Review-Drain You by M. Beth Bloom

Thank you to HarperTeen and Edelweiss for an advanced copy for my review (no cash was exchanged blah blah blah).

Goodreads Summary:

Every night I'd lie there in bed and look out at the hills behind our house, listening. I knew there'd be consequences.

Actions meant reactions. Sunrises meant sunsets. My fear was too permanent, lasting longer than eyeliner, something I wore every day and didn't wash off.

Quinlan Lacey's life is a red carpet of weird fashions, hip bands, random parties, and chilling by the pool with her on-and-off BFF Libby. There's also her boring job (minimum wage), a crushed-out coworker (way too interested), her summer plans (nada), and her parents (totally clueless). Then one night she meets gorgeous James, and Quinn's whole world turns crazy, Technicolor, 3-D, fireworks, whatever.

But with good comes bad and unfortunately, Quinn's new romance brings with it some majorly evil baggage. Now, to make things right, she has to do a lot of things wrong (breaking and entering, kidnapping, lying, you name it).

There's normal, and then there's paranormal, and neither are Quinlan's cup of Diet Coke. Staying sane, cool, in love, and alive isn't so easy breezy.

Publication Date: July 24, 2012

I feel like I've been through an emotional wringer after reading this book. I've gone from despising it to getting into it to feeling sort of blase about the whole thing. I think this comes from the book having many highs (the main character's wicked sense of humor) and many lows (James and Quinn's relationship). If you do pick up this book, don't expect your run of the mill YA paranormal romance.

What I Liked: I love non-traditional main characters and Quinn certainly fits that bill. She's snarky, lazy and has intense relationships with her friends. I enjoy humor in novels and many of her inner musings were definitely laugh out loud funny. The 80s and 90s throwback pop culture references were also fun and gave the novel a unique spin. The writing style was conversational which made it a quick and breezy beach read. The characters use cool catch phrases too which makes the novel extremely quotable.

What I Didn't Like: I was very confused over the time frame of the novel. I was certain it took place in the 90s (Quinn wants to marry Leonardo DiCaprio, she listens to a Discman, her friend plays Super Nintendo, etc.), but then she mentions "I was going to rock these super-fitted black matatdor pants with little red pom-pom balls going up the sides that Stella scored from some nineties Madonna video shoot she had styled." Also, the whole romance thing between her and James was god-awful. She describes him as a "greasy pretty boy" and falls in love with him (spoiler alert although you can guess this in the first couple of chapters) despite him being a vampire that kills innocent girls. At least when Whit was introduced, I could root for him as a potential love interest. Quinn comes off as majorly unlikable at times which may bug readers who are expecting a different sort of heroine.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (I'm stuck right down the middle on this one)