Switched

My Sister the Vampire #1

by Sienna Mercer

Book by Sienna Mercer

Genres: Vampires, Fantasy, Childrens, Middle Grade, Paranormal, Young Adult, Fiction

247 pages, Paperback

First published July 24, 2007

About the author

Sienna Mercer grew up in Toronto, Canada. She was an only child, and always wanted a brother or sister – especially a twin. A twin would have been awesome! Sadly, she never got that sister so, when she was grown up, she did the next best thing - she wrote books about a girl who reminded her of herself, and gave her the most fun, fabulous twin she could think of!

Sienna began writing stories when she was a teenager, on a very wet day in Toronto when her cheerleading practice was cancelled - and she has not stopped writing since. She used to write in red leather notebooks while sat on her bed, but now does most of her writing in her attic, which is quite dark, and has some spooky cobwebs in the corners - the perfect location for thinking about vampires. She doesn't use red notebooks anymore, either, although she keeps them in a chest by her desk in the attic.

Sienna got the idea for My Sister the Vampire from a daydream she had - what if she had a super-cool twin sister... who was a vampire? She loved the characters - and their kooky friends and family - so much that she just had to keep writing about them.

When she's not daydreaming about vampires and cheerleading, Sienna enjoys travelling and exploring new cities, and keeps a detailed scrapbook of everywhere she’s visited. She lives in Toronto, kept company by Calypso and Angel – her two gorgeous cats. She is happily writing away and we wait for her upcoming books!

Reviews

[Victoria ✮⋆˙ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh god this was a lot of fun. I started reading it just out of nostalgia, see what I remembered but I really did have a lot of fun reliving this! I used to adore these books when I was like 8/9, I’m 22 now and honestly it was still good! I kinda still like middle grade stories anyway and I really needed something light hearted right now so this really hit the spot. I might continue and see how many I can read this weekend!!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 11 year old daughter and I are reading this series together. I am very happy to have found stories to share that are smart enough for me and fun enough for her to read. She found the series in her elementary school library. I am a big fan of vampire stories going back to Dark Shadows in my youth. As an adult, I have enjoyed Ann Rice's vampire stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and most recently, Twilight, all of which are too adult and scary for my daughter. Sienna Mercer has introduced some extremely tame vampires into the evergrowing lore.

Twin girls separated at the age of one year old find one another at school. One is a Goth/Vampire; the other is a Pink/Bunny cheerleader ("Bunny" being what the vampires in these stories call non-vampires.) Despite their extreme differences in self-expression, they feel an immediate love and appreciation for one another, even before they realize they are twin sisters.

These are not dangerous vampires. They have evolved past murderous behavior (even filed their fangs!) They now satisfy their remaining blood lust with rare meat and red drinks. Other than that, the vampires are pretty much your average middle schoolers, just a variation of humanity, with Goth tendencies and rapid healing abilities resulting in longer lives. The "Bunny" twin is a vegetarian, which distinguishes them sufficiently when they socialize. There are lots of cute allusions to the dark side without it being a bit dark (bad things are "grave", good things "suck", fashion and drinks are often the color of blood.) The adventures they get into could be in any given Disney tween show.

I think my daughter feels a special connection to the series because she is adopted and hopes one day to meet her own sister. I am enjoying the humor and appreciate that the message of tolerance for differences for an age group that needs the message badly.

(This review originally appeared on my Amazon reviews.)

[Dr. Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know I read this when I was in like middle or high school, but I'm so glad I reread it! This was so cute and funny!! Both Olivia and Ivy are really likable characters, sometimes I honestly forgot they were 13!!! Like damn they act so much older.

I like how the two instantly connected and were willing to work with each other. Plus the crush Ivy had on Brendan was adorable. I literally laughed so hard reading this book. And I'm glad Charlotte didn't come in between the sisters. I wonder if they'll find out anything about their father?? (Though I think I remember a little bit about who it actually is).

I'm so excited to see the other adventures of the twins! The ball and cheerleading try outs are only the beginning.

