Hannah’s Story: Vampire Love Never Dies by Giulietta Maria Spudich

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

iUniverse, 2009

ISBN: 9781440135026

Available: New and Used

Hannah, a woman barely out of her teens, arrives in Cambridge to attend school, but she is also fleeing her past. After recovering from the pain of being abandoned by her boyfriend, Bret, Hannah began to realize just how abusive and manipulative their relationship had been. Since Bret was a vampire, and she narrowly escaped becoming one herself, Hannah recognizes that the break up was possibly the best thing to have happened to her so far. But Bret isn’t

quite done with Hannah yet.

This book is short—it covers more than a year in about 130 pages—but this is by no means a starved plot. Although there is room for fleshing it out, the story is well-paced and focused There are some small technical problems, likely because this is a debut book, but there is a lot to recommend. Although this is a vampire book, the author spends a fair amount of time on Hannah’s trying to resist the urge to blame herself for having been caught in an abusive situation and deal with her feelings of worthlessness that stem from her part in the relationship she had with Bret. The vampire aspect is so light it can easily be taken for a metaphor as well, making this book less about vampires and more about a teen recovering from an abusive relationship.

The YA and abuse recovery focus makes this an excellent addition to teen libraries, private and public, and Hannah’s Story could even be a gateway into helping adults talk to teens and tweens about abusive relationships. Recommended.