Belle Morte

April 1, 2022

Gr 10 Up-In a world where vampires are A-List celebrities, everyone is clamoring to be chosen to serve as a donor (a willing blood source). When Renie's sister June, a recent donor in the Belle Morte house, abruptly stops writing home, Renie applies and is chosen as a donor in hopes of finding out what happened to her. As Renie falls deeper into the complexities of the vampire lifestyle, she feels an undeniable pull toward Edmond Dant�s, whose status as a vampire makes him off-limits for anything but blood donations. But Renie didn't bargain for the depth of the secrets she'd encounter, or for the danger that might lurk in uncovering the truth, and Edmond may be the only one who can help her find her sister and save herself. Lush descriptions of the setting and characters (especially their clothing) and detailed worldbuilding create an atmospheric place in readers' mind. After a somewhat circular and repetitious start, a comfortably predictable resolution to June's whereabouts leads to a more quickly paced second half of the book. Although Edmond and Renie's insta-love would have been served well by a more slowly developed relationship, he hits all the high points of a brooding, handsome, darkly magnetic vampire love interest. Questions of consent and power differential between an actual teenager and a centuries-old vampire "teenager" notwithstanding, the intimacy between Renie and Edmond is heated and emotional. An open bar being available to the donors and many adult side characters make this a better choice for older readers. VERDICT Recommended for libraries with voracious vampire aficionados and those where Twilight and Vampire Academy are still popular.-Allie Stevens

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May 13, 2022
Grades 9-12 In a world where vampire covens are famous and fawned over, Renie doesn't understand the appeal, let alone the desire, to serve as a human "donor" to these celebrity creatures of the night. While her friends are excited to meet the vampires, Renie's intentions are a bit murkier: she's visiting Belle Morte, one of the five vampire mansions, to investigate what happened to her missing sister. She must evade the suspicions of both the Vladdicts and the vampires themselves, some of whom have taken a mysterious interest in her, to unearth the truth about her sister and escape the house of "beautiful death."" Higgin's intriguing take on humans' fascination with vampires takes a dark, twisting turn in this Gothic novel. Renie doesn't want the vampires' blood money, and she certainly doesn't want to attract the attention of one particular member of the undead, Edmond Dant�s, but her mission in the house unravels as she grows closer to the vampires and learns their secrets. This fresh, suspenseful take on the genre, with its intricately crafted characters and gorgeous settings, will have readers eager to get to the end of the trail, worried that Renie may not be able to leave the house of Belle Morte in one piece.

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August 8, 2022
Eighteen-year-old Renie Mayfield is determined to save her older sister, June, from vampires, following June’s sudden disappearance in Higgin’s beguiling debut, a series opener. After getting accepted as a blood donor at one of London’s premiere vampire houses, where the immortal beings live and are treated like A-list celebrities, June is offered fame and more money than she and Renie have ever had. But when June goes missing, Renie, resolved to find out what happened, applies and is accepted as a donor at the same house. No one will answer her about June’s whereabouts, including the other donors, and several of the vampires-in-residence appear haunted by secrets—particularly enigmatic, centuries-old Edmund. Acting on their mutual attraction would violate Renie’s contract, but she finds him impossible to resist. Renie and Edmund’s centuries-wide age gap and the resulting unbalanced power dynamics are only moderately explored. Though a shallow plot sometimes dampens this otherwise grandiose, popcorn-like read, Higgin’s lush prose and lavish setting recalls the dreamy glitz and glamour of high-profile vampire novels, such as Interview with a Vampire and Twilight. Characters read as white. Ages 14–up.