Sweetblood

by Pete Hautman

Considered mentally unstable due to her term paper on vampirism and diabetes, Lucy, a diabetic obsessed with the occult, encounters a man who claims to be a real vampire, plunging her into a world of danger where nothing is what it seems.

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Paranormal, Realistic Fiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Peter Murray Hautman is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."

Reviews

[Katie Colson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Vlog: https://youtu.be/28noWOP4naI

I'm convinced this book is a written account of my high school experience. I'm suing for royalties.

Will you like this book? Almost surely not. To enjoy this you have to be two things - a type 1 diabetic and have been a goth for an extended period of your adolescence. Enter teenage Katie.

This is such a fantastic representation of life with diabetes. The main character thinks about it coooonstantly, which is very realistic to my own experience. But, while she tries so hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle, she is constantly beaten down by the disease. There are times when she stares at the blood sugar monitor and simply walks away because she doesn't want to know. She doesn't want a machine to tell her she's been bad. I can relate so strongly to that.

The way she stomachs the mental strain of diabetes is by curating this elaborate conspiracy of vampires being originally stemmed from undiagnosed diabetes. And when I tell you I fell whole-heartedly down that rabbit hole. This isn't a matter of 'Oh, yeah, I can see that'. This is 'Omg, this is fact. Excuse me while I tell everyone I've ever met what the true origin of vampires is!'.

Again, this is a NICHE book. But I adored it and am so happy that it exists.

[Kasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for a project in a young adult lit class. I thought this book sounded like it could be great, I liked the vampire/diabetes theory. However, I was disappointed in the one-dimensional way it portrayed the gothy kids and it's moralistic tone. The ending was a little too "go comformity!" for me.

[Mir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lucy is a bright teenager who is angry about having diabetes dominate her life.

I thought Hautman did a good job balancing a realistic portrayal of Lucy's angst with the reality that both she and her parents were partly responsible for the problems, hard feelings, etc. At least, I thought thought this until the ending where the author pulls this ridiculous parental fantasy bait-and-switch and oh yes, just stop wearing black and dying your hair and do well in school and conform with what your teachers and parents want, and everything is fine! This especially pissed me off because Hautman had clearly shown throughout the book that her parents were not not very sensitive and handled issues with their daughter poorly. Her teachers seemed to over react in unrealistic ways (a historical research paper about vampire is grounds for your parents needing to meet with the principal and the student having to see a shrink? In my school that was for kids who had drug problems, not goth tendencies). That's why I use the phrase "parental fantasy": I just don't understand my teenager! But it is totally her fault because she won't dress and do her hair the way I want like she did when she was little! She gives me attitude! But someday she will straighten out and wear dorky sweaters with hearts on them and have blond hair and do all her homework! And we will live happily every after!

Um, no. Your teenager is not going back to being an obedient little kid. If you want a good relationship with her you are going to have to accept that and try to understand the adult she is becoming, preferably before she actually grown up and leaves home, and it is too late for you to offer guidance. Other than doing badly in school, it didn't seem like Lucy was behaving badly until her parents started freaking out. If they had a better relationship with her she could have called for a ride when needed one to get home from the creepy party, instead of trying to walk and almost dying.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rather fantastic book about being a pissed-off diabetic teen, in some ways a bit like reliving high school (except I didn't have nearly as many quality snarky comments as Lucy does and at no point did vampires figure into my life). And at one point while reading my blood sugars went low while her's were also low so everything got a bit trippy.

Some notes: This is not actually a vampire book, if you want blood-sucking fiends you should read something else. As far as reading quality goes this book would get 4 stars from me, it's 5th star is purely due to my connection with the character (which if you aren't diabetic you might not have).

I would say this is one of the most realistic depictions of diabetic teen life, but aside from this I can only think of 2 books (really series because I think the characters both appeared in multiple books) that had a diabetic teen (I can't think of any books with diabetic adults in them). Of the books I can think of I believe this is the best as far as both book quality and the realism of the character.

