Anita Barnes Lowen (Children's Literature)
The life of a vampire is anything but easy or glamorous. Just ask Nina, who was “infected” years ago at age fifteen. It means living with your mother, reluctantly attending a weekly vampire support group and draining guinea pigs for dinner (messy and better left behind the bathroom door). All in all, it is a tedious and wearisome existence. Then, one of their own is discovered...dead...destroyed...his coffin filled with ashes, a wooden stake and a silver bullet. The silver bullet is their only clue, but it leads them not only to the nerdy vampire slayer responsible for Casimir's death but to a bloody and lucrative father-and-son enterprise. This is a thoroughly entertaining read filled with eccentric characters who navigate the twists and turns of a clever plot to discover that their lives may have more meaning than they ever thought possible. And despite all the "blooding, and vomiting, and dead guinea pigs, and bad breath, and hemorrhages, and dizzy spells," the characters here are doing their best. What more can be expected from any normal human beings? Recommended. 2009, Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.00. Ages 13 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2009 (Vol. 77, No. 6))
Narrator Nina, "fanged" 35 years ago at age 15, supports herself by writing sexy vampire novels, but in fact she and her fellow Australian vampires (all seven of them) suffer from chronic nausea and extreme light sensitivity (which results in frequent eye hemorrhages), and subsist on animal blood and supplements devised by the 19th-century doctor in the group. When the barely reformed vampire who infected Nina is killed, she, rocker-vamp Dave (the liveliest of the bunch) and their human priest set off to find the killer but instead find a captive werewolf, a nerdy vampire slayer and—for Nina and Dave—a chance at love. Nina's whininess may be off-putting but her growth rings true for a stunted adolescent, and Jinks's quirky sense of humor will appeal to fans of her Evil Genius series. Those tired of torrid bloodsucker stories or looking for a comic riff on the trend will feel refreshed by the vomitous, guinea-pig–drinking accidental heroics of Nina and her pals. 2009, Harcourt, 368p, $17.00. Category: Fantasy. Ages 12 up. © 2009 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, June 2009 (Vol. 62, No. 10))
Staked through the heart and plugged by a silver bullet, vampire Casimir Kucynski is deader than dead, and that’s very bad news for the other members in the vampire support group that meets weekly with Father Ramon at St. Agatha’s in Sydney. It means there’s a wacko on the loose who doesn’t realize that vampires are pitiable sufferers from what amounts to a chronic debilitating illness and who, with self discipline and adequate oversight, are no particular threat to their fellow citizens. Fifteen-year-old (okay, technically more like fifty-year-old) Nina has spent the decades since she was “fanged” holing up in her mother’s house and writing wildly imaginative Zadia Bloodstone vampire novels. Aware that her inaccurate and irresponsible portrayal of vampire life may be fanning the passions of the anti-vampire set, she reluctantly accepts a mission to help track down Casimir’s killer, and as she warms to the task, she even finds true romance with a moody ex-rocker vampire of her own age, er, ages. Jinks takes readers on a wild ride, poking wicked fun at vampire enthusiasts of all stripes with her wryly clinical take on the malady, consistently couched in the argot of infectious-disease educators. Toss in a sexy werewolf, several dastardly werewolf fight promoters, a vampire hunter who now sees the error of his ways, a rogue vampire who can’t keep his fangs to himself, and a host of deftly individuated vampires just trying to keep on keeping on, and you have a first-rate comedy with equal appeal for avid vampire fans and those who wouldn’t be caught dead with a copy of Twilight Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2009, Harcourt, 368p.; Reviewed from galleys, $17.00. Grades 6-10.

Hilary Crew (VOYA, October 2009 (Vol. 32, No. 4))
Nina, fanged by Casimir when she was fifteen years old, knows that vampires are nothing like Zadia Bloodstone, heroine of the vampire romances she writes. Nina, now fifty-one, lives in fear of vampire slayers and belongs to Father Ramon’s reform group. Vowing to eschew human blood--a pledge made possible by their ingestion of an enzyme supplement--Nina and the motley crew of vampires feed on guinea pigs. Nina’s boring life in her mother’s house changes when Casimir’s ashes are found, along with a silver bullet, and she takes part in tracking down his murderer. The trail leads the vampires to the Australian outback where they become embroiled with the McKinnons who are operating werewolf fights. In the midst of saving teenage werewolf Reuben and dealing with slayer Nefly who becomes an ally, one of the vampires, Horace, breaks his vow and infects two more humans. Jink’s romance has an action-packed, fastmoving plot that becomes increasingly complicated. The novel’s strength is in the diverse vampire characters, including Horace with his ridiculous vampire outfit; Sanford, a doctor and organizer; and Dave, a former band musician who is in love with Nina and turns into a hero. Nina’s long-suffering, non-vampire mother is well drawn, but Father Ramon is unbelievably saintly. Nina’s first-person narration provides, in a mix of humor and the grotesque, details of the physiological changes (intestinal) and necessary adjustments that she makes in accepting her life as a vampire. This one is sure to be popular among vampire fans. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 368p., $17. Ages 11 to 14.