This book would have been so much more interesting had the protagonist actually been a blood-drinking vampire who was a type-one, insulin-dependent diabetic. Instead, she is a miserable, long-suffering brat who gripes and mopes. A huge plot point in the book is her computer being taken away. She used to be a model student and cheery, but is suddenly, as a friend of mine puts it, bitten by the teenage virus. There's a pun in there, somehow, and it's unintentional because this book is so boring and annoying. Goth kids are regularly ripped on. I read reviews on here and someone remarked it was the "I'm so goth I'm not goth" phenomenon. Oh, that. I was a teenager when this book takes place. Early 2000s; go ahead and do whatever with that information. The "so goth I am not" was a stupid remark that maybe one goth kid in my school made. Maybe it's a regional thing. As an adult, I describe myself as "I've been painting my nails black since I was twelve, know all the lyrics to Evanescence's 'Fallen' album, and all the stereotypes that come with that." I feel like the word "goth" is unspoken in there. Show don't tell.

So, this griping teenager is an insulin-dependent diabetic. She talks about it a lot, and in realistic ways. The author is excellent at writing a griping, chronically ill teenager to the point that I was weirded out. I have a disease that is similar to type one diabetes, so reading about what this teenager goes through was really uncomfortable. Nearly everything she's experienced, I have too. Her parents are in a lot of ways, just normal parents and she hates them anyway. Normal, caring nicknames are capitalized because It's Clearly Weird to Call Someone Sweetie Honey Sugar. She makes commentary linking it to her diabetes, and wow, she reminds me of me as a teenager. That's not a compliment. I'm so glad I grew up into a different person. But her parents are also breathtakingly ableist. I legit gasped. She uses a slur for a physically disabled person ("diseased cripple") at some point and wow, shut it. You disgusting brat, if you're gonna insult yourself for being disabled, understand that "cripple" means broadly "the way this person moves is apparently worthy of insult." Nothing to do with an auto-immune disease, or as it's known in the disability community, an invisible disability. At the end, her doctor arranges for her to get someone to educate her on her diabetes and I fully admit, I was a little jealous of this fictional character I dislike immensely.

There's a weird wannabe love triangle in here. It wasn't examined at all. The author might not have known how to write it effectively, or was more likely too afraid to take risks with it. The sparkly vampire series wasn't out yet, so it has nothing to do with that. There's a subplot with a creepy middle-aged dude who...breeds monarch butterflies and he gives Lucy a hatchling without her knowledge. That was creepy. Tell her it's an animal so she can take care of it. There's quite a bit of stuff that goes on with this guy, and it--makes me wonder if the author was trying to warn disaffected teen girls or something. Whatever he was trying to do, he did it poorly because it was so vague.

Teens, please don't hang out with middle-aged dudes. You will realize the following once you are actually an adult: You're not mature for your age or an old soul; you are a normal teenager and these grown men are trying to get you. Ask yourself why they can't find grown women their own age. I was a creepy, highly intelligent and very ill child. I got called an old soul a lot and it made me mad. Twenty-five years later, someone explained adults will just say that about creepy kids when they can't bring themselves to say "this child makes me uncomfortable." I grew into my intelligence and my illnesses, and learned how to "balance" my creepiness I guess. I calmed down a lot once I grew up, around twenty-two years old. Definitely by twenty-five. I was thinking about this while I was reading: I'm so glad I grew up and am not a kid anymore.

So, there was an interesting concept that the author did nothing with. There's no vampire with a blood sugar disorder, just a griping teenager who is preyed upon by an adult man, and she tries to navigate her chronic illness and her ableist parents. I might try to write a short story about someone who actually does have the disorder but drinks blood; write this to make myself feel better. Skim this book except for the parts about type one diabetes. ( )

- Lucy is undead. Well, she’s not really a vampire, but as a diabetic, modern medicine has saved her life, so centuries ago, she would have been long dead by now. This year, high school is boring her to tears, and she’s close to failing, which is freaking her parents and teachers out, since she did so well last year, but the only thing that interests Lucy is black clothing, the vampire chat rooms she frequents, and one fellow chatter, whose chat name is ‘Draco’. Draco is unlike the others who occupy the online chat rooms in that he actually seems to know what he’s talking about—he might actually be a vampire. And when Lucy meets Draco in person, she must decide how much her health, and life, are worth to her… ( )

This is probably one of the most interesting vampire books I've ever read. It's the first one that gives a reasonable, logical - and even historical - explanation for the existence of vampires, and that gave it a whole new level of realism that I really enjoyed. For those who like the traditional, mysterious, supernatural vampire, this is not a book for you. If you like the idea of unmedicated diabetics as vampires, you'll love this. ( )

I really loved this book when I read it. I loved how I was able to relate to the main character. This is a book think I could read over and over. It also seem's like a perfect book for those of us coming of age. ( )

Summary
Lucy Szabo, a diabetic, is into the goth/vampire scene. She frequently haunts a vampire chatroom, and is engrossed in one Draco, a member who claims to be an actual vampire. She begins to let her life crumble as she goes deeper into the vampiric rabbithole, with her grades falling and her relationship with her parents failing—to say nothing of her (in)ability to regulate her blood sugar. Things don’t look good for the young miss—can she climb back up before it’s too late?

Personal Opine
This book is more apropos for teens, and in that regard it is spectacular. It deals with the strain one’s relationship with their parents can go through, the alluring call of sketchier sides of life (not a metaphor for drugs, honest!), and despite the subtitle and one Draco, it all stays within the real world and doesn’t get crazy. And plus, it informs and teaches about life with Diabetes. I highly recommend this book for the fresh teens, or those wanting to get into fresh teen’s heads. And hey, with the twilight craze, it’d be easy to get them to read about vampires!

Class extension ideas
1. For fun, discuss Lucy’s “Diabetics were the original Vampires” essay and see what they think.
2. Have the students write a paper about times their parental relationships have been strained and how they dealt with it. ( )