Blood is the New Black by Valerie Stivers (2/5 stars)

I picked up this book on a whim in the used book section of a Barnes and Noble near my house. I had been reading some heavier books and wanted something light and funny that I could breeze through before the Christmas holidays. This book fulfilled that need, but didn’t deliver a whole lot more.

The book follows Kate McGraw, a pre-med student, who gets an opportunity to work an internship at a premier fashion magazine called Tasty. Kate is granted the opportunity though contacts that her aunt Victoria has. At first Kate is reluctant to take the job because of some dark history her mother had with the fashion industry. Despite the dark memories of how Kate’s mom abandoned her husband and daughter; Kate decides to look past that and, drawn in by her own love of fashion, accepts the job at Tasty. When Kate starts working there she finds that her co-workers are very different from normal people, and not just in a fashionista way.

There were more things that I disliked about this novel than liked; so lets start with the positive first.

Likes:
- This was a quick, fun novel to read.
- There were some creative ideas about Vampires. First being that you need the appropriate “vampire-gene” to be turned. Secondly that vampirism actually infects you with a materialistic nature, you have a need to shop and buy expensive cloths.

Dislikes:
- All of the characters in the book seemed rather dead (no pun intended; okay maybe a little pun intended) to me. They were very one-dimensional with no depth at all.
- Kate was kind of unemotional about the whole thing. I mean, if I found out my co-workers were literal blood-suckers I would be a lot more shocked about it and not so blasé.
- This book was very much like a sweet snack. It was shallow and unfulfilling. There were no lush descriptions, no strong emotions, and no real point to anything that happened.
- The climax of the book, like the rest of it, fell flat for me.
- The romance between Kate and James also fell flat. It was very choppy with no continuation. Very on again, off again, without much actual development occurring.
- The style of this book is so simplistic that at times it felt like I was reading a novel by a 10 year old who really knows their fashion facts.

Given the extended lists of dislikes, it was still an okay book. It was a light, slightly humorous read. If you are looking for a quick, okay read to pass some time this book might be for you. If you are looking for something original and inspiring, humorous or engaging I would try reading a Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris or some other similar writer of this genre.