BOOK REVIEW (15): The Coffin Club (Vampire Kisses #5)

Book Review: 
The Coffin Club

After completing the first 5 stories in Ellen Schreiber’s Vampire Kisses series I’m beginning to see a trend with my ratings of the books. But the 3ish stars best describes my feelings so far with the series. It’s a more “good enough, don’t feel like I wasted my time” read.

Let me explain it this way: I found the VK series after Ms. Schreiber published book 3 back in 2006. I was young and still unaware (and unaffected) by theTwilight books/phenomenon. (That would come a year and a bit later…)

The “vampire-meets-human” plot wasn’t novel to me back then, as I was reading some adult paranormal works (i.e. Anita Blake, Vampire Huntress), but nothing really “teen-related” or of the YA flavour. In fact I was plotting my own vampire story and the books were kinda like research tools.

What I’m trying to say/write in this long prelude is that I don’t designate the 3ish stars out of mindless habit. I found these stories 8-9 years ago, so it’s much harder to swallow today. Sure it was still cheesy then, but it’s just gotten cheesier.

Anyways, on with the review:

The Coffin Club continues to follow Raven and her immortal heartthrob. Summer fun had rolled in, but Raven lamemts Alexander’s departure at the end of Book 4. (I won’t reveal why he’s left…)

Most of this story takes place outside Dullsville in a more Goth-friendly town, Hipsterville. I really liked this. Dullsville can get tremendously boring…err, dull. Hipsterville isn’t new though. Readers are introduced to the Goth club in book 2 (I think). This time, however, Raven ends up sleuthing her way to an underground hangout with a nefarious secret (I won’t share this secret *zips lips and throws key away*). No, you’ll just have to read the book and find out what this secret is. Dun dun dun dunnnnnn.

Haha. A club within a club…

Okay! What I DISliked:

*the dialogue wasn’t nearly as cheesy and unoriginal between Raven and Alexander. But the conversations between Raven and her two new Goth friends, Scarlet and Onyx (props to Schreiber on the cool names!) is just plain weird and not at all how I expect teens to talk.

*Jagger needs a life. I don’t even care how sexy he sounds. I’m willing to break up with my underage book boyfriend, because he gets worse and worse in every book where he makes an appearance. Why is he so obsessed with Raven and Alexander and their family and friends?

*Also, since I’m on the topic of obsession, why is Raven obsessed with Alexander and their relationship? Give the boy a breather—he’s a teen immortal. Forever comes as a given.

What I liked:

*Alexander continues to mature in every book—he’s levelheaded and easily my favourite half of the main couple

*Aunt Libby is a pleasant change. Not that I hated the Madisons. Raven’s aunt just offers a sort of pizazz her parents and brother lack. There’s more dimension to her character. Actually she kind of reminds me of another character (Aunt Arabella from Meg London’s SN Mysteries series). Both women are into the Boho-thing. They seem calm and collected, and they’re also diehard romantics despite being single well into their second half of the general life expectancy. (Lol. Yeah. I just wrote that.)

*the twist end! Seriously, the book is short—Renaissance Learn calculates it at ~39K—but the last 10 pages of this 200ish page novel are a blood mine!

My verdict:

✮✮✮.5

(3.5 stars)