Pretty Dead ~ Francesca Lia Block review

Pretty Dead
HarperTeen
September 22, 2009
208 pages
Amazon
(paperback out at end of August, too)


It's hard to summarize Pretty Dead too much because not only is it short (208 pages) but much of what's in the summaries published on a lot of book sites, doesn't happen until the story really gets going. I mostly went into reading it knowing two things: Francesca Lia Block wrote a vampire book and my friend who's favorite writer is Block basically got the book in the mail and sat down and read it until she was done (and adored it).

If you'd like a little more info (but not as much as Amazon has): Charlotte Emerson is tall, gorgeous and lives by herself in a mansion full of designer clothes, artifacts and furniture that nearly anyone would envy. In fact, that's her problem, that everyone envies her.

She's been around nearly a century but she's incredibly lonely. She might have what any girl would want, but it also stops 'any girl' from ever being her friend, too.

Except for one.

Now, though Charlotte has to deal the loss of that one friend, the sudden feelings she has for a certain boy--feelings she hasn't had in years, and the changes she's experiencing (the tear in her nails, the blood suddently rushing to her cheeks again).

Somethings happening to Charlotte, but what?


Told in flashbacks that fill you in on Charlotte's one friendship and her life as a human and then the present where sophisticated, well dressed Charlotte's life just might be coming undone, Pretty Dead is super enjoyable.

I can't think of anything to compare Pretty Dead to and though I want to say Charlotte might have been friends with someone from Buffy, I think that's actually wrong and some part of her and her life just reminds me of Drusilla (minus that craziness)...I might be super wrong on that, though, so don't let it put you off and just read the book?

It does jump around a bit and a few times it was hard to figure out just what or who was being talked about (or doing the talking), so that's all I'd take off from the book for.

9/10