CLUB NUMBER FIVE (age 18 and up readers)
Part One of Immortal Blood Series
Samantha Green wanted nothing but to be normal, have a shallow life with smoking hot Jonathan Blake and an unforgettable senior year at Regents East High. But one morning she wakes up as a vampire. She has no idea who bit her or why. All she knows is she didn’t want it. Now her new life is full of secrets, deceit and fear, not to mention raw meatballs and red nectar that is definitely something else besides strawberry juice. Samantha tries to act normal. She pretends to like her mom’s chicken salad, goes to school and learns how to survive on her own, but what can she do when she finds herself inside of a devious conspiracy, strikingly fast hunters, secret clubs and mouthwateringly gorgeous boys and the only food she can catch is her best friend, Kate Walker’s, wrist?
Excerpt:
A quiet knock woke me from my miserable thoughts. I opened the door, sighing, and watched Kate rush onto the couch and look at me with her eager eyes. I sighed again. I could tell she was bursting but I didn’t know how to start. Should I just blurt it out or should I smoothen the edges and tell her gently? Oh God! Why did this have to be so difficult? I glanced at her and saw how she was struggling not to talk. Not to ask anything, like she wanted to prove she was worthy of my trust. Oh, what the hell. I decided to spit it out.
“I think I’m a vampire.”
Silence. Kate’s eyes widened and she opened and closed her mouth in turns. “You think you’re a vampire.”
I nodded and she lifted her finger. She formed questions like what, when, who with her lips but nothing came out. I nodded again and saw an angry flash in her eyes.
“And that’s why you dragged me here in the middle of the night?” Kate’s voice rose alarmingly.
“Shh,” I hushed. “I don’t want to wake my parents and neither do you.”
Kate got up and paced back and forth. “You don’t think you’re a vampire, Sam. That kind of thing you know.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s assume I know I’m a vampire. Will you help me or not?”
“What kind of help are we talking about exactly?” Kate asked suspiciously. I licked my lips. I couldn’t help it, but just the thought of her blood made me crazy. “Oh, no,” Kate backed away. “I’m so not going to let you bite me. Besides, what evidence do you have that you are a vampire besides your new gorgeous look? I thought you didn’t believe any supernatural crap.”
“I didn’t,” I admitted. “But something happened to me.” I opened my scarf and let her see the small fang marks on my neck. “I got bitten.”
Kate leaned over and looked at my marks. I couldn’t help but sniff her heavenly smell and reveal my fangs. She glanced at me weirdly and I felt embarrassed. “Okay,” she said slowly. “So, you have fangs. What other proof do you have?”
I laughed nervously. She hadn’t run yet and that was a good sign, right? “I don’t have any pimples anymore.” I raised my brow.
“Right,” Kate’s mouth tugged. “Anything other than what Clearasil won’t cover?”
“My eyes hurt in the daylight and I look like a supermodel,” I grinned. “And I’m hungry.”
Kate went pale. “How hungry?”
“Don’t worry, I won’t jump on you. I can perfectly control myself.” I think, I added in my mind.
Kate sat down again and eyed me warily. We didn’t speak for a while. I pressed my knees together with my hands as if my life depended on it and tried to ignore my ever-so-growing hunger. Five minutes had passed and I couldn’t even look at her anymore. My throat was like sandpaper and my fangs hurt.
“Don’t lie to me,” Kate said quietly.
“I’m not lying,” I managed to hiss. “I won’t bite you. Scout’s honor.”
“You’re no Scout,” Kate sneered. “Tell me exactly how bad it is.”I glanced at her and shook my head. “Honey, your eyes are already reddish and I bet in a minute or two you’ll drool,” she said gently and moved closer to me.
“I will not drool,” I said between my teeth, “but I suggest you don’t come any closer.”
“That bad?” Kate said shakily.
I nodded. If she came any closer I couldn’t give any guarantees. I may or may not jump on her and I didn’t want to do that. I wished she’d go away, and I wished I’d been wiser than to ask her to come here.
“How do you want to do it?” she whispered. I stared at her, stunned. She rolled up her sleeves and unbuttoned her shirt. “What’s the best spot?”
“How would I know?” I hissed. “I’ve never bitten anyone before.”
She swallowed and I tried to smile encouragingly. My fangs burned and all I wanted to do was to grab her arm and sink my teeth in it. However, she was my best friend and she had a right to say no. I just hoped I could respect her choice if she refused to be my feeding machine.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I sighed and tried to turn my eyes off her beating veins. “I mean, after I start I don’t think I’m strong enough to let you go. Not even if you begged.”
She looked straight in to my eyes and nodded firmly. “I’m sure.”
What readers say about Club Number Five:
***** I am a middle-aged man who has never read a book about teenagers and vampires. The wrong person to review such a book, you may think … or perhaps the best. I had no idea what to expect and took it all at face value. I do have some experience in the genre though. I was once a teenager myself and I have a teenage daughter the same age as the main character Samantha. I know how hormone-driven teenagers with big ideas and an inwardly-focussed approach to life, crave adventure and acceptance in any world other than that represented by their parents. Jennifer Loiske follows this theme and skilfully uses the vampire scenario as a vehicle to give a tired old subject vibrancy and bite. It could have been drugs, sex, alcohol or gangs. Jennifer chose vampires. Her subtle style (I stared at him, stunned, and tasted the word “friend” in my mouth) is easy to read and helps convey difficult emotions to the reader. The finest quality of any writer is to paint a clear picture in their readers’ minds. Jennifer does this. I thoroughly recommend her book to people of all ages.
***** I loved this book! Steamy, sexy, fast paced and exciting Club Number Five is a must for anyone into the vampire genre. Keeps you guessing throughout and, with a shock to the end, will leave you wanting to re-read it once more. Loiske spectacularly enters into the mindset of the adolescent, female protagonist, and the book will relate to anyone who is, or has ever been, a teenage girl, even if they weren’t managing quite the same problems as Samantha….! Cannot WAIT to read Lucas, the next part of the Immortal Blood series!
***** Wow! This kept me on the edge of my seat for as long as I was reading it! I loved the different twist to the vampire myth – and even the first person point of view of a girl going through `the change’ (and no, not THAT change!) Imagine being torn between two guys…one who granted you your new life, the other who would be your perfect match otherwise…
Cannot wait to read the next one in this series! Especially after that cliff-hanger!
***** My initial reaction on opening this book was “Does the world need another story about teenage vampires?” I was not convinced it would.
Samantha is just like any other 17 year-old adolescent as she discovers boys and one in particular, Jonathan, the hot guy every other girl in the school drools over.
Being a rebel Sam becomes besotted by Jonathan and stalks him one night as he goes to his mysterious club but the bouncer, understandably, won’t allow Sam admittance.
So she hangs around outside where she is attacked.
Sam’s only injury appears to be some small puncture marks on her neck and she immediately assumes she has been bitten by a vampire and blames Jonathan and his mysterious club where she unsuccessfully tries to enter several times.
Consumed by new-found deep emotions, and newly-acquired hormones, Sam lures her best friend Kate into her tangled web of bloodlust, which places Kate into mortal danger too.
Jennifer Loiske spectacularly describes the conflicts Sam faces within her new world as Sam defends her Vampire friends – sensitivity as Sam realises she is also a young woman with human desires too mixed with her duty to protect Kate and obligations to her family.
Sam eventually finds the man of her dreams…but sometimes dreams become nightmares.
I thoroughly commend this story to anyone as a compelling and highly entertaining read.
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