My Weird Family Series: My Vampire Cousin

by: J.K. Hawkins

Published by: Lily Ruth Publishing (June release)

Reviewed by Stephanie Boyd

Twelve-year-old Alice Trivett discovers that there really are monsters in the nearby woods. Alice, after ignoring her mother’s explicit warning not to pass the “no trespassing” signs in the woods behind her house, finds a creepy castle that she can’t resist exploring. Unfortunately, it isn’t as unoccupied as she thinks! Her cousin, a vampire, lives there and now that she has crossed the threshold, her life will never be the same for not only do real monsters exist, but she is related to them. And this is just the first adventure of the My Weird Family Series.

This book is written by a twelve-year-old author and shows remarkable talent for such a young author. However, placed on the shelves next to other books sold to the same target market, it is not nearly as sophisticated or smoothly written as its competition. The story line is good. I like the idea of a young girl discovering she is related to monsters and it appears that in each book in the series she will travel around and meet all the various different types of monsters she is related to.

I like the character of Alice, and author Hawkins does a good job at dropping some hints about what is to come in the rest of the series. But I felt this first book was a little rough and unpolished. Half the story is Alice getting chased by one vampire or another instead of further developing the relationship between the characters or even having Alice learn something else about her family.

I think My Vampire Cousin is a decent first book and a great start for a twelve-year-old author. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with when she is an adult!

Armchair Inteviews agrees: This young person has talent and will be helped by maturing in the writing skills.