Five months after becoming a Vampire, Sarah Wright’s unlife has gone back to relative normal—until demons start coming out of the woodwork. Before graduating high school last June, she never imagined she’d wind up staying at home with her parents and siblings. Now, she savors every minute she has with them. Her friends juggle school and jobs, leaving precious little time to hang out with her mostly nocturnal schedule. A vampire’s hours aren’t exactly awesome for spending time with tween-age siblings either, but the family has adjusted to her undeath. The other paranormal weirdness she seems to attract? Not so much. When Halloween rolls around, Sarah’s all too happy to take her siblings trick-or-treating. But this year, the holiday has more than costumes and candy in store. On the night the veil between worlds is at its thinnest, a small army of demons spills forth to play havoc in Cottage Lake. Harmless pranks soon take a malicious turn, forcing Sarah to scramble in search of where the creatures are coming from—hoping to stop them before someone ends up dead.
Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place. He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.
Hobbies and Interests:
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what happens after it.
Relying on strong characterisation rather than flashy effects, Cox skilfully extends his exploration of neophyte vampirism beyond the immediate challenges of metaphysical limitations while retaining the immediately accessible echoes of becoming an adult.
This novel is the sixth in the Vampire Innocent series. Possible spoilers ahead.
While being a vampire makes going to college a little harder and gets in the way of seeing her friends, after five months of practice, Sarah has found workarounds for the worst of it; and wouldn’t trade the opportunity to still see her family and friends for anything. So, she leaps at the opportunity to take her younger siblings trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, the gentle frisson of Halloween is spoiled by a series of accidents and occurrences that almost scream supernatural events. This time Sarah is sure she isn’t part of the cause, but that just makes it harder to know where to start.
Unlike previous volumes, the plot isn’t incited by Sarah doing a favour for someone that turns out to have unforeseen consequences. However, it does continue the familiar—and by this point in the series, reader-approved—pattern of Sarah trying to overcome the challenges of another part of the magical world before things fall apart, while attempting to overcome more challenges of adulthood before things fall apart.
As with The Last Family Road Trip Cox’s excursion into new metaphysical ground leans more on the fantasy side than the urban. However, events retain a sense of an underlying coherent—albeit decidedly not mundane or humanly rational—set of rules, and the more hypnogogic aspects feel entirely fitting for the symbolic festival of Halloween.
Unlike previous books, Sarah’s non-mystical interactions are almost entirely free of drama: her family have settled into a routine that accommodates her vampirism; she finds some time to be with her friends; and her relationship with Hunter is solid. Unfortunately (for her, not the reader), the inexplicable supernatural events are no respecters of metaphysical boundaries, so her struggle to protect her relationship with friends and family from the impacts of vampirism is replaced with a struggle to protect her friends and family from both directly mystical threats and mundane, but equally damaging, crises they might create.
As with all of Cox’s books, there is a thread of apposite humour that both casts the seriousness of the challenges in a stronger light and entertains for itself.
Sarah remains a highly sympathetic protagonist. Her lack of experience of the occult world continue to make her a suitable viewpoint for readers, while her determination to solve challenges without compromising her principles rather than sit back or rely on might making right expand her appeal well beyond readers facing the arduous inequities of childhood’s end. In fact, her desire to not only not use her powers to impose justice but to not even risk others choosing to do it where she hasn’t is likely to hit home with even the most experienced of moral thinkers.
The returning cast have evolved along with Sarah, maintaining consistency with previous books while gaining nuances of personality appropriate to the unnatural achievement of integrating a vampire into their lives.
I enjoyed this novel greatly. I recommend it to readers seeking urban fantasy that is driven by character.
I received a free copy from the author with no request to review.
Loved this newest book to this awesome series! Couldn't put it down, read it in one night! Love Sarah and her family and all the trouble and shenanigans they get into! This is such a fun, we'll written, engaging series and I look forward to reading about Sarah and her life for hopefully a very long time!!
It seems like the Wright family gets more unusual with every installmene. And how they navigate the ever increasing weirdness of their lives is delightful to read about. Definatly looking forward to seeing more of Sarah, the worlds least likely vampire and family.
Matthew Cox has moved up to my category of must-read authors. Most male authors are terrible at writing from a female perspective, but he is unerringly good at it! I've enjoyed his mermaid, elf, and apocalyptic writing too. Highly recommend.
The 6th book in the series is an easy read, with a bit more tension in the characters lives than in the past. Alternate reality and imps (minor demons) keep the action going.
Perfect balance childlike fears come to life & humor. Refreshing brain cleanse and reminder. Child safety on the internet is still vastly in need of improvement. Curiosity and just the smallest wrong click can lead to real danger.
Another book in this well-written, almost someone just talking to you type of story. Sarah is taking night classes and not doing too bad at all. Her sisters, though, cause something to happen that causes everyone a lot of trouble. They let loose imps who, being imps, try to do as much damage and mischief as possible.
So, she has to find a way to get rid of the imps and figure out just which one of her sisters seems to have developed at least some magical ability.
Its been a few months since Sarah's life was turned upside down. She is coming to terms with college life and being a vampire . Until Halloween when she takes her brother and sisters out trick or treating . Things go from good to bad really bad when a band of imps decides to come and crash the party. Making mischief for everyone in Cottage Lake. But things take a turn and the imps aren't playing nice any more sending Sarah in search of where they are coming from and how she can send them back, before someone gets really hurt, Sarah and the family are back and actually funnier then ever. Sarah is getting the hang of the vampire thing and she is getting stronger everyday. Her family is keeping her actually sane When push comes to shove Sarah will do anything for her siblings even fight imps and get sucked into alternate universes. With each book the family gets more and more shall we say weirder and we find more and more about each and everyone of them. This book had me rolling on the floor with laughter. The author puts the whole family through some comedic scenes that had me thinking of Gremlins . Especially when Sarah's mom is playing tennis with one of those imps while her dad is running around with a weed whacker. This series gets funnier and funnier with each book. I am totally loving the story line and the characters and the author doesn't really rely on blood and gore to get the point across. Your teens would love this series . So if you want a fun summer read this is the series for you .
•••NOT for the homophobic, transphobic, closedminded, or faint of heart!•••
This series must be read in order. The first book is "A Nighttime Of Forever". The second book is "A Beginner's Guide To Fangs". The third book is "The Artist Of Ruin". The fourth book is "The Last Family Road Trip". The fifth book is "The Phantom Oracle". This is the sixth book. I can't wait to read "Ordinary Problems Of A College Vampire"!
It's Halloween and Sophia sure is acting guilty. No idea why... But she will come clean eventually. She lies worse than Sarah after all. This should be the perfect time to be a Vampire... But it is making Sarah nostalgic as well as amount up her temper. What is going on? Is she a magnet for supernatural mischief? Or has she just had horrible luck so far? Why does Sophie feel so guilty? Will Halloween go off without a hitch or will it be as big of a disaster as everything else has been since she became a Vampire? And what is with all the vicious pranks everywhere? Who could be behind them? Why does Sarah always feel like she is being watched now? Is something sinister following her? Will life EVER be *normal* again?
I can always count on Matthew Cox to write an amusing story. I love Sarah's story of being a teenage vampire along with the antics of her siblings and mom and dad. I had been away from reading for a while and forget how much fun they are.
Wow, this time what is happening has nothing to do with Sara trying to help others, lol, but still is she who needs to fix it. I love how Matthew has written such a new spin on vampire teenager books and how Sara is such a great character by trying to keep her old way of life, her family together and still learn and grow how to be a vampire. Now we add imps to the crazy mix! Love this world, love the characters, love the writing. Looking forward to the next book