The Taste of Night

Dangerous Girls #2

by R.L. Stine

Destiny Weller and her twin sister, Livvy, were as close as two sisters could be–until Livvy chose to become a vampire, leaving Destiny behind. Now Destiny will do anything to bring Livvy back to the family. But in Livvy's world of endless darkness, she knows there is only one way she and Destiny can be reunited –– Destiny must become a vampire too. . . . Which sister will live to see the glow of the next full moon? Whose lips will savor the taste of night? Who will survive? Ages 12+

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Horror, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Supernatural

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

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Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first book to this duology last month and I really enjoyed it, so I was automatically excited to pick up it's sequel. I was definitely disappointed.

This book was absolutely unnecessary. I'm just not for sure why Stine thought this book was a good idea besides the $$$$ that would come with it.

Dangerous Girls should have been a standalone.

You know what? I'm changing this from two stars to one. This book pissed me off.

[Courtney Gruenholz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that the only reason I couldn't give this one and the whole Dangerous Girls series five stars is because Stine does fall back on some of his previous vampire schtick in this book which I will explain but first...

If you have not read Dangerous Girls, there will be some spoilers to talk about The Taste of Night so be warned before plunging ahead.

Destiny Weller is not looking forward to her future but the past has left her no choice since her twin sister Livvy became a vampire. At camp she was changed into a full vampire by drinking blood from Renz while Destiny's feeding was interrupted.

Being only a half-vampire, Destiny was able to find a cure through her dad. Dr. Weller's late nights at the vet clinic were spent trying to find a way to change half-vampires back in the process of finding a complete cure to vampirism.

All of this done because his wife was turned by a vampire and instead of facing what she was to become...she killed herself. He also became a hunter with other townspeople of Dark Springs to kill the vampires that could not be saved in time.

Not knowing that the same vampire who turned Livvy was also the one to turn their mother, Destiny was able to kill Renz. Not before Livvy's hunger got the better of her and she killed their friends Bree and Courtney and decided to turn Destiny's crush, Ross, into a vampire.

The police have Livvy and Ross as "runaways" but the people of Dark Springs know the truth.

Destiny's best friend Ana-Li and boyfriend Ari know what happened and even her eight- year old brother Mikey knows Livvy is a vampire. Another devastating loss that is now forcing Destiny's father to send his son to a shrink, tearing him between hunting and experimenting, and changing Destiny's plans to go away for college.

She has to stay for Mikey...she has to stay in case her father can find the cure that will make Livvy human again. Too bad that Livvy...doesn't want to go back to being human.

Finally out of Destiny's shadow, of being seen as the "bad" twin", Livvy has made friends with other vampires and enjoys feeding on human blood from all the cute boys that she can find. She and Ross are still together but Livvy notices that Ross isn't as gung-ho about living forever as much as she thought.

He still misses his parents and his little sister so Livvy spends most of her hunting solo or with her new palss, Monica and Suzie. The night of Destiny's graduation, Livvy celebrates her own graduation to being a vampire and everyone ends up at the same dance club.

Ari basically dumps Destiny because she can't let go of her trauma and he wants to spend his last weeks in town celebrating before he goes away to school. Destiny is ready to bail and find a ride home when she sees Livvy outside the club, waiting for the guy she has picked up to join her for a moonlight stroll.

Livvy is hateful to Destiny and gets her sister to buzz off before her target, a guy named Patrick, arrives. Livvy's night doesn't go any better when she finds out that Patrick is a vampire too but he still shows interest in her. Livvy can't help but feel attracted too because here's a vampire less sappy than Ross who appreciates the taste of the night.

Destiny starts her new job as a waitress to earn money to go to the community college the next morning. By the afternoon, Destiny learns that Ari is dead when she finds the cops at his house...

Two weeks after the death, Destiny is all on her own with Ana-Li gone early to school to escape from Dark Springs and her childhood friend possibly murdered by her vampire sister. It appears that there might be a ray of sunshine in the darkness when the old fry cook at her job is fired and a college sophomore taking summer courses named Harrison starts working there.

