YA Review: Hearts At Stake by Alyxandra Harvey

Hearts At Stake (The Drake Chronicles)
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (December 22, 2009)

Product Description from Amazon: On Solange’s sixteenth birthday, she is going to wake up dead. As if that’s not bad enough, she also has to outwit her seven overprotective older brothers, avoid the politics involved with being the only daughter born to an ancient vampire dynasty, and elude Kieran Black—agent of an anti-vampire league who is searching for his father’s killer and is intent on staking Solange and her entire family.

Luckily she has her own secret weapon—her human best friend Lucy—who is willing to defend Solange’s right to a normal life, whether she’s being smothered by her well-intentioned brothers or abducted by a power-hungry queen. Two unlikely alliances are formed in a race to save Solange’s eternal life—Lucy and Solange’s brother Nicholas, and Solange and Kieran Black—in a dual romance that is guaranteed to jump start any romance-lover’s heart.

Even fans of the genre who’ve seen it all will find a fresh read with kick-butt characters and family dynamics that ring true for all brothers and sisters—vampire or otherwise.

My Thoughts: I liked this book and am eager to read the further adventures in The Drake Chronicles. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of either Lucy or Solange. For the first couple of chapters, I had to keep looking back to figure out who was talking. But once I got into the story it was easy to separate the two girls. Lucy is a girly girl who is being raised by unconventional parents (They go to ashrams, eat tofu, and do other new agey stuff.) but Lucy has a temper and a really smart mouth. Solange is a vampire daughter with seven very protective older brothers. She doesn't like fancy stuff and would prefer to work on her pottery. That they are best friends is very clear.

It was fun to watch the relationship grow between Lucy and Solange's brother Nicholas. I liked that their relationship is changing as they grow up. Solange says that it is a family joke that Lucy's first words were "Nicholas is bugging me." The relationship between Solange and Kieran is also interesting to watch. They start out as enemies but the relationship grows closer when they have to trust each other.

This was a very exciting book and a good romance too.

Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge, RYOB Challenge, 2010 Debut YA Author Challenge