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The Tear Collector

by Patrick Jones (Goodreads Author)

3.12 of 5 stars 3.12 · rating details · 530 ratings · 100 reviews

Fans of urban fantasy should prepare for a new kind of vampire–one that feeds off of tears instead of blood. Descended from an ancient line of creatures that gain their energy from human tears, Cassandra Gray depends on human sorrow to live. Only Cass has grown tired of living this life and wants to live like a human, especially now that she's met someone worth fighting fo...more

Hardcover, 263 pages

Published September 1st 2009 by Walker Childrens

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Nov 27, 2010 Kristy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book 100% took me by suprise:
1. I thought the main character would be a boy from looking at the cover.
Wrong! It was a girl!!!
2. It was way more emotionally developed than i had thought from reading the back.
We deal with death, sickness, family devotion, bullying, abuse, suicide, etc., but it's entertaining.. not depressing
3.The actual "tear collecting" thing was interesting and complex.
Not cheesy or overdone.
4. The main character seems really selfish at first, but after a couple of chapters...more

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Sep 06, 2009 Yan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I think there is a misconception for the Tear Collector. So far I’ve seen many call this book a new twist to an old vampire lore. “…she’s just like me now—not human, but not a classic horror movie vampire either. I’m more of a succubus that maintains a human form to get along in the world but is void of so much of what makes a person human—such as the ability to love.” This is where things throw me off track. I’m not sure if I can call this a vampire novel or not. There are certain attributes th...more I think there is a misconception for the Tear Collector. So far I’ve seen many call this book a new twist to an old vampire lore. “…she’s just like me now—not human, but not a classic horror movie vampire either. I’m more of a succubus that maintains a human form to get along in the world but is void of so much of what makes a person human—such as the ability to love.” This is where things throw me off track. I’m not sure if I can call this a vampire novel or not. There are certain attributes that make a vampire just as being able to transform into a wolf makes a werewolf. I’m grasping at thin straws right now; I guess it’s up to the reader to decide. Anyway that’s the least of my worries.

While I do think that The Tear Collector is unique within its idea and premise, the execution faltered. There seemed to be a lot of high school drama, redundant scenes, and many missing details.

I found the whole scenario of high school a bore actually. Jones starts a great idea then stops short from anything really excited. We have the generic mean girls, the popular but still nice cheerleader, the why-do-you-keep-mentioning-that-Cassandra-gives-blow-jobs-often-to jocks, the weird but deep Goth/Emo girl, and finally the not-the-best-looking-but-so-sweet guy. It’s a battle between which environment is dominate—high school or Cassandra’s family. There are times when they both intermingle but other times it’s more of a Monopoly game—pass Go and collect $200.

Cassandra hangs out in high school, comforts people, collects their tears, gives them to her great godmother, goes back to high school and collects tears again. This is where the redundancy comes into play. You can throw in random hissy cat fights but that doesn’t make it any better. I did, however, like the friendship with Samantha and Cassandra. We follow them when they were enemies to being something special. I thought her story was touching but had missing details to make it even more of a pow.

I couldn’t fully connect with many of the characters. I wasn’t as empathic to Cassandra as I would have liked, I didn’t like Scott as much as I hoped, and I couldn’t get the full intimate details of why they like each so darn much. I mean there were scenes that I thought “wow” but the conversations they had were very similar to other conversations she had.

Then there’s Alexei, her cousin whom she was promised to. A third of the novel was a build-up to this point and even then it fell short and anticlimactic. Again it showed promise, the chapter articles of children kidnappings, the suspense, and the anticipation but in the end all I could say was “that’s it”?

And the ending! Oh goodness. *no comment*

Overall: It’s frustrating because it had so much potential not because it was horrid! I craved for something more. (less)

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Jan 25, 2010 Brooke rated it 2 of 5 stars

Cassandra Gray is a vampire but not the blood drinking kind, her and her family live off of tears. She is also given the task of providing for her family. She must go out and feed off other people's pain, and take the tears back home. A huge problem for Cassandra is that she's been promised to a cousin for marriage, that way the family can continue their species and live on forever. But Cassandra is starting to have feelings of her own as a result of being so deeply involved in the human world....more

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Jul 16, 2011 Ro rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Supernatural Romance Readers!

