{REVIEW} FANG GIRL by HELEN KEEBLE

Series: N/A
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: Sept.11, 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Source: Received from author for review.

Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:

1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.

And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.

Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....

Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.

Why I Chose to Read Fang Girl:  I first this book at Book Loving Mom. The author left a comment offering a book for review and I quickly hopped on the chance!

A hilarious and out-of-control story of a newly turned teen vamp, Fang Girl is a story that will keep you laughing from cover to cover.

I must start by saying, Fang Girl will not hit the right notes for all readers. Those who take their vampires absolutely seriously and will not stand for a parody will most likely roll their eyes at Fang Girl. I, however, am not that reader. Sure, I take my favorite vampire stories very seriously, but I can also appreciate a comedic take on the genre as well.

When Xanthe Jane Greene wakes up in a coffin, she's understandably curious as to how this came to be. What helps Jane cope is that she is an avid member of the vampire blogging community. She's watched all the movies, reads the books and the fanfic, participates in forums...Jane knows her vamps well enough to recognize when she becomes one, even if she never believed they were actually real. Jane immediately sets out to reconnect with her family, find her sire and why she was turned, and avoid the vampire hunters who lurk in the night. This sets Jane on a action-packed hilarious adventure that will test her new abilities and her loyalties.

What made Fang Girl fun for me, besides Keeble's hysterical narrative, is that there are a lot of elements from other recognizable vampire series. I loved the dhampir vampire hunter Van Helsing (used two HUGE elements in that one character!). Another is the fact that vampires are obsessive-compulsive (much like the WVMP Radio series). I don't know that this was the intention, but I recognized it, and considered the usage as a shout-out.

I will admit the middle of the story did drag a bit, for me. I was also a bit confused as to who was the good/bad guy, the mystery of the two big power players, and, Jane's "creation" defied all logic, which is weird considering that I'm debating the logic of a vampire story. Oddly enough, it all worked.

Funny, inventive, and surprising, Fang Girl is a great choice if you're reading for a change from the norm.


Favorite Quote:  (This is a long one, but really great.)

"It didn't knock the breath out of me, seeing as how I wasn't breathing to start with, but I did have to spend a few minutes lying flat on my back, convincing myself that I wasn't dead. Or rather, deader. Sitting up, I prodded at my ribs, but nothing seemed broken. I was lucky that it had been a rail fence, rather than a barbed wire, or I would have shredded myself into vampire linguine. I was even luckier to have caught myself across one of the horizontal rails- a foot to the left, and I would have hurled myself onto an upright support. Staking myself on my first night as a vampire would have been terminally embarrassing." (pg.6)

You can purchase Fang Girl at:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Book Depository