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Valentine's Day Sucks
Who would have thought that a night of babysitting could change her life forever?
Since his little sister bit her in November, Matt Johnson has kept her alive. Only Natalie could have a hot guy climb through her bedroom window every night and have it mean absolutely nothing romantic. Natalie works hard to hide her crush on Matt because the last thing this newly-turned vampire needs to deal with is a broken heart. Her insecurities about Matt come to a head when the mothers insist on them going to the Valentine's dance together. Will this Valentine's Day suck worse than all her previous Valentine's days?
******
Excerpt
“Thanks,” I told him. “You’re getting good at solving my problems.”
“That’s me,” he said, lifting the bottle to refill our glasses. “Synthetic blood deliveryman, fashion consultant, parental advice provider…”
“Good friend,” I said. I wanted more, but I couldn’t exactly say, “Slurpalicious hottie." I mean, I didn’t have the guts.
******
Valentine's Day Sucks is a 16,000 word novella which would be approximately 62 pages in print. Your download will include a three-chapter excerpt of Stirring Up Trouble, a young adult novel currently available at all major retailers.
Since his little sister bit her in November, Matt Johnson has kept her alive. Only Natalie could have a hot guy climb through her bedroom window every night and have it mean absolutely nothing romantic. Natalie works hard to hide her crush on Matt because the last thing this newly-turned vampire needs to deal with is a broken heart. Her insecurities about Matt come to a head when the mothers insist on them going to the Valentine's dance together. Will this Valentine's Day suck worse than all her previous Valentine's days?
******
Excerpt
“Thanks,” I told him. “You’re getting good at solving my problems.”
“That’s me,” he said, lifting the bottle to refill our glasses. “Synthetic blood deliveryman, fashion consultant, parental advice provider…”
“Good friend,” I said. I wanted more, but I couldn’t exactly say, “Slurpalicious hottie." I mean, I didn’t have the guts.
******
Valentine's Day Sucks is a 16,000 word novella which would be approximately 62 pages in print. Your download will include a three-chapter excerpt of Stirring Up Trouble, a young adult novel currently available at all major retailers.
78 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 18, 2012
35 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 10, 2015
Bitten By A First Grader!?
This seems to be a stand alone novella though I would love to see it turn into a series!!!
Natalie was just your typical high school girl until the first grader she was babysitting bit her. Then everything changed. She changed. Not like she had a choice. Being turned into a vampire is super stressful! Especially when your parents think you are on drugs! How will she deal with the perils of high school without snacking on someone? Is she safe to be around? Why is Matt helping her? Is she just a burden he must assume? What will happen if his parents find out?
***This book is suitable for young adult through adult readers who enjoy a little whimsy in their teen paranormal romances :)
This seems to be a stand alone novella though I would love to see it turn into a series!!!
Natalie was just your typical high school girl until the first grader she was babysitting bit her. Then everything changed. She changed. Not like she had a choice. Being turned into a vampire is super stressful! Especially when your parents think you are on drugs! How will she deal with the perils of high school without snacking on someone? Is she safe to be around? Why is Matt helping her? Is she just a burden he must assume? What will happen if his parents find out?
***This book is suitable for young adult through adult readers who enjoy a little whimsy in their teen paranormal romances :)
September 4, 2015
Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book
Another (surprisingly) fun short story. I say surprisingly because I don't read many short stories... I love my full length novels, especially if they're a series! I also say surprisingly because I'm not a big vampire fan, but seeing as how I pretty much love everything Juli Alexander writes, I decided to give this a shot.
While on a babysitting job, the little girl Natalie is caring for, Ashley, bites her. No big deal, right? Well, this mere bite actually turned Natalie into a vampire! That's right, the family she babysat for are vampires. So crazy! Anyway, Ashley's older brother Mat then takes on the responsibility of taking care of this new vampire and keeping her a secret from his parents.
Valentine's Day Sucks was such a cute and sweet story! Mat was super sweet--I loved him! I just loved the sexual tension between Natalie and Mat! Juli always writes super adorable romances :) As a girl who's not the biggest fan of short stories, I absolutely loved this one! On the one hand I wish there was more because it was so amazing, but on the other, it wrapped up really nicely! I highly recommend it and anything else by Juli Alexander!
Another (surprisingly) fun short story. I say surprisingly because I don't read many short stories... I love my full length novels, especially if they're a series! I also say surprisingly because I'm not a big vampire fan, but seeing as how I pretty much love everything Juli Alexander writes, I decided to give this a shot.
While on a babysitting job, the little girl Natalie is caring for, Ashley, bites her. No big deal, right? Well, this mere bite actually turned Natalie into a vampire! That's right, the family she babysat for are vampires. So crazy! Anyway, Ashley's older brother Mat then takes on the responsibility of taking care of this new vampire and keeping her a secret from his parents.
