This is my all time favorite book!! I could not put it down it was just that good!! ( )

The Reformed Vampire Support Group offers a unique take on the popular vampire myth. Though the characters aren't the most complex, and the writing style isn't the most sophisticated, there's something endearing about this book, and about the vampire culture it offers--a culture where vampirism is a handicap more than anything else, and where vampires need a support group to help them deal with their cravings for blood. ( )

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

Forget everything you knew about vampires. They are not sexy, stylish, rich, or powerful.

Nina has been a 15-year-old since 1973 when she was first turned into a vampire. Now she attends vampire support group meetings with her fellow vamps, who are sickly and living off the blood of guinea pigs. It's not a fancy life at all!

Nina's life is boring (although she does use her experience as a vampire to write vampire fiction). So when Casimir, the vampire who originally turned members of the group, is found staked in his apartment, Nina's life is about to be an adventure. The killer knows who and what they are, so The Reformed Vampire Support Group sets off to save themselves and finds a dangerous journey along the way.

This is not your typical vampire story. These vampires are grumpy, cranky, and not glamorous at all. But that's what makes them fun.

There were a lot of characters to keep track of in the beginning and the plot started off sort of slow, but keep with it and you will have a delightful and funny mystery. ( )

Original review at The Little Bookworm

Nina and her support group are vampires. But not glamorous Hollywood vampires or anything. In fact being a vampire sucks with the nausea, the bleeding and the vomiting not to mention the physical weakness. So week after week, they meet to discuss their vampy problems and the temptations of human blood. But when one of them is slayed, Nina and her friend Dave enlist the others to find out who staked him, just in case they are coming for the rest of them.

I've tried to read Catherine Jinks before and I couldn't get into Evil Genius. But this one is so good. It is a very different kind of vampire that Jinks has invented. Sure they can be killed by the conventional methods: sunlight, stakes, beheading. But that's about all these vampires have in common with the stereotypical vampire. In this book, the vampire are weak, fragile things prone to headaches, nausea & vomiting, hemorrhaging among other things. Vampirism is a disease and when you are bitten, you become infected (much like Peeps) only there are no superpowers that come along. So Nina and her group shuffle along during the night and "sleep" during the day with nothing to do but complain. Nina writes vampire novels and her main character is more along the lines of an Edward (or rather Alice) than a Nina. As much as I like the superpowered vampire, I also like this version too. It was a funny book and I laughed out loud several times. The image of these weak vampires trying to do anything more than lift a book was funny. They whine and complain a lot, but finally become pro-active when one of them is staked. And it's not even someone they like, but they are afraid this so called "slayer" will hunt them down next.

This book is also different since all the vampires are different ages. There's Nina who was "fanged" at 15, Dave 17, Bridget who's elderly, and the rest are all middle-aged so there's no super sexy 25 year old vampire. Nina talks about looking like she's 15 forever and how that effects her and how people treat her. It would be difficult looking that young forever. I wondered too what she was going to do when her mum died. Her mother is 76 (Nina's technically 51) so she still lives with her, but what will Nina do when her mother is gone. It's not discussed in the book, but I was thinking about it considering how much her mum does for her.

So anyway, not to sound all Reading Rainbow or anything, read if you like vampires or even if you don't. I'm pretty sure it's good either way. ( )

This is a really unique, delightful YA book that takes the usual tropes about vampires and turns them on their head. Nina, the narrator, was turned into a vampire at the tender age of 15. She writes novels about Zadia Bloodstone, a fearless vampire heroine imbued with superpowers who uses her unnatural state to fight evil. In real life, Nina is part of the titular Reformed Vampire Support Group, which meets at a church, where people who have been infected with the disease of vampirism meet to discuss their problems, which are many. They are all on the wagon and survive by feeding off of guinea pigs. Nina still lives at home with her elderly mother. Her body, an animated corpse, after all, is falling apart; she has extreme headaches, bleeding eyes, and constant nausea. When one of the other members of her group is staked by a vampire slayer, Nina must embrace her inner Xenia Bloodstone and recognize that even though she is a vampire, she still can achieve good in the world. Highly recommended; five stars. ( )