Soon, all of these characters are spun into a web of deceit and hunger and sadness yet all of the same trappings as Stine's Goodnight Kiss series from Fear Street. Vampires going after humans, vampires having tension between each other, vampires being snarky and wanting nectar...blah. blah blah.

Stine does manage to bring back what made Dangerous Girls so appealing as it is still mostly about Destiny trying to mend the bond with her sister Livvy. The Weller family just can not catch any sort of break and it truly is sad because it has the most impact on an eight year old child.

The ending can be either a glass half full or a glass half empty situation but is, thankfully, not a swerve mocking any of the pathos The Taste of Night has to offer.

[Mikko Peralta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some very major inconsistencies:

1. Livvy and Destiny were not identical twins yet one is continuously mistaken for the other;
2. The death of Ross sparked Livvy's anger towards Destiny, with the former vowing to avenge, even til death, yet Livvy seems enthralled by Patrick's dimples and would also want to kill for Patrick. Makes you wonder if the feelings towards Ross were genuine or not... Or maybe just an inconsistency;
3. Ross and the other vampire girl died with stakes in their hearts with their bodies intact. In fact, Livvy was still able to recognize both bodies. When Suzie was killed, her body disintegrated to the point of her skin falling off, etc. What makes Suzie's death any difference from the others?
4. Destiny's feelings towards Ari, which she immediately got over with with the appearance of Harrison; and
5. The vampires' not being able to immediately detect a fellow vampire. They can right away sense their own kind, can't they?

Major inconsistencies, plus it not being too scary. 1 star.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mkay, so this book was an improvement from predecessor (which was really quite good to begin with). I felt that the themes were a little more mature and the writing was geared a bit more towards Stine's older (read: teenaged) audience.
That being said, there were a few inconsistencies I'd've liked Stine to explain. Those that were prevalent:
1.) the sudden appearance of clothing/lack thereof (from the novel) during the transformation scenes
2.) certain vampires crumbling to ash after being killed, while others simply left their lifeless bodies behind
Also, some of the dialogue seemed a bit awkward, but I suppose that's to be expected with exposition.
Overall, this was a pretty good book, and, should there be more novels written for this series, I certainly plan to read them.

[Jessica Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago, and decided to reread it this year. I still like it, but one thing made me change my review from 5 stars to 4. It's still a well written tragic story of a twin trying to come to terms with the fact that her sister is a vampire and doesn't want to be change back (because that's technically possible, although very hard to do), and how it affects her family. The one thing that bothers me? The human twin, Destiny's, boyfriend, Ari is killed by a vampire (not the other twin, Livvy). Yet two weeks later, she's dating someone new? That just feels...yucky, to be honest.

[Luke Southard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, let's talk teenage vampires.

1) This book is dripping with dumb teenage behavior. Lots of thinking someone was doing something to hurt you or get back at you for hurting them as revenge because you thought they were trying to hurt you first, etc etc etc.

That stuff is lame.

2) I don't get the appeal of becoming a vampire and then staying in your home town. That's what I call a wasted opportunity.

3) I ESPECIALLY don't get the appeal of becoming a vampire and then staying in your hometown and interacting with members of your family. This makes zero sense to me. I get that you might miss your family, but at some point you have to acknowledge the fact that remaining in their lives puts them at risk or at the very least draws out their pain of losing you. I mean, in this book a kid brother is traumatized but the idea that his sister is gone (also that she's a vampire), but she lingers around at one point even becoming a bat to sneak into the house and watching them.

4) I can't stand the decisions characters make in this story. From secrecy (which is always awful) to just plain deciding to do things. For instance: a girl knows that her dad and a bunch of hunters are going to attack the vampire hideout. She doesn't want her vampire sister to get hurt, so she goes into the hideout alone after telling exactly zero people where she was going, so she could warn a couple.

Best case scenario here is that they keep quiet and find a new place to stay for now. But what are the odds that vampires - who have heightened senses and, you know, talk to each other - aren't going to hear the warning?

At what point does this concerned sister become an accomplice in her dad's murder?