Valentine's Day Sucks was such a cute and sweet story! Mat was super sweet--I loved him! I just loved the sexual tension between Natalie and Mat! Juli always writes super adorable romances :) As a girl who's not the biggest fan of short stories, I absolutely loved this one! On the one hand I wish there was more because it was so amazing, but on the other, it wrapped up really nicely! I highly recommend it and anything else by Juli Alexander!
February 10, 2012
Matt has been taking care of Natalie ever since his 9 year old sister, Ashley, turned her into a vampire when Natalie was babysitting her. Matt gives Natalie synthetic blood to help her and is there for her when she needs him. Natalie’s mom thinks she is doing drugs and can’t do anything without getting in trouble. Just when she thinks it can’t get worse, Matt’s parents want to meet her. She has no idea what’s in store for her.
She’s growing fond of Matt and knows that he’s only taking care of her because he feels bad about his sister turning her. That is the only reason isn’t it?
I love holiday related books, young adult books, and vampires. This book is the perfect combination of three. I thought Ashley would be a brat, but she wasn’t, a little stubborn maybe but definitely not a brat. I felt bad that Natalie’s mom thought she was up to no good.
I loved that Matt takes care of Natalie. He didn’t have to. I hope Juli writes more books about vampires. I’ll definitely read them. This is a quick read. My only complaint is I wish this was longer!
She’s growing fond of Matt and knows that he’s only taking care of her because he feels bad about his sister turning her. That is the only reason isn’t it?
I love holiday related books, young adult books, and vampires. This book is the perfect combination of three. I thought Ashley would be a brat, but she wasn’t, a little stubborn maybe but definitely not a brat. I felt bad that Natalie’s mom thought she was up to no good.
I loved that Matt takes care of Natalie. He didn’t have to. I hope Juli writes more books about vampires. I’ll definitely read them. This is a quick read. My only complaint is I wish this was longer!
May 21, 2012
Juli Alexander writes YA wonderfully. This one tells the story of Natalie, who was turned by a nine-year-old while babysitting and must hide her vampire status from her family. Now Natalie must depend on the nine-year-old's older bother Matt to keep her alive. Her problems are compounded by the fact that she has a major crush on Matt and feels she must hide her feelings from him. With Valentine's Day approaching, she worries that the holiday is going to be worse than ever. I highly recommend this novella.
January 29, 2012
Valentine's Day Sucks proves that even the worst day possible can turn out awesome. I'm far from being a YA, but loving vampire stories drew me to this one and I'm glad I tried it. From the first page I was drawn in unable to stop turning the page until I sadly came to the end. Matt and Natalie are enjoyable characters and you eagerly hope they find happiness in this unconventional situation they find themselves in. I look forward to reading more from Ms. Alexander.
January 27, 2015
I thought it was going to be like all the other vampire books but it wasn't. It was a fresh story, interesting, and entertaining with a happy ending. Even though it was a young adult story, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a great read, who loves paranormal romance, or just wants to be entertained.
November 2, 2012
This was a fun/sweet YA paranormal romance. I would recommend it to a friend! I really enjoyed it!
December 31, 2015
Cute short novella
I love Juli Alexander's writing style. It's funny and snappy just like her teenage characters she writes about. Light hearted fun.
I love Juli Alexander's writing style. It's funny and snappy just like her teenage characters she writes about. Light hearted fun.
September 2, 2015
MORE
I want more of this story it's so so good! I want to know what happens and see their love grow.
I want more of this story it's so so good! I want to know what happens and see their love grow.
November 18, 2019
honestly not a great book, hovering between a two and a three. I bumped it up purely because I was craving a bit of cheese
January 25, 2020
Best short read ever. It was a phenomenal development amongst the characters and moral of the story! I highly recommend!
Great start to my 2020 reading challenge!
Great start to my 2020 reading challenge!
June 2, 2021
Quick novella. Pretty standard read, good for a one sitting power read. I enjoyed it
January 22, 2018
I really loved this novella. I think is would make a great trilogy or series. A life changing event is a major thing to deal with, it would take so many more months to get use to it and it’s a shame this this novella cut it shot.
July 11, 2016
"Valentine's Day Sucks" is is a cute teenage romance story with just enough vampire stuff thrown in to make it fun and unique. It's fairly light on the typical vampire stuff; these vampires basically seem human except for the need for blood. There's no special powers or anything like sunlight issues mentioned, etc. The plus side is that it's also pretty tame on the content. There's some attraction between two of the characters and other people assume they are in a physical relationship (they're not), but for being a vampire story it's actually pretty clean, aside from one or two comments.