[Monster]

The My Sister The Vampire series by Sienna Mercer revolves around the story of a normal, pleasant, friendly middle school girl named Olivia Abbott who likes cheerleading and the color pink. When Olivia moves to a new school, she meets Ivy Vega, a goth girl who looks just like her. Olivia finds out that Ivy doesn’t just look like her but is her identical twin sister with one major exception…she is a vampire. The series revolves around the twins’ search for their birth parents, complicated by the girls’ attempts to stay together without upsetting either the vampire or human communities. In this series the vampires aren’t the traditional bloodsucking monsters but actually have a set of very strict rules about letting humanity know about them and absolutely no biting! The series definitely falls into the subgenre of “Chick Lit with Fangs” and is filled with humor and heartwarming moments, with not a real scare in the lot. Mercer’s books are filled with vampire puns and giggles and the series doesn’t take itself too seriously. Readers looking for brooding, bloodsucking fiends will be disappointed, but if you are looking for a light-hearted series with humor and a little vampy fun, then the My Sister the Vampire series will be right up your alley..

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Switched (my sister the Vampire, #1) Sienna Mercer

A very charming book about Olivia, the new girl in school. She is the friendly out going perky cheerleader. Then their is ivy , very quiet, shy and "goth". Soon the two girls meet and they unravel a secret.

They are twins, separated at birth. While Olivia lives with her mother and father, Ivy lives with just a father in an old mansion. They decide to switch places and do "twin things" Once switch Olivia discovers a secret about her sister Ivy, she is a vampire.

A nice refreshing read. I highly recommend to young readers or those young at heart.

[Sanara♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

It's an enjoyable, light read. :) I think anybody of any age can enjoy this book but it mostly suits middle-grade girls who like light vampire stories.:)
Not a very unique storyline..specially where the twins switch places (which seems to be an overused plotline) but at least there wasn't any unnecessary drama.

[Panda]

I was obsessed with this book when I was younger.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series joins the hot vampire bandwagon, but caters to the tweens who like the allure of vampire books, but don't want the sex, gore and blood thirst of other vampire series. Take away the vampire aspect and it's still about two girls from opposite worlds who not only find each other, but find out that they not only are twins, but they complete each other. The two girls, Ivy and Olivia are likable, fully-fleshed out characters, and Mercer leaves lots of rooms for more adventures in this series.

[Anička ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tohle byl asi můj druhý rereading. Netvrdím, že tohle je nějaký literární skvost, ale na mě z toho dýchá ta nostalgie. Prostě knížka z dětství. Má to bezesporu své mouchy. Například to, že neznáme prakticky žádné povahové rysy ani jedné z hrdinek. Jediné, co je popisováno, je vzhled. Jejich povahy si tudíž musíme odvodit, což tady není úplně snadné.
Styl psaní je velice jednoduchý, což je celkem pochopitelné vzhledem k cílové skupině. Na čtení v angličtině by to ale do začátků byla asi ideální volba.
•
A o čem to vůbec je?

Dvě na první pohled naprosto odlišné dívky po přistěhování zjistí, že jsou to identická dvojčata. Ale proč byly odděleny a nevyrůstaly spolu? A jak to, že je jedna upír a druhá člověk?
•
Ale kniha se mi četla dobře, ono všechny díly jsou vážně krátké, okolo 200 stran.

[Hylary Locsin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: http://libraryladyhylary.blogspot.com ! Check it out for more reviews!

Bubbly middle-school cheerleader, Olivia Abbott, is determined to make the best of her family's move to a new town. She starts school and immediately seeks out the cheerleaders to befriend. It seems that the popular girls at this school, however, are not the nicest people in the world. One day, Olivia meets goth girl, Ivy Vega. Ivy is the opposite of Olivia: she wears black clothes and thick eyeliner, and is far from the cheerleading type. As Olivia gets to know Ivy better she makes a startling discovery: Ivy looks a lot like her, in fact, she and Ivy are identical twins! Things get even weirder when Olivia learns that their fashion choices aren't the only thing different between them: Ivy is actually one of many vampires who call Olivia's new town home. Despite their differences, Olivia and Ivy become close, and decide to help each other out, even if they have to switch places from time to time to do it! But can a vampire and a cheerleader really pose as one another without getting noticed?