It's a very frustrating book with a cool premise that I really wish Stine had taken somewhere else. I would have liked to see the adventures of the vampire as she settled into the life of a real vampire where she stopped competing so much with her sister.

And I would have liked to see more of the family dealing with the trauma of basically losing a sister in the first place (beyond just making the kid brother a basket case).

I would have loved to see an epilogue of one old sister and one young sister.

[Peaches · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Spoilers included***
Alright, I of course read the sequel because it came in the same book as the first and it was a cliffhanger, after all (for a book I only gave two stars to…). This book is all about how Livvy is a vampire and Destiny wants to get her sister back.

I found this book more interesting than the first. The whole “teenage vampires still living in the town still” was a somewhat creative premise. They began to see that immortality wasn’t everything they dreamed and I especially liked it as a metaphor for what happens when you give up in high school. Everyone was getting to graduate and move on, but Livvy was just stuck. Ross’s story was especially sad, roped in by an overly sexual girl and doomed (although Stine really does lay it on thick with the slut-shaming).

Ari was as intolerable as ever and I was surprised Destiny was dating him, but as someone who dated multiple guys in hs I wasn’t really into because they girlfriend-zoned me, I guess I can relate. I was so happy he died, though!

A more sinister vampire (named Patrick?) moves to town and wants to kill off all the “weak” vampires, including Ross, and eventually Livvy and Destiny work to destroy him, but Livvy can’t be changed back (the whole “my dad is a vet and can find a cure” was so odd, anyway) and flies away at the end.

That’s basically it. The plot was ridiculous and not that entertaining, but I appreciate the ideas of regret based on the choices you make as a teen that can impact you for…eternity.

Giving it two stars even though I liked it better than the first (maybe 2.5?)

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly I actually enjoyed this more than the first, which is a rarity. I’d say it’s a 3.5, not quite 4 stars for me. But I wanted to rank it a bit higher than the first since I did like it slightly more. However, the decision to kill off one of the main side characters in the first book was a big mistake, and so unceremoniously too. And their actions prior to their death seemed very out of character, it’s almost like Stine wanted an excuse to kick the character out of the story to replace with another but changed their attitude so we wouldn’t feel as bad...
I also feel the conflict was resolved too easily and quickly, but i guess it’s better than being dragged out for too long. I also wish Harrison had more time to be fleshed out but whatever.
Like the last, the ending is very bittersweet which I kinda like. I’m not sure if there’s a 3rd book but I kind of hope there isn’t, I think the unresolved conclusion works in this case. Another book would just be redundant.
I’d recommend If you’re in the mood for a quick cheesy teen vampire story.

[Sharon Gallup · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is most certainly a teenagers , esp girls, kind of of book and story. some of the people in the town know that there are young vampires that have settled in their town and are nesting in a vacant apartment building . There are indentical twin sisters .one of the sisters and the boy friend of the other sister have disappeared. the other sister and father know they were transfered into vampires that every one else thinks they had ran away together. The love between the sisters are strong and keeps pulling them back together. But the father and others go during the day to destroy the vampires. But love and hate keeps pulling them back together till one day a stronger vampire comes to town. Will he destroy all of the town. This story is written more like a gentle vampire story with out alot of violence .

[America Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

For my review I say this is one of the best books I've read in my life. The mystery, the plot twists, the confusion, the sadness, the anger, and despair was too much to handle. I've read the book over 4 times and made a project out of it. It was amazing in every way. It's about family, friends, and life. It's relatable and fun to read. Id definitely recommend it to anyone who likes vampires and mystery, also drama.

[Mapi · Rating 3 out of 5]

La mia edizione è quella italiana che appartiene alla collana Super Brividi.
L'ho riletto dopo un decennio perché pensavo di aver trovato il seguito, invece, a farla breve, ovviamente non è stato così.
Ci sono rimasta malissimo? Sì. Pazienza.
Comunque, da appena adolescente mi era piaciuto molto, ora da adulta penso che sia un libro carino anche se niente di speciale. Però è un bel tuffo nel passato, molto fine anni '90 / primi anni 2000, cosa che ho apprezzato molto.