Expectations: I really didn't feel like this book would be too compelling. I read the reviews and I just didn't feel too excited about it.

Characters: I liked that the Family was a unique kind of vampires. Cassandra was a girl who was trying to find her purpose in the world besides sacrificing for her family. I admire her for that. Her, Scott and Samantha are amazing characters. Siobhan was another character that I wished was in the story more, along with Robyn and Becca.

Plot: This book I feel...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Vicky N. rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, started-but-unfinished

I wanted to love this book. It has all the makings of a true masterpiece. A cliché(vampires) + hot, unexpected twist. But I must admit it went down with a flop.

I don't like vampires, I mean I've read a few books about them and liked (some even love)them, but I was never obsess with the beings themselves.

Anyhow, this "vampire family" don't feed with blood, but the sorrow and sadness of people.

And although I expected to be mesmerize with this intriguing tale, it never did. It was cliché after cl...more

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Mar 17, 2010 Joella www.cinjoella.com rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic, fantasy, young-adult, paranormal-horror

This is a great teen book! It had a great plot, but the thing I liked most about the book was that it made me think. There was a lot of teen drama and teen issues. And the main character had to think through those issues. The book was not preachy, but it did make me think about what I thought about various issues. I LOVED that about this book. It not only was a good story with good characters, but I couldn't stop thinking about the book long after I finished it. Topics such as religion, gossip,...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Jacki rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction, fantasy

Well, this book disappointed me. Even if I hadn't entertained high hopes based on the author's great work in the field of YA librarianship and the wonderful articles he writes, this book would STILL have disappointed me.

Positive: The different slant on vampires gave me my high hopes. Instead of drinking blood, these vampires live by soaking up human emotion via tears. The heroine is a tear vampire who attends a human high school, the perfect breeding ground for tear-producing drama. She falls in...more Well, this book disappointed me. Even if I hadn't entertained high hopes based on the author's great work in the field of YA librarianship and the wonderful articles he writes, this book would STILL have disappointed me.

Positive: The different slant on vampires gave me my high hopes. Instead of drinking blood, these vampires live by soaking up human emotion via tears. The heroine is a tear vampire who attends a human high school, the perfect breeding ground for tear-producing drama. She falls in love with a human boy and begins to question her family's way of life, eventually leading to rebellion. It takes place in an ordinary high school full of ordinary cliques (Goths, cheerleaders, jocks) and ordinary high school goings-on (make outs, breakups, sex, cat fights, family drama, etc.)

Sounds great, right?

Negative (with spoilers, sorry, I HAVE to): This book may take place in a realistic high school environment, but I felt like it was TOO well-drawn. It read like a field guide for grown ups: this is what Goths think, this is how jocks act. The setting remains superficial throughout the book.

The heroine didn't get much of my sympathy. She doesn't just thrive on the high school drama, she gets at-risk people to trust her and then creates drama so they will cry on her shoulder, literally. Until she meets a boy and falls in love, she never questions the morality of her actions. Speaking of morality, she's also very blase about sexual favors and uses them to get what she wants.

Character development is at a low here. The heroine is fairly well-done, and her boyfriend sort of has a personality. Everyone else is a cookie cutter, from the has-to-be-perfect cheerleader to the witch-with-a-B cheerleader, from the dumb jock to the traumatized Goth. Even the villain of the piece, the heroine's cousin (with whom she is supposed to "mate" and reproduce at the age of 16), is just evil, the end.

My big gripe with this book was the ending. The heroine wants to stop being a vampire, but finds out the only way she can is by taking a human life. She briefly contemplates killing her best friend's 8-year-old sister, who is dying of cancer. She decides she simply can't, because the child is too innocent and the heroine loves her too much.

At this point, I thought, "Wow, she is stuck. She just has to stay a vampire."

Oh, no. The book ends with her calling the cheerleader-with-a-B and asking if they can meet! Then I realized that character was set up to be the nastiest in the book: she starts rumors to break up the heroine's best friend and her boyfriend. When the best friend kills herself over it, she cries fake tears even as she hooks up with the boyfriend. She's so mean. She's so fake. Blah blah.

So it's okay to KILL her? I lost what little compassion for the heroine I still had at that point. Yes, the cheerleader was a fake mean girl. But only in cardboard cut-out land do fake mean girls with no feelings really exist. In real life, even mean girls have lives and feelings, loves and hopes and dreams and redeeming qualities. The author tries to make it seem like poetic justice. The heroine even accuses the girl of killing her best friend at one point, because she caused the breakup that sent the girl over the edge.

