The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

Annette Curtis Klause

Annette Curtis Klause is an American author and librarian, specializing in young adult fiction. Annette is currently a children's materials selector for Montgomery County Public Libraries in Montgomery County, Maryland. Born in Bristol, England, she now lives in Hyattsville, Maryland with her...

 published in 1992, available in hardcover

Hardcover

A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...

 and Mass Market Paperback. In 2009, the book is republished with two bonus short stories by Klause: The Summer of Love and The Christmas Cat.

Plot synopsis

16-year-old Zoë's life is falling apart; her beautiful mother is dying of bone cancer and her best friend, Lorraine, is drifting away. So when the mysterious and handsome Simon comes along with a more profound loneliness a tentative friendship is formed. But does Simon have serious problems, Zoë wonders when she finds him with blood on his face, or just plain crazy, when he claims to be a 300 year old vampire? And is he right about the identity of a serial killer who has been leaving his mark on her formerly quiet hometown? Soon, Simon is the only thing Zoë can hold on to when everything else is falling apart. But what will become of him, the half mad vampire, once he has avenged his mother's death...Or if he fails?

In her own award-winning words, Klause has burdened these characters with authentic teenage immaturities and set them loose to navigate a storyline with no Hollywood ending. This is truly a romantic fantasy-horror for the young adult audience.

The Silver Kiss is also available on audio book from Recorded Books, LLC and is read by Ali Ahn and last for 6.75 hours and also includes the two bonus stories The Summer of Love and The Christmas Cat.

Characters

• Zoe, the main character, is always left alone in her house because her mom is in the hospital and her dad goes with her for support. She feels alone and unwanted by everyone, especially since her best friend Lorraine is moving.

• Lorraine, Zoe’s best friend, is going to leave soon and they will no longer be able to see each other

• Zoe's mother is the person who affects everyone in the novel because she is always in the hospital and she is never home to feed or watch Zoe.

• Zoe's father always seems to be too busy for Zoe because he is always looking after his wife. When he does talk with Zoe, it’s always short and they always end up in arguments.

• Simon is Zoe’s vampire love interest.

Bonus stories

• The Summer Of Love: Decades before the event of The Silver Kiss, the vampire Simon, struggling with his thirst for blood ever since he became a vampire centuries ago. His journey as an immortal led him to San Francisco, meeting a girl named Avis, and an alleycat...

• The Christmas Cat: A year after the event of The Silver Kiss, Zoë enrolled in San Francisco State University
  San Francisco State University
  San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
  
  , struggling of her feelings of missing Simon after witnessing his end, and of the cat she recently adopted.

Reception

The novel has been compared to the successful Twilight series

Twilight series

Twilight is a series of four vampire-themed fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It charts a period in the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenage girl who moves to Forks, Washington, and falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen...

 as a vampire romance. Klause has been said to have successfully integrated "gory details" into a "sensuous and suspenseful story." The novel has been cited in the psychology journal Adolescence

Adolescence

Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...

as an example of literature that can help adolescents understand death, "enabling them to understand the impact of trauma and identify corrective responses."