The story wastes no time jumping right into things, and it's easy to get quickly sucked in. I really liked the interaction between the two main characters, and the supporting characters were entertaining as well because they often seemed to act in an opposite way of what you would expect.
I actually wish the story was a full length book, because I liked it so much. It flows really well (more like a novel than a short-story), and it ends well too--with a little twist! This one sat on my kindle for a couple years before I got around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. It's definitely a winner. If you have any interest in vampires at all, give this one a shot. I think you'll be glad you did! :)
The story wastes no time jumping right into things, and it's easy to get quickly sucked in. I really liked the interaction between the two main characters, and the supporting characters were entertaining as well because they often seemed to act in an opposite way of what you would expect.
I actually wish the story was a full length book, because I liked it so much. It flows really well (more like a novel than a short-story), and it ends well too--with a little twist! This one sat on my kindle for a couple years before I got around to reading it, but I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. It's definitely a winner. If you have any interest in vampires at all, give this one a shot. I think you'll be glad you did! :)
January 29, 2012
I agree with one word in the title in that this short story sucks! I could probably sum it up with "Bitch, bitch, complain, complain, then we gonna teach you everything you need to know, except we won't tell you ANYTHING at all". Yeah, that's the feelings I got when I was reading the book. Character depth? Forget it! I can't even blame it on the amount of pages, because I've read shorter stories with better characters. At the end I still had lots of questions, mostly why exactly this happened? Sure it was explained.... kinda, but if somebody gave me those reasons I would have had million of "why's" ready.
The only redeeming quality of this story was the excerpt from Stirring Up Trouble, which was truly good and I will be buy it to read!
The only redeeming quality of this story was the excerpt from Stirring Up Trouble, which was truly good and I will be buy it to read!
June 22, 2016
Natalie is a young teen who was recently bitten while babysitting and is now a vampire. Thanfully, she's had Matt who has been helping her with her transition and providing her with synthetic blood.
A truly enjoyed reading this young adult vampiric romance novella as it shows that love does conquer all even if you are a vampire. A sweet story line that moved along too fast for me because it was over before I wanted it to be. The characters could very well be your next door neighbors and friends and the developing relationship between Natalie and Matt was developed beautifully.
A truly enjoyed reading this young adult vampiric romance novella as it shows that love does conquer all even if you are a vampire. A sweet story line that moved along too fast for me because it was over before I wanted it to be. The characters could very well be your next door neighbors and friends and the developing relationship between Natalie and Matt was developed beautifully.
July 13, 2016
I loved this book( well considering it was like a short short story) so much. It was romantic, fun, and overall a great book. I recommend this book for people who love a little romance in there life or people who are into fantasy. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that it was like a short story. I really wished that the author not only made the book into a novel but created it into a series!! The book has a pretty good story line so I really wished that it wasn't as short as it was. But overall this book is amazing and I would recommend it.
August 16, 2016
Pretty good
I received this book free from one of the book subscription emails.
This was a fun story. I want to know more. I want to know why and how. An epilogue could have answered those questions. Unfortunately they weren't answered, but despite the, the story was good. It was clean. There was some heavy kissing, but nothing more than that.
I received this book free from one of the book subscription emails.
This was a fun story. I want to know more. I want to know why and how. An epilogue could have answered those questions. Unfortunately they weren't answered, but despite the, the story was good. It was clean. There was some heavy kissing, but nothing more than that.
February 20, 2016
E h, this novella was okay. I was not impressed by the writing, but the story line intrigued me. I thought it would be an interesting "valentine" read on Valentine's day. The book ended just when things were getting good.
September 26, 2016
Fun teenage short story about finding love. Natalie is accidentally turned into a vampire by her friend's sister. Matt goes to the same school and not until she is bitten do they start hanging out. He takes care of her blood needs and becomes her friend which turns into romance.
January 18, 2013
An interesting take on the super popular vampire teen genre. Wish it had been longer!
February 15, 2013
Quirky, fast-paced (in a good way), and FUN! My only wish for this work is that it had not ended so abruptly. I hope maybe there is a sequel in the works in which the relationship develops further.
November 26, 2014
Oh! I loved this!! So cute and funny! Too short though. I'd have liked to read more!
October 5, 2015
This was a fun novella that introduced me to a new type of vampire. I want more from this story and this universe from Juli Alexander. It was enchanting.
March 4, 2016
It was delightfully sweet & funny, felt like a vampire in this book! I liked the Quick-witted writing.
November 16, 2021
Cute teen read !
A cute but short romantic comedy. Would love to know what
happens to them next ! Would recommend to others.
A cute but short romantic comedy. Would love to know what
happens to them next ! Would recommend to others.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews