Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block

I just returned Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block -- I had ordered it for our Teen Section, and snagged it as soon as I saw it had hit the shelf...

Nutshell summary: 17 year-old Charlotte is a vampire (or "V" word) who is alone, even though she has Emily, a human friend she likes. It seems like she is leading the perfect life of being brilliant, gorgeous, and having the most wonderful clothes ... but is she happy? She was transformed into a vampire right after her brother's death, and while it seemed nice at first, the allure of being immortal (and alone) is wearing thin. However, as Charlotte starts to develop symptoms of being human (zits!), her maker shows up, forcing her to face up to something horrible from her own past.

And what did I think? Let's try a few words: Complex. Original. Poignant. Charlotte really made me consider what eternal life would be like, especially if you had all that time to consider (and reconsider again and again) all your mistakes. I thought Black's writing was very evocative of what Charlotte was feeling, and yet I never felt like it was over-dramatic. This is certainly not your typical romantic vampire teen novel -- Black really makes the reader think hard about what it can be like to live (or un-live) with difficult choices.