I know there are probably some high schoolers out there who are teased and tormented by pretty, popular girls every day. Been there, done that. Maybe for some of those kids, the ending will be cathartic and meaningful. But to me, it just meant the heroine was sinking lower than the villain. At least he didn't murder anyone!

I gave this book two stars because the premise was original, it obviously took considerable effort, and because some teens might like it. Other than that, I'd say "Complete BOMB. Walk on by."(less)

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Nov 25, 2009 Raina rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: creepyish, realistic, ya

In his acknowledgements, Patrick Jones discusses the inspiration for this book: a girl at one of his author visits who refused to read any of his books because she only read[s:] vampire books. This is his answer to the vampire frenzy. Unfortunately, this is not a vampire book. The creature in this fantasy does not subsist on blood, but human tears, and the emotional impact of such a succubus does not have the same terror as creatures which bite you on the neck. Granted, this is another somewhat...more

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Sep 15, 2009 Kari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, read-teen

In a time of vampire obsessions, the idea behind this book was fantastic. I loved the idea of some other creature that is dependent on humans and feeds off them but needs something besides their blood. On that note, I also had a great appreciation for Samantha and her obsession with classical vampires.

Often times, it was hard to remember that Cass really was just a high school student and not someone that was essentially immortal and had been through this for decades rather than just a few years...more

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Jul 28, 2009 Eleni ( La Femme Readers ) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book. The vampire novels that are written now a days express the stereotypical blood sucking vampires. However, Patrick Jones totally took another approach to the definition of a vampire. At first I was a little skeptical since I have a fascination with the whole smooth, sexy approach of a vampire. But, once I got into the story with the main character Cassandra, I fell in love with the new type of urban fantasy. I loved the concept of vampires needing tears instead...more

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Sep 09, 2009 Michelle Rebar rated it 4 of 5 stars

THE TEAR COLLECTOR is a quick read and an interesting concept. No, it's not quite vampires, but it is about supernatural creatures that feed off of humans. Cassandra and her Family are a sort of emotional succubi. In order for their kind to survive, they must cause sorrow and collect and consume human tears. The Family has it's rules and traditions, and they cannot be broken. One rule is that Cass can never fall in love. She incapable of feeling it. This usually isn't a problem since she tends t...more

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Oct 07, 2009 Mishel Zabala rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc

The premise of this story sounded so different and unique. A vampire that didn't need blood to survive, but rather lived off the tears of humans. I was pretty skeptical at first. I haven't read anything by Patrick Jones before, but could he really pull this off?

Cassandra was an interesting character but I had real trouble connecting with her. This "vampire" is up to her neck in school drama and family troubles. And while I can certainly relate to her actual problems, I found a lack of emotional...more The premise of this story sounded so different and unique. A vampire that didn't need blood to survive, but rather lived off the tears of humans. I was pretty skeptical at first. I haven't read anything by Patrick Jones before, but could he really pull this off?

Cassandra was an interesting character but I had real trouble connecting with her. This "vampire" is up to her neck in school drama and family troubles. And while I can certainly relate to her actual problems, I found a lack of emotional depth to her. Her character was a little flat and I simply could not sympathize with her. She basically seeks out emotionally hurt people at school or work and comforts them. She collects their tears and gains strength from them. Then she has to turn around and go home to give those tears to her weak great-grandmother. After that, she's off to do it again. Of course I kind of felt bad for her situation, but I feel there was so much more to be had with her family life. Towards the end of the book the reader meets her cousin and finds out a surprising twist to the story that basically flops at the very end.

Her school life is filled with dramatic stereotypes that really just made me yawn. I didn't feel anything though. The fighting between Cassandra and the other popular girls were petty and while there is nothing wrong with that I just felt it didn't really go anywhere. And then there is Scott. The relationship between Scott and Cassandra was limited at best. Yes, they really liked each other but how I don't really know. Their conversations were limited and if I was basically tired of hearing Cassandra say "Well, what do you mean Scott?"