Books I can think of with diabetic teens (if anyone is interested):
The series were kids are always dying by Lurlene McDaniel had a few books with a diabetic girl
Stacy from the Babysitters Club is diabetic
this book

[Shanté · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was a teenager and it still sticks with me

[Charles Michie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel entitled Sweetblood by Peter Hautman is about a diabetic teenaged girl named Lucy who throughout the book goes on a quest of self realization. Lucy is introduced to us as a vampire-obsessed goth whose main goal is to show as little warmth as possible to the people in her community. For example, at one point in the text, she says that she wants to go throughout the whole day without smiling or saying anything to any one. She also uses her interest in Vampirism to isolate herself from her teachers and parents. We see this happen when Lucy makes a rather dark and disturbing self portrait in art class, and when she writes a very violent essay on the myths of vampires that make her teachers and parents very uncomfortable. What all of this shows is that Lucy takes a very negative approach on life. Because she has diabetes, she often feels trapped under monitoring her blood glucose level and eating sugar or injecting herself with insulin. This makes her very mad at the world, and so she indulges in goth culture.
Later in the book, Lucy ends up going to a goth party where she meets someone, named Wayne, who claims to be a real vampire. She is frightened but amazed at this man, who seems so insightful and dark and has an incredibly pessimistic view of life. On the way home, she has a horrible insulin reaction and dies for a short amount of time, only to be saved by her friend who calls an ambulance. She meets with a shrink to talk about how she feels and comes away with a realization that people like Wayne waste their lives with such child-like "vampire games" that make them see the world as a bad place, much like how Lucy saw the world before. After this, Lucy stops dressing in complete black and starts to hang out with her best friend, whom she has neglected for years. I think that the main idea expressed in the book is that Life is too precious to brood about. The author shows this when the main character nearly dies, and quits her pessimistic views of the world.

[Zora · Rating 4 out of 5]

After enjoying his newest book, I grabbed this off the public library shelf and glanced at the first page, only intending to see what it was about before I lined up my library books for reading, and I got swept up by his prose, once again deftly transparent. I was lost in the story within seconds. This is a YA novel about a angsty girl with Type I diabetes who is flailingly angry about it and not sure where to put the anger. Add a vampire chatroom, a creepy stalker guy who throws goth parties, and a rebellion that entails her ceasing to check her blood sugar, and you have quite a Disaster Stew. It threw me back to being a bright angsty teen--he really nailed the emotional state. Don't believe the mediocre rating here; a lot of the low ratings are by angsty rebellious teens who are saying, in effect, "adults don't know so much!" Actually sometimes they do, and Hautman knows more than most. After having read only male POVs from him, I was impressed at how he handled the female point of view here. A few hours later, the book was done, I lifted my head and came back to the real world, surprised to find myself in the same position and this world--don't you love it when a book transports you that well?

Realistic YA; don't let the word "vampire" on the cover throw you.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really loved this book when I was in Middle School, and I re-read it recently, expecting a great story and fond memories.

Didn't get either. Instead, the portrayal of the goths in this book annoyed me, as did the ending. The whole idea of conformity=happiness was a little too much for me, not to mention how all her problems seemed to come from Lucy being 'different', and how they all fixed themselves after she started dressing 'normal' again. It reminded me too much of the ending of Speak. I personally think this is Hauntman's worst book.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever felt different, like no one understands you? That's how Lucy feels in the book Sweet Blood by Pete Hautman. Lucy is a sixteen year old girl suffering from diabetes. She has done a lot of research on diabetes and now believes that in the olden times "vampires" were really just people showing signs of diabetes. She writes a paper, explaining her theory, for a class and it gets her in trouble with her parents and school. Her parents begin to believe that maybe she is getting to weird and they seek help for her. Lucy think that "vampires" as i meantioned before people with diabetes but the thing is, she want to be one.
Here parents takes away every teens life, her computer. Now, so she is no longer able to get on a Transylvanian chat room where her name is "Sweet Blood". In the chat room she talks to many people who have an interest in vampires. One is a man named Draco who is a self proclaimed "real vampire".
At school Lucy becomes friends with a guy who takes her to a "Goth" party. Where she meets a man who shares her interests in vampires. He seems to know way too much about her, he seems to be the only one who understands her, and she begins to wonder if he may be a real vampire. Lucy continues coming to these parties and before she knows it her life is spiraling downwards and she can't control it. It almost ends in death.
I'm not much into the vampire and gothic culture but Sweet Blood is an amazing novel in its own way. At first I thought that this book was creppy and i would not read it again. But now thast i finnished my mind changed, I really enjoyed reading it. It was a easy book to read that I recommend to teens who may feel a little different from everyone around them and whom may feel like no one quite understands them.

