Gemini Bites

Gr 9 Up—Judy and Kyle's relationship is fraught with tension, and the competition between the 16-year-old twins only increases when a fellow student joins their already large household for the final month of the school year. The strange son of family friends, Garret moves into the attic, turns it into a dark and creepy den, and claims to be a vampire. Kyle, who has recently come out to his family, and Judy are both a little intrigued and begin to vie for Garret's attention. Told from the siblings' alternating viewpoints, the story is light and engaging. Refreshingly, Kyle's homosexuality is mostly a nonissue, and his strained relationship with his sister is the crux of his angst. There isn't a lot that is new in this novel, it's not as well done as other stories told with more than one first-person narrator, and the characters are a little undeveloped. But it is a quick, fun read with a satisfying ending, and it will appeal to those who enjoy realistic relationship-themed fiction.—Sharon Senser McKellar, Oakland Public Library, CA