Vesper by Jeff Sampson

Title: Vesper

Author: Jeff Sampson

Series: Deviants

Book #: 1

Pages: 298

Reading Level: Young Adult

Expected P Date: January 25th 2011.

Publisher:  Balzer + Bray / HarperCollins

Book Rating: 

Cover Rating: .9

Emily Webb is a geek. And she’s happy that way. Content hiding under hoodies and curling up to watch old horror flicks, she’s never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for midnight parties. And she’s definitely not the kind of girl who starts fights or flirts with other girls’ boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that . . . the same night one of her classmates—also named Emily—is found mysteriously murdered.

The thing is, Emily doesn’t know why she’s doing any of this. By day, she’s the same old boring Emily, but by night, she turns into a thrill seeker. With every nightfall, Emily gets wilder until it’s no longer just her personality that changes. Her body can do things it never could before: Emily is now strong, fast, and utterly fearless. And soon Emily realizes that she’s not just coming out of her shell . . . there’s something much bigger going on. Is she bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely— something not human?

As Emily hunts for answers, she finds out that she’s not the only one this is happening to—some of her classmates are changing as well. Who is turning these teens into monsters—and how many people will they kill to get what they want?

Taschima's POV:

I would say Vesper is the Twilight for Deviants lovers. The similarities aren't in the plot really, it's just the feeling of the novel. But while Twilight is all about the vampire romance, Vesper is about the discovery of your "true" selfs. It's nice, its fun, its worth a read.

We start off by meeting Emily Webb, a quiet geeky girl who doesn't have many friends (she doesn't care to). She usually spends her days watching movie and doing geeky stuff (love her). She is the kind of girl that I can totally and completely relate to (I'm starting to think the author followed me around to get info on his character's personality).

At the beginning of the novel we start off by seeing another side of Emily because she is kind of getting question by a scientist guy about what happened to her. The novel is framed by chapters  that focused on the present (not many at all) and chapters that are focused on the past (most of the chapters). Every few chapters (the chapters that happen in the "present" about 10%) they stop to discuss what just happen in the chapters before, which I thought was pretty neat. I think it will be fun to read the journey of Emily and how she ends up being the girl in the interviews. Also there was something I wasn't expecting at all that made the novel that much more enjoyable! A sort of supernatural bomb. Quite the curve ball Mr. Sampson.

Also the main character has multiple personalities, she is Daytime Emily, Nighttime Emily, and the Vesper Emily. It's not confusing at all, the differences are pronounced, so don't worry about that. Its fun to see how our shy girl turns into a wild girl and vice versa (kind of like the United States of Tara thing). Throughout the novel Nighttime Emily is searching for the "others", her Vesper mates, while trying to avoid getting murdered by this creepy dude who is going around killing teens left and right. Emily knows all the teens that are targeted, could there be a connection?

Theres a little bit of everything in here. I can assure you its entertaining and unlike anything else you have read. I can't wait to see what the author will come up with next!

PS; not a fan of the cover. I like the red smoke, but the other part is sort of blahish.

PS; comment here and get an extra entry in my Goodbye 2010 contest =]