Review: Bloodthirsty by Flynn Meaney

Title: Bloodthirsty
Author: Flynn Meaney
Publisher: Poppy Books
Publication Date: 5 Oct 2010

Source: International Book Tours





Synopsis: From GoodReads
Some vampires are good. Some are evil. Some are faking it to get girls. Awkward and allergic to the sun, sixteen-year-old Finbar Frame never gets the girl. But when he notices that all the female students at his school are obsessed with a vampire romance novel called Bloodthirsty, Finbar decides to boldly go where no sane guy has gone before--he becomes a vampire, minus the whole blood sucking part. With his brooding nature and weirdly pale skin, it's surprisingly easy for Finbar to pretend to be paranormal. But, when he meets the one girl who just might like him for who he really is, he discovers that his life as a pseudo-vampire is more complicated than he expected. This hilarious debut novel is for anyone who believes that sometimes even nice guys-without sharp teeth or sparkly skin--can get the girl.

Review:
I would just like to say that I did read an ARC of this book and I hope the spelling errors were corrected in the final version. Some use of curse words but nothing too extreme and suited the characterisations and storyline.

Flynn Meaney manages to capture the essence of teen angst/neuroses in its purest form and yet turn it into something completely relatable and humorous.



Written in first person narrative from Finbar's (Finn's) perspective (yes really that is his name and also the cause of some series angst). At 16, Finn is a bit of a 'loser', he is so adorably geeky that I couldn't help but like him. Direct address to the reader gives the narrative an extra personal quality, my emotions were invested in whether Finn was happy/sad/angry. 

All of the characters are completely quirky and I think because of this they are very realistic, from the OCD cleaning Mum, the ADHD twin brother, the vampire obsessed goth, jocks and divas, so easy to imagine and relate their interactions. Weird and wonderful characterisations is the phrase I thought of when reading the book.


Finn is neurotic to the core providing some truly LOL moments. The realism portrayed alongside the parody of paranormal/fantasy stories worked really well together. Such an insightful look at today's pop culture and vampire/werewolf obsession, so easy to picture. The pop culture references were fantastic but did make me wonder how quickly the story would 'date'. The use of Shakespeare's Sonnets provided a lovely contrast to the pop culture.

Finn feels as if he has been living in his brothers shadow all of his life; due to his fathers promotion and subsequent move, for the first time in his life he will be going to a different school to his brother. The sibling comparisons and twin genealogy are touched upon within the narrative adding to the storyline. Finn takes this opportunity to invent a new persona for himself, without really realising that the persona he has created is more like the 'real' Finn than ever before in his life.

I think that everyone can relate to wanting to be someone else at one time or another; or even pretending to be something that we are not in order to fit in. I liked how by pretending to be something that he wasn't Finn actually found who he really was.

As his confidence grows Finn is able to view other people differently and I would say in a more positive way, becoming more sympathetic to others and a nicer person himself.

To sum up - a quick, light, nice and humorous read that appeals to both boys and girls. To twist a phrase - Geek Power [ : D ]