The story lacked in a lot of different departments which really disappointed me. I didn't go into the story with high expectations because I had never read anything by Patrick Jones. But throughout the entire book I just wanted more. More depth, more description, more real interaction with the characters. I don't think I'd even classify this as a vampire novel. Not that I'm an expert, but I do love me some vampires. Even without the blood, this story was more about family duty - not vampire lore.

All in all, I was disappointed I didn't enjoy the novel. I would like to say I will be giving Patrick Jones another chance because I've read blurbs of his other books and I'm interested in them. But THE TEAR COLLECTOR just wasn't my cup o' tea. Maybe it will be yours though, I have seen a few reviews where the reader absolutely loved the book. Yay for them! I'm glad they found something in it that I couldn't.(less)

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Apr 18, 2010 Sirenprincess rated it 1 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved the premise of the book. I was looking forward to some great hurt/comfort in this book, an angsty crying boy, and the girl absorbing his tears and comforting him. It fell so flat. The book is filled with every cliched extremely depressing thing you can imagine, things I couldn't even read. Also, the book is written in the oddest voice/ present tense thing I've ever read. I kept trying to read more to get to the good hurting boy parts, I tried flipping forward. It was just so v...more

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Dec 05, 2009 Jasmine ☮ ♡ ♔ rated it 4 of 5 stars

I LOVED the idea of a type of species that lives off of the sorrow of humans, and I felt that the author did a great job weaving a story about it. At times it got slightly repetitive, because we were constantly reminded of how she wasn't human and wanted to be, but she had no idea how. I didn't really mind though, because the story line was so interesting. The characters really grew on me and I loveeddd Scott <3

One thing that confused me was that when easter break happened, apparently the re...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ages 15 and up

Now this is what I'm talking about! Vampire that dont drink blood... they feed on peoples tears!! How awesome is that?! I read this book my junior year and it was sooo good. I dont even know how to describe it. The coolest thing about it though was the other day my classroom actually had the author come in!!! :O Thee Patrick Jones, the amazing write and author, came to my school and told us alllll about it books. Where he came up with the ideas, how he managed to put those ideas into a story, an...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Reaganstar rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a big change of story, compared to the normal book and I must say I was puzzled as to what the story behind it would be... which of course pushed me to read it faster. I took this book on a 4 hour car trip with me.. and had it completely read by the time I got home, lucky for me I wasn't driving.

Story- Well written with a clean flow throughout the whole book.

Characters- Great Development, enjoyed every one of these characters, and there personalities

I would...more

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Jun 24, 2010 Klara rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of high school stories with a hint of the supernatural.

Shelves: skimmed, teen-fiction

"The Tear Collector" features an excellent premise that suffers from less-than-stellar execution. In the recent flurry of mediocre vampire fiction attempting to capitalize on the popularity of also-mediocre "Twilight," this story stands out because its ruthless psychic vampires present a refreshing contrast to the now-tired concept of pacifist bloodsuckers. The narrative of "The Tear Collector," however, is not as distinctive. Its heroine is fairly well developed, but unfortunately she is trappe...more

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Sep 03, 2009 Christy Stewart rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, fantasy, fiction, paranormal-romance, romance, speculative-fiction, vampire, books-i-own, paranormal, bestiality, reviewed, hate-author, school

...What?

...What in the Hell?

I have to remind myself this is YA and to not judge it too harshly. I don't tend to read YA, never unless I win one, so I'll assume the never ending annoying teen bull shit is normal and I wont mention that I spent the whole time reading this book asking it and myself "God, why?"

The concept is, although not new, a good one. Unfortunately the author half assed it and never really explained anything...to get you to read the next one? Nice try.

I got the book because of t...more

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Mar 08, 2010 J-Lynn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-kid-and-ya-lit, fantasy, horror-supernatural, mental-illness-kid-and-ya-lit

