The Silver Kiss - ISBNLookup.com

Entertainment Weekly

Strangely persuasive...at once a grisly and graphic tale of monstrous death and a sweet and compelling story of love.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PW praised the ``often striking prose'' in this compelling tale of a modern-day vampire who preys on a lonely teenaged girl. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)

Children's Literature - Mary Sue Preissner

Zoe, a lonely teenager, is trying to cope with her best friend moving, her hospital-bound mother, and an overprotective father who believes his daughter is not strong enough to handle her mother's illness or imminent death. One evening she meets Simon, a three-hundred-year-old vampire. An absorbing tale with a touch of suspense, horror, and romance. Black-eyed Susan Book Award winner.

Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman

The Silver Kiss is a haunting, tender, and romantic YA novel. While her mother is dying, a grief-stricken Zoe finds comfort in the presence of a pale, mysterious young man, the only one who truly understands the pain she is experiencing. 300 years ago, Simon's mother was murdered by his brother and he is determined to exact revenge from his brother, the personification of evil. All of the universal themes are in this popular book.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Sixteen-year old Zoe's mother has cancer, her dad is barely coping with his wife's impending death, and her best friend is moving in Annette Curtis Klause's debut ovel (Delacorte, 1990). Enter Simon, a vampire who has learned that he can love. Simon is willing to listen, to protect, and to help Zoe navigate her own emotions about her mother's illness. Zoe joins with Simon as he seeks to avenge the death of his own mother three centuries earlier. While packaged as a vampire tale, this novel is primarily about Zoe's experiences with loss and death. Also included are two short stories by Klause: "The Summer of Love," which tells of Simon's life before he meets Zoe, and "The Christmas Cat," which focuses on Zoe's life after Simon leaves. Ali Ahn's vocal tone maintains the darkness, intensity, and mystery of the story. At times her accent for Simon is not true or consistent, but this does not detract from her narration overall. Unlike the author's excellent later novel, Blood for Chocolate (Delacorte, 1997), this one is a mediocre tale for fans of fantasy and the vampiric genre.—Amy Olson, formerly Lexington Public Library, KY