4 feather #bookreview of CLUB NUMBER FIVE by Jennifer Loiske

CLUB NUMBER FIVE by Jennifer Loiske

Publisher: Rogue House (September 2, 2012)

Pages: 212

GENERE: Young Adult/Paranormal & Urban

BLURB:

Part One of Immortal Blood Series.

Samantha Green wanted nothing but to be normal, have a shallow life with smoking hot Jonathan Blake and an unforgettable senior year at Regents East High. But one morning she wakes up as a vampire. She has no idea who bit her or why. All she knows is she didn’t want it. Now her new life is full of secrets, deceit and fear, not to mention raw meatballs and red nectar that is definitely something else besides strawberry juice. Samantha tries to act normal. She pretends to like her mom’s chicken salad, goes to school and learns how to survive on her own, but what can she do when she finds herself inside of a devious conspiracy, strikingly fast hunters, secret clubs and mouthwateringly gorgeous boys and the only food she can catch is her best friend, Kate Walker’s, wrist?

MY REVIEW:

Ever since I featured a Chapter Excerpt from this book on my blog, I’ve been dying to read it, but other books kept getting pushed to the top of my TBR list.  Club Number Five is one of hundreds of young-teen-meets-vampires books that became popular after the Twilight and The Vampire Diaries sagas.  Not saying there’s anything wrong with that.  These types of books have a huge following, and are not just for teens.  I’ve never read/seen Twilight, but I got hooked on The Vampire Diaries.  Unfortunately, so many of these copy-cat books follow the same typical storyline.  Not this one.  This story starts with Samantha waking up, knowing she’s been bitten.  But who bit her?  She didn’t even know vampires existed.  She’d been stalking the hunky boy (Jonathan Blake) from her class (aren’t they always hunky?) when she was attacked by an unknown assailant.  As she tries to figure out what being a vampire entails, finding our who her maker is, and dodging her best friend Kate, she’s also putting herself in danger from the Hunters. As Sam comes to terms with being turned (kicking & screaming the whole way), understanding her true predatory nature, she also finds out a shocking truth about Kate and her family.

Of course, there can’t be a true vampire story without a love triangle.  In this case it’s between Sam, Jonathan, and Dane, who are cousins.  Between the two of them, I was rooting for Jonathan.  But as the story progressed, I could see more merit with Dane.  Since this story ended with a cliffhanger, which I’m not fond of, the bottle could stop on either one of them, or neither.  I say that, because even though the story ends abruptly, Loiske did give us three chapters of the next book.  A nice ploy, and now I have to read that one, when I have time. 

The writing is pretty straightforward and simple, told in first person thru Samantha’s eyes.  Some people don’t like First Person, but I feel that POV really helps the reader connect with the character.  The secondary characters are just as well-written and developed.  It’s a fast-paced read, with plenty of action and intrigue.  I did think sometimes Sam came off as a little spoiled, but then, how would I feel if I were turned against my will?  I also thought it odd when Sam and Dane were arguing in her bedroom, her parents didn’t hear them.  Especially since there was throwing and smashing of items.  And maybe that’s something that could’ve been developed better.  Her family is more like a shadow family, just in the background.  We really don’t get to know who they are, how they’re reacting to their daughter just up and disappearing.  Maybe that comes out in a later book, when the story isn’t written in first person.

My only complaint about the book, other than the cliffhanger, was the overuse of words like ‘flashed,’ ‘growled,’ ‘hissed,’ etc. 

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend this staring series for people who love the Twilight saga.  This book is suitable for young adults, but I’m not sure if that changes as the series progresses.  I give my 4 feathers.

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