[Dominique Aguilera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointing follow-up. Maybe it's because a lot more characters died in this - some of whom were newly-introduced. And that very open-ended ending, since, going into this, I thought the conflict from the first book was going to be resolved. Overall, a decent sequel, just not exactly what I expected.

[Eliana Hollister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another ending . That lacked real grit .. the dangerous girls aren’t so dangerous when everything in the end works out for them cleanly and without any true risks . The story pretty much sets up that it won’t be brave enough to kill a main killer as it’s just too “and the main characters remain bad ass and please love them .”

Safe .

[Amber "Epp" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author what a blast from my past so much spine chilling fun lol .... :)

[Lisa Webb Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing but the ending was lackluster


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[Diamond Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a page turner. I'll just leave it at that

[Kristin Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books growing up! I am an English teacher, and the greatest thing ever was passing on this love for this book to one of my students!

[Michelle (Bookaholic Banter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first. I love anything with vampires! The ending was a bit abrupt though.

[Sabra Kurth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Destiny and Livvy separated because Livvy became a vampire. Sad story that was made worse by vampire hunters and a full moon.

[Krissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as its predecessor. A little bit over the top cheesy and has a pretty clunky ending. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, it's just okay.

[Ashlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate that they made it super clear the twins weren’t identical in the first book only to have them constantly mistaken for eachother and swapping places in this one

[Katie Montoya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh just as expected from an early 2000s vampire book. Not gonna read any of the books in the series lol but entertaining and easy to read

[Andrea Vazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is an amezing book too. is the next part of dangerous girl and in this book livvy is a vampire and she loves ross but he wants to go back to his old life. desteny and her family are strugguling after livvy left and specially miky he acts like he is a vampire and he thinks that he sees them. desteny went to a club with ari her boyfriend but because she can't stop thinking of livvy ari gets mad and starts dancing another chick adn she is a vampire friend of livvy.when desteny left she finds livvy and trys to convince her to come back home but she refuses. desteny goes home and she goes to sleep because the next day she is going to work so she dreams that livvy makes her a vamparie too. when she wakes up next morning she sees that it was just a dream so she goes to work and after work she goes looking for ari and she finds out he is dead he was found in the parking lot of the club with all his blood suck out and so she thinks it was livvy but she wasn't it was her vampire friend. ater on she meets harrison a nice guy who works with her and he goes to the collage in which desteny is planing to go and so they started going out and they went to his aparment party she meets all his friends and alby a guy she meet before had two red marks in his throat so she thinks it was livvy again attacking her friends. suddenly harrison desapeers for some time when desteny is looking for him she then finds him getting two beers and he brings them too her and he said he was suprise on how fast she came in so then desteny finds out that livvy was here again. desteny finds out her dad and his hunters are going again to the abandon aparment to kill the rest of the vampires so she decides to go and warn livvy and ross but she only found ross and she told him about her dad coming on the day of full moon and she ask him to tell livvy and how much she loved her. then she left but livvy saw her living so when later she went to see ross he was dead with a stake on his heart and so livvy was mad at desteny because she though desteny kill him. livvy decides to make a plan with patrick another vamparier to get revange at desteny. she was going to turn harrison into a vampire while patrick was going to do the same thing with desteny. but then she finds out patrick kill ross and her other two friends so she decides to stop him from turning desteny in a vampire and she and livvy tarde places. if you want to know how the story ends and more about i t you need to read the book.