This has a different approach to vampirism--an emotional vampire who, as the title suggests, collects tears. It is short and a quick read. There are themes of familial obligation, serious depression, and suicide all wrapped into the coming of age cliche. Some interesting discussions about clique culture in high school and rebellion are cut short by the underdeveloped story. Also, interesting characters flitter in and out of the plot with little to no dimension. But, fans of the supernatural genr...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Alana Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Cassandra Gray comes from a vary special family. See, Cassandra is a vampire. A special kind of vampire that feeds on tears instead of blood. Forced to feed of other people's pain, Cassandra can never allow herself to get too close to any one person. To make matters worse, as her grandmother gets older and weaker Cassandra must almost help provide the energy they collect from tears to her grandmother. This added strain has Cassandra working overtime to try and reach her family's high expectation...more Cassandra Gray comes from a vary special family. See, Cassandra is a vampire. A special kind of vampire that feeds on tears instead of blood. Forced to feed of other people's pain, Cassandra can never allow herself to get too close to any one person. To make matters worse, as her grandmother gets older and weaker Cassandra must almost help provide the energy they collect from tears to her grandmother. This added strain has Cassandra working overtime to try and reach her family's high expectation. But as Cassandra tries to be everything her family wants her to be, she realizes she's tired of having to keep everyone an arms length away. Even though Cassandra is popular and volunteers in a hospital bursting with people, she's actually very alone. But as Cassandra starts to reach out to the people around her, she learns sometimes there's a high price to pay for getting what you want.

One issue I really had with this book was the use of several different stereotypes. One, not all goths genuinely believe in vampires. This really bothered me because I felt like the entire goth subculture was being distorted and generalized for the sake of easy characterization. That's not to say there isn't a vampyre subculture, but I still think the oversimplification of goths was problematic. (I found a really great post here if you'd like more info.) While Samantha does happen to be a vampire-believing-goth, saying she's like this because all goths are like this was lazy writing. This also leads into my second problem, the way Jones characterized atheism. I'll admit there's the possibility I'm being overly sensitive since I'm an atheist myself, but I really felt like Jones botched the whole thing. I honestly felt like atheism was misrepresented in a pseudo-debate in an attempt to discredit the genuine and complicated reasons people question belief in a god. Instead I felt like Jones used these conversations to speak to me as a reader. And it pissed me off. The characters Catholicism also seemed too heavy handed for me. Considering how heavy handed all the characters were though, this isn't very surprising. The cheerleaders are stuck up and shallow. The jocks are all brawn and no brain. The villain is very very evil. Scott is the "surprising" love interest that's sweet yet shy. Samantha is the wounded goth girl who writes poetry and hurts herself. It's was all too...expected. There was nothing distinctive about any of the characters.

This story was also woefully short on details. We're told Cassandra's family is some kind of succubus or vampire that feeds on human emotions like fear and sadness, but that's about it. We don't know what extent these emotions can be. Cassandra mentions she wants to feed on love not tears, but I wasn't sure what she meant. Was she being serious? If so, did Jones not think of the horror such a thing would cause? Is Cassandra immortal? How does doing something inhumane make a person human? There simply wasn't enough details for me. The reader is left with zero understanding of the supernatural elements of the story and instead is bombarded with random high school gossip and drama. I know more about one of the cheerleaders facebook page then I do about Cassandra's powers. Honestly, compared to the Dresden Files, where the White Court vampires (similar to Cassandra in this story) are fleshed out and considered from several angles, the supernatural part of this story was seriously lacking.

Since this story is light on the details and heavy on the stereotypes, it would take a really strong protagonist to make the story still work. And that's where this book falls short. While the begging of the story was interesting, it automatically distanced me emotionally from Cassandra. Her apathy caused my indifference and yet the story relies on the readers connection with her. Instead of wanting Cassandra to get a chance at a normal life, all her introspection just bored me. Her whining about the unfairness of it all was just that, whining. I genuinely didn't care what happened to her. And because of that, I wasn't able to feel her sacrifices were genuine sacrifices or her fears were worth being worried about. I just felt really meh about it all. Even more boring was the love story. Jeez, when will two dimensional instant attraction just die already? There's a part in the book when Cassandra thinks "we have so many connection" because Scott has read A Tale of Two Cities. Yeah, cause that's a totally obscure book that no one has ever heard about. That's be like me getting all emotional over the fact Ryan also read Huckleberry Finn. It's called eleventh grade English. Soul mates it does not make. Also, the fact Cassandra had to tell us they had connections means they didn't actually have any connections. Except for their simplistic views of theology of course. I also love the totally ridiculous relationship drama that was thrown in just to move things along.

