Stephanie (Svetlana) Grimm is new to Sunny Hill Middle School, and there's nothing good about being a new student. The kids seem overly nosy and Stephanie...ahem...Svetlana thinks they're actually spying on her. Even worse, Sandy Cross and her cronies--clones of Barbie dolls--Marsha and Madison are insufferable. School was going to be horrid and boring, that is, until science class.
Ms. Sylvia Larch is a creepily beautiful creature with blood red fingernails, raven black hair, and whiter than white skin. Svetlana gets creeped out when she realizes that she can actually hear Ms. Larch's thoughts. Always believing that she (Svetlana) is a vampire, she now realizes that the truth is even more horrifying.
In a publishing world rampant with vampire fiction--much of it sub-par--A Taste for Red is a welcome departure. Svetlana is the funniest, snarkiest, in-your-face sarcastic teen heroine in ya fiction. Her metaphors are sheer genius. This novel is highly readable, laugh out loud funny and hugely entertaining.
Review provided by Pamela Thompson, MLIS, Library Media Specialist