Switched is the first novel in Mercer's My Sister the Vampire series which has since been followed up by five additional installments, with two more being published in 2011. It is a very interesting and original story, with likeable characters and a believable setting. Ivy and Olivia have a pretty fantastical story, but they deal with issues that are common in middle school: crushes, bullies, peer pressure, and self-confidence. The vampire aspect of the story only adds to the fun. Although this installment of the series does not go into too much detail about exactly how Ivy and Olivia were separated at birth and why Ivy is a vampire but Olivia isn't, Mercer manages to make the reader care enough about her characters to want to find out how they came to be in their situation. A very good start to a popular series for tweens.

I have to admit that I felt pretty silly wanting to run and get the next installment in this fun and interesting series. I think that these books are a wonderful substitute for younger readers who may not be ready to venture into vampire novels like Twilight or The House of Night series. I would highly recommend these to tweens who want something sugary with a dash of gothic.

[Soňa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uznávam, že asi už mám viac ako cieľová skupina mid-grade, ale táto kniha bola osviežujúcim prekvapením.

Takže hneď na úvod, áno, ružová je stále tá naj farba, tak nabudúce jej môže byť na obálke viac :)
K serióznosti, kniha vreckového formátu má necelých 200 strán a možno už aj omletý nápad sestier dvojčiat a ich zámeny... iste sme už všetci niečo čítali či videli. Aj napriek tomu, to bolo príjemné spoznávať nové dievča v škole - Olívia - a jej počiatočné problémy i hľadanie svojho miesta. Na druhej strane je Ivy, gothic girl z miestnej školy, ktorej sa na novej dievčine niečo nepozdáva....
Asi takto nejak to začína a mne to silno pripomínalo Buffy a guess what... táto popkultúrna postava je aj spomenutá v knihe :) takže ďalšie plusové body. Okrem toho sa spomína aj Horla od Guy fe Maupasssanta a to som si vygooglila, tá kniha je tiež reálna.
Celkovo sa dej odohráva na Franklin Grove strednej škole niekde neurčite, kde časť študentov tvoria gotici, ale v reále infiltrovaní upíri, ktorí medzi nami žijú už hodne dlho v utajení. Je zaujímavé sledovať debatu dievčat, keď si vysvetľujú čo funguje, čo je mýtus a čo nie, aké to je a pod.
K samotnej zápletke : tá je celkom jednoduchá a priamočiara, zámena dievčat, kde jedna bude roztlieskavačkou a druhá organizátorkou plesu. Iste, občas by už niekto mohol prísť na túto zámenu, ale kočkám to stále ide a nie je to ani priveľmi pritiahnuté za vlasy či presladené. Jednotlivé strany knihy sa rýchlo čítajú a sami otáčajú, nie sú tam hluché miesta, i kde občas som si musela uvedomiť zmenu rozprávačky - nie je to ten štýl, čo kapitola to len jedna vedie dej, strieda sa tento POV počas deja a aj to podľa mňa dodáva šmrnc.

Prvá veta:
A je to tu, pomyslela si Olívia Abbottová, len čo jej mama zišla autom z obrubníka a odišla preč.

Posledná veta:
Keď ju Ivy objala tiež, obe vedeli, že majú v očiach slzy.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is called "My sister is a vampire" and it's written by Sienna Mercer. Sienna Mercer is Canadian. She writes book for children. This book is fiction but could be realistic fiction. The story could also be mystery because it's a sequel so every end of the books are mysterious so it makes you want to read the rest of the books.

The book is about two girls that were adopted when they were just a baby and one of them was a vampire. They both lived completely different lives but met again one day and discovered they were twins. The story takes place when one of the girls moves to a new school where they met. They discovered that they were twins because of similar rings they both had since as long as they could remember and they are tying to find where it came from. The only problem is that they can't find their parent's record, it's like they never existed.