[Anikka Geistkemper · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is terrible, and not in the fun cringy way. The main plot is about a pedophile who wants to get with the main character, which is not resolved in any way. He still knows where she lives at the end of the book and contacts her, and she wonders if she should go back to him because he called her 'mature' and seemed to 'get her'. When the main character is sent to a therapist, the therapist is only there for the drama and couldn't care less about her. Good diabetes care is also made fun of a lot in the book.
If you write a book marketed towards teens, it should not glorify pedophilia or discourage teens from seeking help for their mental or physical health. This book did all three! Disgusting.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

For all the vampire lovers out there, here's another one. I would give it to those blood-sucking students though it lacks a little bit of depth. There isn't much plot and the main character, Lucy, isn't too memorable, yet it scrapes by with just enough vampire lore to qualify. Vampires aside, Lucy's character fights diabetes, which is why she is so stuck on vampires. Hautman paints the picture of kids living with diabetes and how much is rules their lives. Pick it up just for the education on diabetes.

[Hannah DCamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5, rounded up to 3 because I honestly don't know if "it was okay," or "I liked it."

This was recommended to me by one of my students - apparently it was her favorite book when she was in middle school. I was a little skeptical because of the cover (and the blurb made it sound a little more urban fantasy), and I wasn't exactly a Twilight fan back in the day. I was delighted to find that it was not what I'd expected at all.

Lucy was a raw, engaging narrator. Hautman managed to create a sympathetic character of someone who very easily could have been majorly unlikeable. This did smack a lot of the era in which it was written, or at least it was very reminiscent of teen girls in the early internet years.

I wish I had more thoughts to share about this book - it was interesting, and a bit brutal, and had moments that made me snort-laugh. It was desperate and real. Books like that usually leave an uncomfortable feeling in my brain, but this one had a surprisingly optimistic ending. I have hopes for Lucy's future. I only hope her parents see it too.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was diagnosed as Type 1 at the age of nine in 1963. Home blood testing wasn’t an option; I peed in a cup and put in a strip, that gave you an average over the last 3-4 hours. I did have to do only one injection a day. My grandfather ( who lived with us) did tell me the day I got home from the hospital, “People die from that.” I also recall arguing with folks in junior high when Kennedy’s Fitness Program kicked in that told me repeatedly, “ Doing the lengthy run before lunch won’t be a problem! We’ll be doing runs before to prepare your body!” ( Umm—NO!)
I found Lucy’s essay about vampire stories being based on Type1 diabetics fascinating and logical. I do know I spent years trying to avoid being the “different” kid with Type 1.
Lucy’s parents don’t know how to deal with her and her diagnosis. Mom telling Lucy, “ I won’t have more children because they might have this affliction” demonstrates their lack of understanding.
This is a wonderful read for Type 1’s. Two major concerns: When home blood testing became available, I checked six times a day—-but I was in my 20’s. Dosing yourself with 40 units of insulin?!?! WRONG! If she’s been Type 1 for more than five years, I don’t comprehend her ignorance. Perhaps her town was small enough there wasn’t an endocrinologist?

