High School Bites (The Lucy Chronicles)

Reader reviewed by K.Hager

I loved this book! Liza Conrad has taken all the myths about vampires & turned them into a fun YA read. She tells you that the story of Dracula was real and that Lucy is a descendant of women who have been fighting and running from vampires for years. She's presented with a diary of her ancestors on her 16th birthday that explains everything...one problem. Her boyfriend is part of the family of vampires that's been after her family for years!

I only wish I had read Bram Stroker's Dracula before I began this book. I think I would have gotten more out of it that way, but yet the book is so detailed (without being boring & bogged down by detail) that you don't feel you're missing anything. This is a gret book that I'd highly recommend for anyone.

Reader reviewed by Jocelyn

Everybody who is there now or has ever been there knows that high school sucks. Anyone who says he or she enjoyed high school is either insane, blocking out all but two days of it, or lying. But for Lucy, there's more to it than her chia-pet hair, evil math teacher, or getting a driver's license. For her, high school really bites. When she turns sixteen, her father, who hasn't left the house in years (she has to carry an entire keyring to unlock the front door, with locks and keys color-coded in nail polish) gives her an unusual gift. What she gets is an old leather-bound book. It's the diary of her mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and even her great-great-grandmother. All named Lucy. The original Lucy was, apparently, a friend of Bram Stoker's. And, says Lucy's father, Bram Stoker's Dracula was a true story. Complete with Henry Irving the vampire being a real (but not exactly live) person. As well as Lucy and Mina.

That's the explanation for the weird coincidences in Lucy's life. She has a best friend named Mina. Lucy's also been having weird dreams that are the same as those described in the diary by the women who came before her. Her English teacher has just started a unit on Dracula. Oh, and her boyfriend? Vic Irving. Yeah, of the same Irving family. Can she, her friends, and her father destroy Dracula once and for all with the help of crucifixes, holy water, and garlic perfume?

High School Bites is a great, fast-paced and well-told story. There have been a ton of vampire books for young adults released recently, most of them good, and this one is no exception. If you're a fan of vampire books, this great read is definitely one to add to your collection. The characters are interesting and well-written, as well as being more than what's on the surface. There's more to it than meets the eye here, which always makes a story more interesting. Liza Conrad's writing flows nicely, and I'm definitely looking forward to her next book, The Poker Diaries, due out next March. I am also hoping for more to read in The Lucy Chronicles, and I'm sure other readers will feel the same after reading this novel!

Reader reviewed by DG

I read this book fairly quickly. I thought it was going to be a cute story about vampires in highschool and it turned out to be different. There wasn't much character development so I couldn't really get into it. I've read a couple other books by this author under her other name Erica Orloff, which were okay books too. My suggestion is to avoid reading this.

Reader reviewed by Bettina

Are vampires fact or fiction? When Lucy turns sixteen she learns a bone-chilling truth. Vampires are real and not everything in the movie and book Dracula aren't true. Vampires CAN walk in sunlight, but they'd rather not. Worst of all, Lucy finds out that she is a descendant of the Lucy featured in Dracula and there are lots of vampires living in her city, Seattle, including Dracula himself. It doesn't help either that her boyfriend is one himself. There's also a wierd twist. Mina was Lucy's friend in the movie and the Lucy featured in High School Bites has a friend also called Mina and she has a strange resemblance to the one in the movie.

Lucy learns from a diary that the original Lucy and all her female descendants(all called Lucy) kept. Lucy learns that she herself can defeat vampires and that she had special powers to do just that. Plus, she gets help from her dad. He knows about vampires and he gives her special garlic perfume specially formulated to repel vampires.

I liked this book because it had some creative ideas and the storyline twists and turns. But, parts of it were pretty boring. Overall, I think that this is a good read, but you shouldn't spend too much time on it.