he fits in. The only reason he even becomes a “vampire” is to get girls, but he soon realizes that it was a dumb idea when his plan backfires. Other than this, the book has nothing at all to do with vampires. It was fun to read about his adventures, but some of his thoughts should have been a little more censored. I didn’t need to know what he did in the shower or that he had a thing for librarians, lol.

Cover: The cover is so cute! When you look at it you know the book is going to be about vampires, but at the same time you get this feeling that it might not be. It has a very playful aspect to it.

Overall Impression: This was a really refreshing read and a very different take on the traditional vampire story. It has a great message; be who you are because that is who people will like, not some made up persona. I think that people who like, as well as people who dislike, vampire stories will enjoy this book.

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This was a fun, silly read about trying to fit in and learning who you really are. Finbar and his twin brother Luke are polar opposites. Luke is an athlete that suffers from a.d.d. Finbar is brain allergic to the sun. Finbar's sun allergy and the current vampire craze give him an idea, after they

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move to New York he decides to reinvent himself as a vampire. Finbar kind of grows into himself as the rumor that he's a vampire spreads. The lengths Finbar will sometimes go to are pretty funny and it's a cute read that tries to establish the concept of being yourself.

I want to make a note that it was nice to see a teen in a teen book reading teen fiction and not just classics or poetry. Yes, Finbar likes poetry, but he's also read the Harry Potter books and goes through the entire Stephanie Myers series in a weekend to study up on the vampire craze.

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This was a fun, silly read about trying to fit in and learning who you really are. Finbar and his twin brother Luke are polar opposites. Luke is an athlete that suffers from a.d.d. Finbar is brain allergic to the sun. Finbar's sun allergy and the current vampire craze give him an idea, after they

Show More

move to New York he decides to reinvent himself as a vampire. Finbar kind of grows into himself as the rumor that he's a vampire spreads. The lengths Finbar will sometimes go to are pretty funny and it's a cute read that tries to establish the concept of being yourself.

I want to make a note that it was nice to see a teen in a teen book reading teen fiction and not just classics or poetry. Yes, Finbar likes poetry, but he's also read the Harry Potter books and goes through the entire Stephanie Myers series in a weekend to study up on the vampire craze.

Show Less

This was a fun, silly read about trying to fit in and learning who you really are. Finbar and his twin brother Luke are polar opposites. Luke is an athlete that suffers from a.d.d. Finbar is brain allergic to the sun. Finbar's sun allergy and the current vampire craze give him an idea, after they

Show More

move to New York he decides to reinvent himself as a vampire. Finbar kind of grows into himself as the rumor that he's a vampire spreads. The lengths Finbar will sometimes go to are pretty funny and it's a cute read that tries to establish the concept of being yourself.

I want to make a note that it was nice to see a teen in a teen book reading teen fiction and not just classics or poetry. Yes, Finbar likes poetry, but he's also read the Harry Potter books and goes through the entire Stephanie Myers series in a weekend to study up on the vampire craze.

Show Less

This was a fun, silly read about trying to fit in and learning who you really are. Finbar and his twin brother Luke are polar opposites. Luke is an athlete that suffers from a.d.d. Finbar is brain allergic to the sun. Finbar's sun allergy and the current vampire craze give him an idea, after they

Show More

move to New York he decides to reinvent himself as a vampire. Finbar kind of grows into himself as the rumor that he's a vampire spreads. The lengths Finbar will sometimes go to are pretty funny and it's a cute read that tries to establish the concept of being yourself.

I want to make a note that it was nice to see a teen in a teen book reading teen fiction and not just classics or poetry. Yes, Finbar likes poetry, but he's also read the Harry Potter books and goes through the entire Stephanie Myers series in a weekend to study up on the vampire craze.

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Finbar Flame and his family have just moved to New York from Indiana, and he’s attending the public high school instead of a private Catholic all-boys school. While his fraternal twin, Luke, is a football hero, tan and muscled, and always gets plenty of girls, Finn never gets the girl. The

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opposite of Luke,
He is awkward and very pale – he’s actually allergic to the sun. So Finn spends a lot of time brooding about his situation, until a girl on the subway whispers that she “knows” what he is … a vampire. Suddenly he’s aware that every teenage girl is obsessed with vampires, and thinks they’re “hot.” So, he figures he can use that to his advantage.

This is a very enjoyable YA novel of one teen’s efforts to make himself into the man he wants to be. Along the way he learns some important lessons about being true to yourself. I like how Meaney structures the story. I really liked Finn and most of the other teens (minus the obligatory bully, of course). Not all of Finn’s plans work out the way he thinks they will, but some happy coincidences help him adjust and find his place in the social whirl that is high school. The adult characters are pretty one-dimensional, but most teens will recognize such people in their own lives. My only complaint was the cover – a white “smiley-face” heart with fangs and a drop of blood against a black background. I was afraid to be caught reading it in public!

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Bloodthirsty is a zeroth novel that has seen print. To elaborate: there's the first novel, which is released and -- with luck -- sets the stage for a prosperous writing career to follow. And then there is the zeroth novel, which is written before the first novel, but fails to find an agent or a

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publisher. For good reason. Most authors have a zeroth novel, which embodies everything they don't yet know how to do right. I do, and most of my writing friends do as well. If it's not a novel, it's a collection of unfinished stories and juvenalia, which likewise demonstrates severe deficiencies in craftsmanship. Ask my parents, who had three kids, of which I am the oldest: the first one is where you make all your mistakes.

This isn't a bad thing. Writing, like any creative endeavor, is one that has to be developed. Early on, you make mistakes. And you have to make those mistakes to realize your weaknesses and improve or compensate for them in the future. But in can be embarrassing to have them in print, because for all the care and enthusiasm you put into it, the zeroth novel is inevitably you at your clumsiest and most ignorant.

You think I'm going to bash Bloodthirsty now, don't you? Think again.

Read the full review at Lupines and Lunatics

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YA,(3.5) It was funny, hitting on all the current trends in our supernatural pop culture. The main character is a teen boy that has to try to fit in in a world that seems to value everything he is not. He notices that the girls are all reading vampire stories and decides he will become a vampire.

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he does all the research, watches all the shows and goes out into the world, tripping and stumbling. There where quite a few LOL moments, great for the teen.

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