[Mayra Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the sequel to Dangerous Girls, R.L. Stine continues this vampiric adventure with the two blonde twins, Levvy and Destiny. Levvy is still a vampire since the end o the first book but Destiny was able to be cured by her father to become a mortal once again. Now Destiny, her dad, and her brother Mikey must move on with their life knowing that Livvy won't return home after becoming a creature of the niht with her "boyfriend", Ross. Ever since the twins' father lost his wife to a vampire, he has devoted most of his time along with other hunters to hunt down all of the vampires in town. Now that Livvy was part of the vampire clan, she met new friends and had to go out with them every night in order to satisfy her thirst with male humans. All of this happened until the day that Livvy met a cute (really cute) guy in a club. She took him out for a walk in the woods but as she was taking a bite of him, she noticed that he was also a vampire. Soon she found out that he was the one who was killing her friends and Ross when she had blamed it on her sister Destiny who was obsessed with trying to get Livvy back home. Livvy then tries her best to not get herself killed after finding out that this "cute guy" was killing weak vampires who couldn't fight against the human hunters. While all of this was happening, Destiny tried to continue her life as noraml as possible with out her twin after graduating from high school. She says good bye to her friends who leave off to college to get away from the spooky town and reluctantly has to say goodbye to her boyfriend after getting his blood drained from one of Livvy's vampire friends. At the end, the twins manage to save both of their lives after getting into a big mess with the "cute guy" and Destiny's new boyfriend.

Overall, this book was great; keeping me in suspense and daring to flip the pages.

[Marta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its been a couple of months, since Livvy and Ross went of together to become vampires. Though it seems like Livvy's life has fell apart now that her sister is gone. Her dad always comes home late because he is trying to find a cure for Livvy and her brother, Mike shut himself down and he stays up in his room pretending he is a vampire. Then Destiny meet Harrison, a boy who is nice a sweet and he really likes Destiny. Then theres is Livvy. She lives in an abandoned house full of vampires. She also meets a boy named, Patrick, a mysterious Guy. He tells Livvy to turn Destiny and Harrison into full vampires. Its twin against twin because Destiny want Livvy to become human again and Livvy wants Destiny to become a vampire. So Patrick sets out trying to make Livvy a vampire, but his plan never works because Destiny killed Patrick because she found out he killed the other vampires. Livvy and Destiny meet with each other and Destiny tries to persuade Livvy to come back home, but she wont, but she promises to come and visit.

I learned that no matter what kind of bad things happen to the people who love, they are still your family and you have to accept them they way they want to be.

[Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew there was a sequal untill later on. The majority of the book was pretty awesome. I mean vampires is starting to become a repetitive subject now. Other than that, it is a great sequal to Dangerous Girls. I have to say though, the first book is better. It is quite different from other vampire books. To me, the ending leaves you thinking which is both good and bad. The good thing is that it didn't have a happy ending, and it was a little twist. The bad part was that you do have a few major questions that need to be answered. Unless he makes another book for this book, I'm giving it four and a half stars if I could. Recommended for young-adults or older.

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decide to reread the series a few days ago. This is one of my favorite books that has to deal with vampires. I just loved how the two book series went and how it didn't drag on. I wish it would have been made in a longer series but I deny to complain. It's a good book to read if you are starting off in the vampire genre territory. It's basically about twins and how they become vampires or one does and the other does later on. I won't say much more cause it will definitely spoil things. But it is a very good and fast series to read.

[Jue Li]

This book was wonderful from start and it never got boring. This book keeps you reading. I have not yet to find a part where i thought it was boring. I recommand this meaning for girls just because the main character is a girl but i think if u like vampires then its great for you. Ive not read much books on vampires but this book got me hooked just by the first page or two. Its pretty easy to read and understand. I rate it 4 star just cause i think im sure theres a book i would love even more that i have not yet found.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

i picked this book up for free, thinking (mistakenly) that it would at least be an amusing way to relive my younger days of reading goosebumps books by bedside table-light, but instead, this was just terrible.

it was repetitive, cliched, pandering, and very, very clearly an attempt to cash in on the whole twilight craze. there is a way to write for young adults and teens without dumbing your content down. this is not it.

[Drucilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I said in my review for Dangerous Girls that it didn't need a sequel and I stand by my statement. This book was bad. Characters turn into whiny hypocrites. The book seems to forget that Destiny and Livvy aren't identical twins and has people mistaking them for one another. And if Livvy really wanted to live her own life and get away from her family...WHY DID SHE STAY IN HER HOMETOWN AND WHY DID NO ONE EVER RECOGNIZE HER WHEN SHE WENT OUT!?!?!?!?!?!