{Review} Kissing Coffins, Vampire Kisses book 2 by Ellen Schreiber

Not far from Dullsville, someone's lurking in the dark....

After meeting the handsome and shadowy Alexander Sterling, goth-girl Raven's dark world has a bright, new glow. But as in her favorite movie, Kissing Coffins, Raven knows that love always has its complications, especially when Alexander has a big secret to guard.

When Alexander suddenly disappears, Raven leaves Dullsville to begin a dangerous search to find him. Can she stay safe, no matter who—or what—she encounters on the way?

Title: Kissing Coffins {Vampire Kisses, book 2}

Author: Ellen Schreiber

Publication: 26st July 2005

Publisher: HarperTeen

176 pages

This book is the second book of a series. This review may be spoilery for the first book.

My review

I really loved the first book of this series. I read it in French and found it very funny and entertaining, especially the first half of the novel. While I found this second instalment a bit less funny, and above all more conventional, I still had a great time reading it.

Let me start with the little things that bothered me a bit. In my opinion, there were too many coincidences. Therefore, the story seemed a little too "easy". I know that this book targets young readers, but still, I wish it had been a bit more complicated for the characters and especially Raven. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you read this book I think you'll understand what I mean, everything fell into place too easily.

Kissing Coffins is a little less funny than the first instalment. If the first half of Vampire Kisses was totally eccentric and unconventional, in this second book the plot is more classical. Indeed, this one is about our young teenage heroine, Raven, madly in love, who goes looking for her absolutely irresistible beloved.

Raven remains true to herself, she is just as offbeat and uncommon. The young girl is never short of crazy and wild ideas. She sometimes acts a bit too quickly, without thinking, and she's still a bit young and immature, but she's nonetheless very endearing. In this second instalment, she leaves Dullsville in order to look for Alexander, who has disappeared without a word, at the end of Vampire Kisses. This quest and this task won't be easy for the young Raven, but a teenage girl in love can overcome everything. I think it will be really easy for young girls to relate to her.

If there's less humor than in the first instalment, it's still tinged with tasty and amusing dialogues, and our young heroine has a knack for getting into inextricable situations. Even if the plot is fairly predictable, especially for adult readers, it still has a lot of action and suspense. Mysteries and twists are also numerous. This book is relatively short and I read it rather quickly, in a few hours, but it did not stop me to have a great time with it.

To sum up, in this second instalment, Raven, and the reader, are looking for Alexander and Kissing Coffins offers us a refreshing, entertaining and pleasant moment. I'm positive that this book will charm and please the young readers, without a doubt, and I'm pretty sure that those who are looking for a light and entertaining read, between two books a bit more serious or sad, will also appreciate this novel. As in the first one, it ends on a small cliffhanger and the denouement makes the reader want to start the next one immediately, to know the rest of the adventures of our Goth girl.