[Janelle Hammonds · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a type one diabetic who was diagnosed when I was five, now nineteen, it was so refreshing to read a book that I could relate to. I went through a similar mentality, albeit much younger, when I was ten. Before reading this the only media representation I’d seen of diabetics were completely inaccurate portrayals in doctor or police shows that get all the facts wrong. With Lucy as narrator it gives everyone an inside look and feeling of what it is to be a diabetic, the highs and the lows. The ending was a little too cheesy for me, the typical makeover scene but it hit a little close to home as I did the same thing when I felt this way, I cut it off and let it grow back out, dying it every color, changing what I wore and how I acted, desperate to figure out the key to what I had to be to make people think of me of something other that the sick girl, the reason I tried out for basketball and cheerleading until my senior year that I stopped caring, showed up to school in yoga pants most days because I don’t owe anyone anything and what mattered most was that on the days I could be at school, I was, and the others I was at home curled up in bed because of my health was for me too. Screw if people thought of me as the sick girl. I was going what I needed to do to live and I shouldn’t be judged for that.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many components to a book. Plots, settings, and characters are all complex parts to the puzzle. Genres are also a large component when it comes to any book. There's an abundance of different genres out there. From Autobiographies to Science Fiction novels, each and every book has a different category. The book that I just read by Pete Hautman, was "SweetBlood." It fits into the category of "Teen Fiction" with a morbid twist. The girl in the story has a perception of life that can be viewed as disturbing, but the events that follow are rather intriguing. Most teen novelists (from my perspective) almost always write something that is predictable, sappy, and even a little too "happy." There's no suspense, there's no educated guesses. It's just a predictable story that's rather, in my opinion, boring. But in this book, the story just keeps you guessing. Is she going to fail? Is she going to retreat back to her old "Goody-Two Shoes" ways? Will she betray her friends, or her family? What's she going to do? These are all questions that you are bound to ask during this entire book. It's an amazing, suspensful teen novel, and I thuroughly enjoyed reading it. If you want a story worth reading, you should seriously consider "SweetBlood" by Pete Hautman.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had so many issues with this book. Not only was the writing style bad, containing many paragraph long run-on sentences and a lot of off-topic and unnecessary commentary, but this book portrayed a horrible representation of a person with type 1 diabetes, and frankly I'm offended. This book promotes smoking and drinking alchohol as a type 1 diabetic, it contains very inaccurate information such as dosage amounts (you would never EVER give yourself 30 units at once), and the main character blatantly disregards both testing her blood sugar and even carrying her meter with her leading to near fatal side effects. Another issue lies in the theory the main character promotes throughout the book that type 1 diabetics were the world's first vampires. My biggest issue however happened at the beginning where the main character tried connecting the use of vaccines with the onset of her autoimmune disorder. This is the kind of inacurate information that gets inside of people's head and turns them into anti-vaxxers.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book. It was about a girl named Lucinda who happened to be a diabetic. She had a theory that diabetics were the real and original vampires. She talked on vampire chat rooms and thought the "poser" vampires were so annoying. No one would believe her theory. She even wrote a paper about it for english and her parents and teacher wanted her to see a shrink. Then one day she went to a "goth" party where she met an interesting but strange guy. He understood her very well... maybe even more than she did. After she met with him strange things started to happen. Read the book to dissect this strange mystery.

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was kind of entertaining although I couldn't really relate much. Lucy Szabo is a sixteen year old girl with diabetes and has her own theories on vampirism. She meets some pedophile online whom never grew up and proclaims himself to be a vampire. Lucy starts losing grip of her grades, relationships and health. This book burns a few hours; it's only 180 pages. It also gives us these patronizing life lessons of not meeting strangers online, having to respect your elders, avoiding drugs and alcohol, doing your homework and not to smoke. Anyway, she thought she was a vampire because she died for two minutes and technology saved her life and so now she is undead.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! Yes! YES! A book for teens about a teen with Type 1 Diabetes! This book was awesome! I think the reason why not many people are rating it 4 or 5 stars is because it wasn't relatable to them. As a teen (14) who has Type 1 Diabetes I can say he got everything right and the whole vampires/diabetes thing was really interesting because when I was undiagnosed I actually kinda felt like a vampire to be honest! I knew what the main character was feeling when she was low or high which was cool. Way to go Pete! (:

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely terrible. 176 pages about a mopey teenager with diabetes who thinks she's similar to a vampire. If I hadn't borrowed it from the library I would have trashed it. (SPOILER) The book leads up to her meeting this guy "Draco" in real-life from a chatroom who she believes is a vampire. Turns out he's just some dirty old man. She's quick to change her life around from a goth-like behavior and goes straight after his encounter. End of story.