At the end of the day this book is more coming-of-age-story than urban fantasy and it just didn't work for me since I couldn't feel Cassandra's journey. The dangling plot thread with Alexei, Cassandra's evil cousin, also really bothered me. the best thing about this story are the first and last lines.

http://sunshineandbones.blogspot.com/...(less)

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Dec 27, 2010 Jessie Chen rated it 5 of 5 stars

The novel is about a female vampire named Cassandra Gray collecting human tears to fulfill her duty to her family. She does peer counseling, volunteer work at the hospital, stirs drama at school to set off a release of emotions, and breaks boys' hearts to obtain enough tears to help her family of vampires survive. Cassandra starts to change and avoid her duty of indirectly causing people to suffer when she falls in love with a boy named Scott. Her duty is to also marry her evil cousin, Alexei,...more The novel is about a female vampire named Cassandra Gray collecting human tears to fulfill her duty to her family. She does peer counseling, volunteer work at the hospital, stirs drama at school to set off a release of emotions, and breaks boys' hearts to obtain enough tears to help her family of vampires survive. Cassandra starts to change and avoid her duty of indirectly causing people to suffer when she falls in love with a boy named Scott. Her duty is to also marry her evil cousin, Alexei, to continue the line of vampires. She longs for the separation from her family to become a normal human being who can feel emotions.
I loved how the book discusses the topics of selflessness and personal desires through internal thoughts rather than actions. My favorite character is Cassandra Gray because she had the courage to do something that she actually wanted personally.She also had the emotional strength to bear through the grave situations of picking between love or duty. The author unravels the story when Cassandra indirectly causes her friend Robyn to die by spreading rumors.
I have read books about vampires gathering and sucking human blood in order to survive, but this book is unconventional. The vampires in this book need human tears to survive instead. I also love how the story is written in first person point of view. I feel as if I am actually in the story because I share similar views of doing what my family wants me to do and what I want to do. This book shows that it is better to follow one's own wishes and goals, rather than what one's family desires her to do. The open-ended ending of the story gives me the option to choose the story's ending and in a way decide for myself on how I should live my life. The book appeals to me in an emotional way because I have experienced similar emotions that the characters have felt before.
I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially people who like drama and slice-of life stories. I would persuade others to read it because this book is very different from other supernatural stories and contains life lessons. I would ask them what parts they could relate to in the book and what insights the story has given them, after they have finished the book. (less)

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Apr 14, 2010 Barbara rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-eval-book

Cassandra Gray and her family are like vampires but instead of living off blood, they live off people’s tears. So that means they have to somehow be involved wherever there is sorrow: hospitals, bereavement groups, high schools. Cass began a peer counseling group in her high school and she volunteers at the hospital, both abundant sources of tears. On top of that her best friend Robyn, whose little sister is dying of cancer, was just dumped by her boyfriend after she confronted him about rumors...more

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Nov 06, 2009 Book Sp(l)ot rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, arc

Think all the teen vampire novels are the same? Then you definitely need to check out The Tear Collector, in this new tale, Patrick Jones really does find a new approach to the 'vampire' novel.

Cassandra (Cass) Gray and her family and not human, they don't burn in the sunlight or cringe away in horror when presented with garlic but they do need something extra to survive: human tears. And tears of joy or happiness won't do either, they have to be tears or sorrow...so you can just imagine what sor...more Think all the teen vampire novels are the same? Then you definitely need to check out The Tear Collector, in this new tale, Patrick Jones really does find a new approach to the 'vampire' novel.

Cassandra (Cass) Gray and her family and not human, they don't burn in the sunlight or cringe away in horror when presented with garlic but they do need something extra to survive: human tears. And tears of joy or happiness won't do either, they have to be tears or sorrow...so you can just imagine what sort of life Cass lives, all the pain she is surrounded by.

But while the rest of her family is fine with this life, Cass has grown tired of it. Aching to be human and be done with her family 'duty' Cass has become discontent with the way things are.

The Tear Collector--which I find a hard book to summarize and still keep with my 'no spoilers' rule--is really a great twist on the recent explosion of 'teen vampire romance' books. The story is Cass's and her struggle keeping her identity secret from her friends and school (and dealing with high school drama like every other teenager) while still serving her family and deciphering how she feels about them and what they all are.

I really liked that there was Cass's family and her friends in fairly equal measure and not a 90/10 proportion because it was really need to explain who Cass was and why she had to deal with everything she did. Her family and friends were, though, where one of my few problems with one of the book came in. There were a few times where it felt like the storyline was at a sort of plateau to tell about both family members and different friends without really progressing to a peak/climax. Those parts weren't long or often, however.

