NOTE: I’m leaving the first negative pointer because after I read the whole book, I found an Author’s Note at the back, which I almost didn’t read, and found out that this is, indeed, a trilogy, and this is technically Book 2, but nowhere is that shared before that note at the back. Not on the cover, not in the blurb, not on the title page, or any of the front matter pages. And before anyone tells me it’s listed as a series on Goodreads, I didn’t see it on Goodreads, I saw it in physical form first and didn’t look at its Goodreads page before I started reading. Anyway, learning that, when I felt like I’d been thrust into the middle of a story (no wonder) was maddening. Then, at the end, there wasn’t a real conclusion, which made the story feel pointless. That is until I discovered—only through reading that Author’s Note—that there is another book to follow this one. Oh, wait. Is there really? Because Book 3 is not listed on Goodreads. In fact, Book 3 never happened. It doesn’t exist. (Book 1 was published in 2008, Book 2 in 2009.) That whole experience definitely ruined this story for me, a story I would’ve enjoyed far more if I had known it was part of a trilogy. Because this was part of my experience, I am leaving the first negative pointer as is.

This book regained one star each for:

3 Stars

Each story is the perfect length of 200 words for a nice quick reading snack for readers who don't have much time to read. Out of the three parts (Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies), I enjoyed the vampire stories the most. At the same time, I thought the zombie stories were the most unique, and felt bad for werewolves and everything they have to deal with (bonding to their mate, the transformation, etc). Overall, I enjoyed this collection of stories. I recommend it to vampire lovers, werewolf lovers, and zombie lovers.

A little background: I bailed on reading Twilight after the first page. (Sorry, Twihards). Out of boredom and morbid curiosity, I recently watched all the movies (after seeing someone share her live reactions in her IG stories to reading the first book), so I thought reading a parody was just the thing for me. 

This book is cringe-worthy and Belle is incredibly dumb, which *is* the point. I found myself snorting at several things. Yes, I actually snorted out loud several times. And even chuckled a couple of times. I enjoyed reading and catching on to the little digs at the books/movies. There could've been way more, though. A few things did not make sense to me-at all-and were just plain weird, but I did appreciate this parody for what it was trying to do/did.

One of my favorite lines was: "I was finally about to ask him if he liked me for me or for my paper cuts..."

I'm not sure I can figure out a rating for this, so I'll leave that blank.

This is a great story about a multi-generational family and how what your parents and grandparents go through (especially if they lived during times of war and in a war-torn country) could impact later generations. I didn’t know much about the Vietnam War and Vietnamese history. I appreciate this graphic novel for sharing stories about people who lived these experiences.

I was watching season two of Pose when I remembered that I owned a copy of this book. I appreciated a look into what it’s like for young people with HIV/AIDS. Emmy was four when she was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Now she’s thirteen. She experiences all the phases of grief throughout this story after losing her mom to AIDS.

This book was published in 2009. I want to point out the use of the phrase “Indian style” for sitting cross-legged and a conversation between the main character and her mom’s best friend (Lisa) about an “Indian name” for Lisa’s baby being “Chief Fist to Face” because of how the baby sits. As well as: “He was born to be a chief.” These are white characters saying these things, which makes it problematic.

I read this right after reading the novel in verse. This was very good, but I definitely recommend the novel because it’s beautiful and heartbreaking and chilling all at once. The illustrations for the graphic novel are amazing, though, exactly what I pictured but also very dark and bold.