I really liked this book when I was younger but I re-read it this year and still think this book is good. This book had funny, exiting, scary, and mysterious bits. I liked how they described the plot to make it so believable. My favorite part of the book is when they met again because that part of the story was so revealing and exiting. Overall, I thought this book was very interesting and entertaining for the reader and it was very fun to read. I would recommend this book to fifth graders because some parts of the book can seem a little for smaller children but other that that it was good. I think people could start reading this book at then years old. My rating out of ten for this book is 9.

[Dreamergirl99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written book by Sienna Mereer and I loved the story so much. My favorite character was Ivy Vega. The book is about a girl (Olivia) who moves to another town and school where she meets a goth (Ivy). She finds out that they are actully twins both adopted at birth by four different parents. Later on in the book Olivia also looks past the goth outfits of her sister and finds out that Ivy is really a vampire just like the characters from the books she adores. I think this is a good, fast read for anyone! I loved their outfit description as well :)

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun book. :)

A girl moves to a new town and finds out she has a twin, and not just a twin, but a vampire!

What follows is secrecy and mixups and also that her sister and she just switch when they don't want to do something.

It was just pure fun, and I will be sure to soon check the rest of the books.

[Sofie Amalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faktummet at en goth bare er lavet til en vampyr er ret sjovt. Olivia og Ivy tager det også ret chill at de har en enægget tvilling, de ikke kendte til, og så synes Olivia også bare, at det er fjong, at hendes søster er en vampyr.😂😂

[Kayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap gerçekten çok güzeldi. Okumaktan çok zevk aldım. Herkese tavsiye ediyorum.

[ᵥᵢₒₗₐ (jude's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i just wanted to feel the way i did when i was younger and this book brought me that back, it will always have a special place in my heart

[Catherine Deleon]

wan to read

[Helena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aivot sulivat tätä lukiessa. Tykkäsin sisaruus-teemasta ja salainen kaksoissiskohan on ykköskamaa vuosikymmenestä toiseen, mutta pitääkö näitä amerikkalaisia high school -stereotypioita erikseen mainostaa. Suomennoskin oli aika kömpelö.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for a video-

Really enjoyed this one, I can defintely see why I loved it as a child. It has very young YA thriller vibes. I think its aged very well. Would have no problems with my children reading it today.

[Marley Enright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this when I was a kid, I even had a couple of the books. One day I randomly remembered that this existed so I decided to find a copy and read it again and it was a lot of fun! I will be reading the whole series now

[emily ૮꒰˶ˆ ˘ ˆ˶꒱ა · Rating 5 out of 5]

clutch

[Unicorn1? · Rating 5 out of 5]

Switched, brilliant book

[Asra]

Read this for the first time when I was maybe 8-11 ish years old? Recently just felt like revisiting it (as an 18 year old) and reading all the books this time and it was quite enjoyable!

[Ruxi (The Lightning Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series in grade school and it was one of my favourites! Definitely a big reason why I got into reading and enjoying supernatural stories so much!

[Butterfly2507 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I'm too old for this book. If I was a third of my age I probably would have loved it. However, there IS a lot of stereotypical "girls wear pink, have a fake tan and love cheerleading" and "everyone wearing black is a goth and weird" stuff.

[Priyanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A total fun read and much needed after the last book. It is well written and moves at a fast pace. There is nothing very new but it is still pleasant.

[Izabella White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing it's all about these sisters who help each other out. One of the sisters is a vampire and meets this guy named Brenden she likes him a lot and she is finally talking to him because of her sister. They are really good sisters to each other!!

[Deniz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet the plastics and beat the plastics but middle school version.
Yeniden ortaokuldaki Deniz oldum harikaydı <3

[Emeryann Hare · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to reread this childhood favorite for years and I finally got around to it. Still as cute and funny as I remember! 🧛🏻‍♀️