[The Local Spooky Hermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

girl goes to underage drinking parties at older creepy dudes apartment.

[Zev · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book would have been so much more interesting had the protagonist actually been a blood-drinking vampire who was a type-one, insulin-dependent diabetic. Instead, she is a miserable, long-suffering brat who gripes and mopes. A huge plot point in the book is her computer being taken away. She used to be a model student and cheery, but is suddenly, as a friend of mine puts it, bitten by the teenage virus. There's a pun in there, somehow, and it's unintentional because this book is so boring and annoying. Goth kids are regularly ripped on. I read reviews on here and someone remarked it was the "I'm so goth I'm not goth" phenomenon. Oh, that. I was a teenager when this book takes place. Early 2000s; go ahead and do whatever with that information. The "so goth I am not" was a stupid remark that maybe one goth kid in my school made. Maybe it's a regional thing. As an adult, I describe myself as "I've been painting my nails black since I was twelve, know all the lyrics to Evanescence's 'Fallen' album, and all the stereotypes that come with that." I feel like the word "goth" is unspoken in there. Show don't tell.

So, this griping teenager is an insulin-dependent diabetic. She talks about it a lot, and in realistic ways. The author is excellent at writing a griping, chronically ill teenager to the point that I was weirded out. I have a disease that is similar to type one diabetes, so reading about what this teenager goes through was really uncomfortable. Nearly everything she's experienced, I have too. Her parents are in a lot of ways, just normal parents and she hates them anyway. Normal, caring nicknames are capitalized because It's Clearly Weird to Call Someone Sweetie Honey Sugar. She makes commentary linking it to her diabetes, and wow, she reminds me of me as a teenager. That's not a compliment. I'm so glad I grew up into a different person. But her parents are also breathtakingly ableist. I legit gasped. She uses a slur for a physically disabled person ("diseased cripple") at some point and wow, shut it. You disgusting brat, if you're gonna insult yourself for being disabled, understand that "cripple" means broadly "the way this person moves is apparently worthy of insult." Nothing to do with an auto-immune disease, or as it's known in the disability community, an invisible disability. At the end, her doctor arranges for her to get someone to educate her on her diabetes and I fully admit, I was a little jealous of this fictional character I dislike immensely.

There's a weird wannabe love triangle in here. It wasn't examined at all. The author might not have known how to write it effectively, or was more likely too afraid to take risks with it. The sparkly vampire series wasn't out yet, so it has nothing to do with that. There's a subplot with a creepy middle-aged dude who...breeds monarch butterflies and he gives Lucy a hatchling without her knowledge. That was creepy. Tell her it's an animal so she can take care of it. There's quite a bit of stuff that goes on with this guy, and it--makes me wonder if the author was trying to warn disaffected teen girls or something. Whatever he was trying to do, he did it poorly because it was so vague.

Teens, please don't hang out with middle-aged dudes. You will realize the following once you are actually an adult: You're not mature for your age or an old soul; you are a normal teenager and these grown men are trying to get you. Ask yourself why they can't find grown women their own age. I was a creepy, highly intelligent and very ill child. I got called an old soul a lot and it made me mad. Twenty-five years later, someone explained adults will just say that about creepy kids when they can't bring themselves to say "this child makes me uncomfortable." I grew into my intelligence and my illnesses, and learned how to "balance" my creepiness I guess. I calmed down a lot once I grew up, around twenty-two years old. Definitely by twenty-five. I was thinking about this while I was reading: I'm so glad I grew up and am not a kid anymore.

So, there was an interesting concept that the author did nothing with. There's no vampire with a blood sugar disorder, just a griping teenager who is preyed upon by an adult man, and she tries to navigate her chronic illness and her ableist parents. I might try to write a short story about someone who actually does have the disorder but drinks blood; write this to make myself feel better. Skim this book except for the parts about type one diabetes.

