Sunday, September 29, 2013

Look for Me by Moonlight

Title: Look for me by Moonlight
Author: Mary Downing Hahn
Standalone
Number of Pages: 198
Date Read: 9/28/13
Genre: Fantasy, Vampire, Paranormal



Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

When sixteen-year-old Cynda goes to stay with her father and his second wife, Susan, at their remote bed-and-breakfast inn in Maine, everything starts off well despite legends about ghosts and a murder at the inn. But Cynda feels like a visitor in Dad's new life, an outsider. Then intense, handsome stranger Vincent Morthanos arrives at the inn and seems to return Cynda's interest. At first she is blind to the subtle, insistent signs that Vincent is not what he seems-that he is, in fact, a vampire. Can Cynda free herself-and her family-from Vincent's power before it's too late? Full-bodied characterizations and page-turning suspense ensure that this eerie, riveting novel will appeal to middle school fans of mystery and horror.



My Review:

This book was ok. It wasn't the greatest vampire story out there. 

The story is about Cynda, who goes to Maine to stay with her father, stepmother and stepbrother in their inn while her mother and her mother's boyfriend go to Italy. During this time a stranger, Vincent, comes to the inn to stay for awhile. It turns out that Vincent is a vampire and has come to feed on Cynda.

This was a slow moving book. At times it was very boring. Cynda was a whiny little thing that annoyed me. She was always whining that her father didn't love her, that her stepmother always took advantage of her, that her brother got all her father's attention and that her mother was living it up in Italy without her. After awhile I was thinking "grow a pair". First off I have NO IDEA why Cynda would NOT want to go to Italy. I'd be all over that. I have been to Italy twice, once when I was 16 and this past summer (2012) and I absolutely LOVE everything about Italy. I would move there in a heartbeat of I had the chance. And Cynda REFUSED to go! That just blew me away. Second I have no idea why she would give up Italy to go to her father inn in Maine where it was winter and below zero degrees often. It was always cold and there were always snow storms. 


Anyway When Cynda meets Vincent she falls instantly in love with him. He charms and complements her an pretends to understand her problems, which she eats up. They have a little romance before Vincent reveals what he is and takes her blood. It was weird how Cynda changed in this book. She became very weak, couldn't get out of bed most of the time and became very pale. She was always cold, the sun or light in general hurt her eyes, she stopped eating and began to want blood. All this happened and Vincent WASN'T trying to change her. This is a new take on vampire mythology and it was kinda weird.

Vincent is not the type of vampire who readers see filling up Y.A. books nowadays. Vincent is a monster. He is not loving, kind or brooding. He is a true vampire monster, who takes her blood when he wants it and loves being an evil creature. He feels no love for anyone and doesn't care what happens to people. He manipulates other to get what he wants. He is very powerful, strong and of course beautiful (that hasn't changed). He pretends to love Cynda to get her where he wants her. One bite and she is powerless to stop him. She belongs to him and he can take her blood any time he wants. He also goes after Cynda's brother Todd who is just 5 years old. Vincent drinks Todd's blood and Todd is under Vincent's power as well. Vincent really is a despicable monster. When I first read this book years ago, I hated Vincent. Now re-reading this book, I still don't like him but I don't hate him like I used to. I just think that its interesting to read a book with a different kind of vampire in it. Now all vampires are loving, sexy good guys, not monsters like vampires were in the old days. This book takes you back to those old days when vampires were evil and they liked being that way. 


I liked Cynda's brother Todd. He is adorable and like any 5 year old; he wants to play, be read to and get his way. He immediately hates Vincent when he firsts sees him and calls him a bad man. Todd can tell that Vincent is evil and wants him out of the inn but no one listens to him. Then once Vincent bites him, Todd is under his spell and Todd loves him. I always feel sorry for Todd that he had to become involved in Vincent's spell. He was too little to have to face a trauma like that. 


Susan was ok for a step mother. She was pregnant and did ask Cynda for help a lot. But she truly cared for Cynda and loved her. She though of Cynda as her daughter, which was sweet. 


All in all a quick read that treats vampires as they were meant to be seen: as monsters.

Rating:
C+   




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