Mina and the Undead

Product Information

Following a seventeen-year-old girl (Mina) who grew up in Whitby (a coastal town in England where Draculas’ ship crashes in the 1897 Stoker novel) but is relocating to New Orleans for the summer to stay with her older sister. I couldn’t put this book down once I started it stayed up far too late a couple of nights just so I could read one more chapter. I struggle to visualise scenes in books and I always fall asleep if there’s heavy descriptions in them. I was absolutely in my element with all these fun nods to ‘my’ horror classics and as someone who grew up in the 1990s, I got a big kick out of them.

My obsession only became stronger as time went on with Bela Lugosi, David from The Lost Boys, and the list goes on.I had a hard time reading this slowly as I was desperate to find out what happened next, het desperate for it to never end. Dark, delicious and grusome, this is the perfect YA horror, not just for teens, but also 30 somethings who enjoyed 90s culture the first time around! I did appreciate the well done diversity in the book though, that's the one thing you might have not found in a book from 2012. I found myself having to make myself stop reading so I could get on with my day and then I was looking forward to sitting down so I could read more!

With lots of 80s film references and nods to other vampire stories, this is a YA thriller/mystery set in New Orleans. And it gets even better when Mina lands a part-time job at a horror movie mansion and meets Jared, Libby's gorgeous housemate, co-worker and fellow horror enthusiast. With haunted houses, family secrets and murder galore, this delicious and gruesome tale of the macabre will ignite a whole new generation of vampire fans. I can’t say I have read a lot of YA books but Amy McCaw has convinced me that I’m missing out with her debut novel, Mina and the Undead. There isn’t 1 thing I didn’t like in this book with the backdrop of New Orleans and the 90’s and horror references I knew from the first chapter this was a winner.They would also only drop off a case of books and leave us to run it – it was so lovely to have you on hand to chat to the children and recommend them books, as well as the small (but appreciated! But the perfect summer bliss is broken when, while exploring the mansion, Mina stumbles upon the body of a girl with puncture marks on her neck. The two discover a dark underworld around them that ties to some of New Orleans oldest and most frightening legends. Honestly it hit every point for me, the characters were great, the story was so good, and the references spoke to my heart!