I also really enjoyed that all aspects of Cassandra's life seemed to have been factored into the 'needing tears.' One hundred percent of her life (from the weather to her chapped lips and on) had something to do with her and her family's need for the moisture. It really added a lot to my enjoyment of the story that it wasn't, "Oh, Cass finds people when they're crying then her life is more or less normal."

It mirrored a traditional vampire story well in that there was still death that the characters had to deal with (in a high school setting no less). In this there weren't vampire killings, obviously, but I found it a nice symmetry to still have death be a part of the story and affect the characters.

One last bit, there was a character that added more drama to the story--and news reports interspersed with the story introduce that early on and that added another touch of drama and intrigue to the tale.

(thank you to the author/publisher for this book for review)(less)

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Jan 11, 2010 Katie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-check-out

Cassandra Gray is a different kind of vampire from what you’re used to. Instead of needing blood to survive, Cass needs human tears. What better place than a high school to find the tears she needs to survive? Cass is there for the students, absorbing their tears. But as Cassandra works her way into the high school, manipulating her classmates into sharing their sorrows, she begins to change. Students start to matter to her…

This book was not my cup of tea, at all.

The idea that vampires need tear...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Sophie rated it 2 of 5 stars

The Tear Collector turns vampire lore completely on it’s head, and I’m not sure that it really worked.

I felt that the lore and myth of Patrick Jones’ vampires was vague and undefined. For a large part of the book I was grasping every tendril of information I could find. And it just wasn’t enough. I understand that Cass’s own knowledge was sketchy and to explain every detail to the reader would require Cass’s narration to be undermined, but she still didn’t tell us all she knew and that really qu...more

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Nov 14, 2009 The Bookologist rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs-i-own, for-review

Cassandra Gray is a vampire-only she doesn't feast off blood, she thrives on human tears. Cass is always there when someone needs a shoulder to cry on and she'll be the one to listen and comfort. But Cassandra isn't happy with her manipulative life-she wants more and she wants to be human, especially since she's starting to fall in love with a human boy. Can she betray her family and the life she's always know?
(synopsis)

The Tear Collector accumulated mixed reviews. The premise was seriously inte...more

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Feb 01, 2010 kari rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 12, 2009 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2009, paranormal, ya-paranormal, young-adult

The Tear Collector, by Patrick Jones, is a creative spin on the vampire myth, were the main character Cassandra Gray doesn’t live off of the blood of humans, but rather the tears and sorrow of the people around her. The author did a good job of creating a paranormal creature that the reader was able to feel compassion for. The book is well written and structured in my opinion; however, I did find a couple of typos, but nothing major to distract me from the story line. I liked how the book immedi...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Sarah BT rated it 2 of 5 stars

While the premise for this vampire book is unique, it failed to work for me. It's supposed to be a paranormal book, but I never really got the paranormal aspect. It read much more like any contemporary fiction novel about a girl trying to break away from her family mold. It seemed like the paranormal stuff got thrown in there at times it needed to be mentioned-and on yeah, she's a vampire.

Cassandra was a very unsympathetic narrator and I didn't care for her. I actually found her annoying and at...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Sara Grochowski rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

I really liked the idea of The Tear Collector. When I read that the main character was a girl who basically lived off human tears, I was intrigued. While I felt that the idea of the book was well conceived, I didn't think the novel was very well executed.

One aspect that I felt was a major negative of The Tear Collector was the characters. I think this is the aspect that caused the most distraction for me. I didn't feel like the dialogue between characters was well written and I didn't feel like...more

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About Patrick Jones

Patrick Jones is the author of five realistic teen novels, most recently Stolen Car((Walker / Bloomsbury, 2008). His first young adult novel Things Change (Walker & Company, 2004) was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a best book for reluctant readers, and was runner-up in the Teen Buckeye Book Award selected by Ohio teens. His second novel Nailed was published by Walker...more

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Quotes from The Tear Collector

“An angel once found a demon broken and nearly dead. The angel held out his arm to help the demond. The demond looked at the angel and asked 'Why would you save an evil demond like me?' The angel answered, 'Because without you there is no me.” — 8 people liked it

“Anything that makes you happy can make you sad.” — 6 people liked it

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