[Matthew B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can hardly enjoy a book that has a main character who is supposed to be relatable, but is SO annoying I groaned whenever she spoke. There's no depth in any character, really, plus the stereotypes - all goths are broody and downright rude for absolutely no reason, all adults either overreact or couldn't care less when it comes to a teen's health, etc. I enjoyed how relatable some elements about diabetes were to me, being a diabetic myself, but reading some side effects, I genuinely hope the author based those on other people's experiences that happen to differ from mine (for example, being extremely hungry while having a high blood glucose level, especially in the days leading up to diagnosis - I myself drank litres of water in this period, but could hardly eat and was never hungry). Two stars (would give 1.5 if I could) for the concept (link between diabetes and vampirism) and the theory.

[Anna (Bananas) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect little book. The combination of a medical issue with vampire lore and teenage angst all mixed up into something refreshingly unique.
Lucy’s voice was wonderful to read and flowed so well that I finished this quickly and wished there was more - but nothing more was truly needed. So many authors ramble and it’s not necessary. I respect an author who can tell an enjoyable, relatable, interesting story with just the right amount of words.
The characters shine in this book and the plot is simple and concise. Well done. 👏🏻

[Iskra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it

[Sanura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucy Szabo is a diabetic that believes the first vampires were just like her; however everyone else around her seems a little hesitant to accept her ideas. Lucy has what her family like to describe as “social” problems and therefore sees a psychiatrist who she believe doesn’t understand her at all. With her black hair, fishnets, army boots, and all around “goth” look she doesn’t have many close friends accept for her childhood friend Mark. But then she gets drawn in by the Transylvanian chat room, where she converses with other like-minded people, along the way she meets a vamp named Draco who lives not as far from her as she thinks. As she gets caught up in this world she loses sights of things and falls into a frenzy of problems…in the end will Lucy find her true path, or will Draco become the key to her undoing.
Pete Hatuman tells the story through Lucy’s eyes and for story like this it fits very well. He has a way of catching his characters voice within the pages; you get Lucy’s sarcastic nature, Marks sense of caring, and the smooth, soothing words of Draco. And to follow along with the vampiric theme of the text, we always find Hautman using vampires or something related to the un-dead in his metaphors and similes. This story flowed well and incorporated so many different characters all through the eyes of one sixteen year old, in a world where “you can be so goth you’re not goth” and you can be a vampire because you’re diabetic.
The story was a very interesting tale, though the diction was fairly simple to the point where I would put it at a high school freshman reading level, Hautman did make references to some mythology and other subjects that were best tackled by older students. This book did give some very cliché views of the goth culture, with the colored tights, tripp jeans, piercings, drinking, and having dark depressing views about everything. It was a fairly good read; but an easy one. I would suggest this book to people that enjoy vampires, and perhaps those that are looking for a quick and simple read.

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweetblood is about Lucy Szabo, a teenage girl with type one diabetes. Through the book you see her struggle with school, boys, and her own health. As a type one diabetic, reading this book allowed me to see into the thoughts and feelings of someone in similar circumstances. Every diabetic is different. Our bodies react to different carbohydrates differently, we have different control of our blood sugars, and different viewpoints and emotions towards our illness. Many teenage diabetics grow tired of all that comes with having type one diabetes and managing our blood sugars. In the Novel, Lucy does not check her blood sugar for multiple days and forgets to take her morning shot, which causes her to get diabetic ketoacidosis. The novel does a great job of portraying the different "insulin reactions" that diabetics can have. There is a part in the book when Lucy gives too much insulin and passes out from severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Lucy also experiences episodes of hyper and hypoglycemia that are not as severe and are treated quickly. The novel also shows how diabetes can affect a teenager. Lucy chooses not to take her diabetes supplies with her to the party, most likely because she didn't want to deal with people's judgements or have to deal with acting as her own pancreas. Lucy often gets upset at her mother or at Mark Murphy, this could be because of fluctuating blood sugar combined with teenage hormones. Hautman also shows changes in Lucy throughout the novel. In the beginning she is a gothic teen who doesn't particularly value her health or grades and loses herself; however, in the end she starts to care more and find herself. She starts to see the value in managing her blood sugars. Overall, this novel does a great job at portraying the struggles of being a teenager and having type one diabetes. It shows that ups and downs of life and of having a life threatening illness. It also shows how much pressure Lucy is under, as one mistake can end with a hospital visit.

[Sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pages: 208
Main Characters: Lucy Szabo, Mark, Dylan, and Draco

This book follows Lucy Szabo, a sixteen year old girl who has diabetes. She theorizes that this makes her “undead” and a “true vampire”. With her best friend having moved to St. Louis, she finds herself alone, her only remaining friends a boy who lives across the street and people she’s never met in a vampire chat room. Slowly, as she gets more and more out of touch with the seriousness of her diabetes and invested in her concept of “vampires”, her life spirals.

It’s an easy read and a quick one. The writing is light and enjoyable. However, no longer being an angst teen, I found Lucy a bit insufferable at times. Furthermore, please not that the vampires mentioned in this book are not of the Anne Rice quality. I kept hoping it would twist at some point and there’d be actual vampires but it never did.

Additionally, it has run of the mill teen moral lesson plot line and ending. It’s a very neat and conformist ending—which I found a little disappointing.

[Jaemi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Luzy Szabo was six-years-old, she found a dying bat in her yeard. Not knowing what it was, other than a small critter, she picked it up and brought it to show her mother, who quickly beat it to death with a broom and threw it in the trash. When her father arrives home, he’s angry, and worried, as Lucy’s hands are covered with scratches. She knows they’re from berry bushes, but doesn’t want to get in trouble for being someplace she wasn’t stupposed to be, so she doesn’t say anything. And off to the hospital for rabies shots they go.

A few months later, Lucy is diagnosed with Diabetes. And no matter what anyone says, she’s convinced the events are related.

Life for Lucy changes after this. The shots, the worry, the constant equation of food + insulin + blood sugar. She grows into an angry teen, with a theory that early diabetics were the people the vampire legends stemmed from. She even writes an essay about it.

The essay doesn’t go ober well with her teacher, nor with her parents, who then search her computer and decide they don’t like some of the internet sites she’s been visiting. With no computer, and feeling friendless, Lucy becomes even more sullen. When a new guy shows up in town, she starts breaking rules to hang out with him. She also stops paying attention to her illness.

Forgetting to eat, overexertion, missed shots, and poor judgement lead to an episode of ketoacidosis, hospitalization, and eventually, change.

A new spin on vampirism, and an intriguing look into the life of a teen with chronic illness, Sweetblood is a quick read that gets the mind churning.

[Christina Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet Blood Review Christina Nash

Lucy Szabo is a teenage girl with diabetes. Lucy has gotten A’s in school before this year but for some reason now her grades are dropping and she is having trouble regulating her blood sugar. Lucy has been getting into lots of arguments with her parents lately and she thinks it’s no big deal until she gets her computer taken away. A new boy starts going to Lucy’s school one day who invites Lucy to a party at an old building called to carfax. Lucy meets a strange man there who people claim is a vampire. One day Lucy doesn’t check her blood sugar and passes out at school in the middle of class in front of everyone. After this Lucy thinks about the choices she has been making and the people she hangs out with, but will she change?
Sweet Blood by Pete Hautman is a good book with great characters. It is very interesting to learn about Lucy and watch her change as the book goes on. Dylan is another character in the story. Dylan is a little selfish which Lucy does not realize at first. It is entertaining to watch Lucy figure out that Dylan may not be a very good friend after all. Mark has been Lucy’s best friend since they were little kids Lucy takes him for granted when she doesn’t talk to him very much. As the story goes on you learn more and more about the characters and it is intriguing to learn about the characters and to see how they change throughout the book. It is also very interesting to learn about how Lucy’s opinion changes about different characters. Sweet Blood is a great book and I would recommend it to girls and boys of all ages, especially if you are a teenager going through hard times.