 The Silver Kiss — (1990) Young adult. Publisher: Zoe is wary when, in the dead of night, the beautiful yet frightening Simon comes to her house. Simon seems to understand the pain of loneliness and death and Zoe's brooding thoughts of her dying mother.
Simon is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge for the gruesome death of his mother three hundred years before. Does Simon dare ask Zoe to help free him from this lifeless chase and its insufferable loneliness?
 The Silver Kiss
The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause entwines the two stories of Zoe and Simon, chapter by chapter. We start with Zoe, a lonely girl who is struggling with the steady decline of her mother to cancer and the loss of her best friend who is moving to a new city. She feels lost and unloved, and as though no one can understand her grief and pain. Enter Simon, one of the undead. A vampire who has flitted from city to city in pursuit of his monstrous brother, also a vampire. Simon struggles against his nature, believing himself to be unnatural —this is why he is unable to show his face to the sun, or cross running water. He is perfectly positioned to understand Zoe's plight, particularly because he feels as though his condition is a disease.
The Silver Kiss is a beautiful, poetic and ephemeral little book. The fleeting nature of Zoe and Simon's relationship and their brief sweet love is perfectly written. The ending was very moving.
I loved the language that Klause uses throughout the book, especially when describing Simon:
He was young, more boy than man, slight and pale, made elfin by the moon. He noticed her and froze like a deer before the gun. They were trapped in each other's gaze. His eyes were dark, full of wilderness and stars. But his face was ashen. Almost as pale as his silver hair. With a sudden ache she realized he was beautiful...
Simon is a lovely, half-wild predecessor to Edward Cullen, from a time when vampires could love, but were never selfish enough to think they could stay with a human. Simon is written in an 'old-fashioned' sense, in keeping with the traditional rules that applied to vampires: can’t go out in the daylight, affected by crosses, definitely not sparkly. I much prefer Simon to Edward, although I know I am in the minority here!
I am glad that in the wake of the Twilight phenomenon The Silver Kiss is seeing a wider audience, because it deserves to be read. It has two strong central characters with genuine motivations who affect each other's lives and learn from the other. The girl does not depend solely on the vampire for succour and support; although lonely and scared, she can stand on her own two feet. The vampire is not emasculated by his love for a human girl.
The only part I wasn't too sure about was the infodump in which Simon reveals his past in one long story, but this section is still absorbing and probably necessary to get out all at once considering the slightness of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this lovely story and felt deeply affected by both Zoe and Simon. I would recommend it to anyone who does not like the cloying nature and poor writing of the Twilight books and their carbon copies on the market. The Silver Kiss is the thinking girl's Twilight. —Amanda Rutter
 Alien Secrets — (1993) Young adult. Publisher: Puck, expelled from boarding school on Earth, is on her way to stay with her parents on the planet Shoon. On board the spaceship she befriends Hush, a native Shoowa who is also returning home in shame. He is desperately seeking a stolen treasure that was entrusted to him, a symbol of freedom for his people.
Puck and Hush must find the precious Soo before they reach Shoon. But who can they trust? And how will they save their own skins as they hurtle through space on a ship haunted by terrifying ghosts?
 Blood and Chocolate — (1997) Young adult. Publisher: Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?
Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.
Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really — human or beast? Which tastes sweeter — blood or chocolate?
 Freaks: Alive, on the Inside! — (2006) Young adult. Publisher: If this is a dream, why does she seem so real?
Though Abel Dandy was born to circus performers and grew up in a troupe of odd and inexplicable people, he has never felt limited by his normalcy — until now. Realizing he'll never be more amazing than the talented oddities around him, Abel can only dream of living a life richer than his own. But in his dreams a mysterious woman beckons him, calling him passionately by a name he doesn't know and speaking in a language he's never heard, but fully understands. Compelled by these visions and yearning to be more than ordinary, Abel embarks on a journey more frightening and wondrous than he ever imagined...
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Annette Curtis Klause was born in Bristol, England, and moved to the United States when she was a teenager. As a child she spouted such fanciful ideas that her peers thought she was an oddity. Having an imagination turned out to be valuable — she grew up to become a storyteller. Annette currently lives in the Maryland suburbs with her husband and six cats. Annette works as a children's librarian. Bouncing around like a giant bunny during preschool story time is just another way of being paid to be odd, she says. 
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