The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause (4/5 stars)

I got this book because it was written by the author who wrote "Blood and Chocolate" (which I haven't read yet). I was interested to read a vampire novel by her. It was an excellent book but it was not what I was expecting.

In this book Zoe is in a tough situation. Her mother is dying of cancer, her father is pulling away from her as he spends more and more time at the hospital with her mother. The doctor has told them that Zoe shouldn't spend much time at the hospital because it might stress her mother and that Zoe should try to keep her life as normal as she can. How can you keep your life normal when you are left at home by yourself, constantly waiting for the phone to ring to tell you that your mother is finally gone? If this isn't bad enough some bizarre murders are taking place in the area and then Zoe finds out that her best friend is having to move out of town. Zoe begins to hang out at the park at night just to be out somewhere; there she meets Simon. Simon seems to know about death and he might even know something about the murders happening.

This is not really your typical vampire book. It is beautifully written. A lot of time is taken on the contemplation of the character's feelings, and the description of the surroundings is beautiful. This is a book about death. It is about facing death and dealing with death and trying to move past death. As such, it is pretty much a downer of a book and a bittersweet story. In general this book makes you want to cry for death, for beauty lost, for everything we have to deal with as humans. Somehow with all of this darkness; this book comes off as a sweet little story about the lessons life teaches. You can't help but sympathize and love every single character in this book; and given that it is such a short story it takes some wonderful writing to accomplish that.

It is a very short book and a very quick read. I thought it was an excellent read; just know that this is not an uplifting book. The descriptions of the characters' feelings as they deal with death are heartfelt and accurate. This book could be a help to someone dealing with loosing a loved one.

Overall, very good story. I am definitely looking forward to reading "Blood and Chocolate".