Detailed item info | Synopsis | Sixteen-year-old Cynda is not sure how she feels about moving in with her father, his new wife, and their five-year-old son. In fact, the only exciting thing about the move is the ghost stories she has heard about the inn where she'll now be living. Although welcomed warmly by the family, Cynda still feels lonely until she meets the handsome Vincent Morthanos, a guest at the inn. Of course Vincent is not exactly what he seems but will Cynda realize he is a vampire in enough time to save herself and her family?
While staying at the remote and reputedly haunted Maine inn run by her father and pregnant stepmother, sixteen-year-old Cynda feels increasingly isolated from her father's new family and finds solace in the attentions of a charming but mysterious guest.
| | Size | | Length: | 181 pages | | Height: | 6.8 in. | | Width: | 4.5 in. | | Thickness: | 0.5 in. | | Weight: | 3.2 oz. |
| | Publisher's Note | They call the big old inn Underhill, and it sits on the coast of Maine--an imposing sight. looming out of the desolate landscape. The locals say the place is haunted, and to sixteen-year-old Cynda, arriving to spend the long winter months with her father and his second wife, the stories just add to her feeling of isolation. But when the mysterious, darkly handsome Vincent Mortanos arrives to stay at the inn, Cynda is mesmerized, His charm and sensitivity are irresistible; his attentiveness constant Cynda is sure she's in love. Daring to hope that the older stranger shares her feelings, Cynda is innocently blind to who he really is--or to the terrible danger of coming under his spell. . . 2001 ALA Popular Paperback for YAs
| | Industry reviews | "A stylish psychological thriller... all the more gripping for its sturdy psychological underpinnings," said PW about this novel of a teenage girl in a remote, haunted inn who falls for a mysterious visitor. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)o
Lopate
Gr 6-9 A vampire story with all the formulaic trappings of Gothic romance. Rebellious and hostile, Cynda refuses to accompany her mother and stepfather to Italy, so she goes to spend a six-month trial visit with her father, young stepmother, and half-brother at an old inn on the winter-desolate Maine coast. She learns the dark history of her new home, which is reported to be haunted by the ghost of a former innkeeper's daughter, who was murdered, drained of blood, and tossed into the ocean in the 1930s. Will, the housekeeper's grandson, fleetingly wins Cynda's attention until a mysterious, tall, dark, and drop-dead handsome stranger appears in a silver Porsche bathed in moonlight during a blizzard. Vincent, sexy and poetic, jokes with her that he is 30 years old, give or take a few centuries. He quickly insinuates himself into the inn's routine, charming everyone, especially Cynda, who feels like an outsider in her father's new family. Only the child Todd fears and distrusts Vincent. When the vampire turns his attention to the boy and sucks his blood, Cynda fights back to save him. The novel's aura of romance and suspense, coupled with images of Bess, the landlord's daughter from ``The Highwayman,'' elevate the prose somewhat and help sustain reader attention and interest. But like Cynda's crush on Vincent, the narrative is predictable. The happy ending is disappointing; could a weakened vampire's thrall so easily overcome her centuries-old despoiler? In most vampire stories, evil demons usually fight to the death, taking a few innocents with them. Though a step up from ``Fear Street'' and other horror novels, this book lacks the gripping, palpable action and poignant emotion of Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (Delacorte, 1990) or Margaret Mahy's The Changeover (McElderry, 1984). In Look For Me by Moonlight, it is the easy seduction of a teen who is a victim of her own insecurities that rings most true. Alice Casey Smith, Monmouth County Library ...
Lopate
Gr 6-9 A vampire story with all the formulaic trappings of Gothic romance. Rebellious and hostile, Cynda refuses to accompany her mother and stepfather to Italy, so she goes to spend a six-month trial visit with her father, young stepmother, and half-brother at an old inn on the winter-desolate Maine coast. She learns the dark history of her new home, which is reported to be haunted by the ghost of a former innkeeper's daughter, who was murdered, drained of blood, and tossed into the ocean in the 1930s. Will, the housekeeper's grandson, fleetingly wins Cynda's attention until a mysterious, tall, dark, and drop-dead handsome stranger appears in a silver Porsche bathed in moonlight during a blizzard. Vincent, sexy and poetic, jokes with her that he is 30 years old, give or take a few centuries. He quickly insinuates himself into the inn's routine, charming everyone, especially Cynda, who feels like an outsider in her father's new family. Only the child Todd fears and distrusts Vincent. When the vampire turns his attention to the boy and sucks his blood, Cynda fights back to save him. The novel's aura of romance and suspense, coupled with images of Bess, the landlord's daughter from ``The Highwayman,'' elevate the prose somewhat and help sustain reader attention and interest. But like Cynda's crush on Vincent, the narrative is predictable. The happy ending is disappointing; could a weakened vampire's thrall so easily overcome her centuries-old despoiler? In most vampire stories, evil demons usually fight to the death, taking a few innocents with them. Though a step up from ``Fear Street'' and other horror novels, this book lacks the gripping, palpable action and poignant emotion of Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (Delacorte, 1990) or Margaret Mahy's The Changeover (McElderry, 1984). In Look For Me by Moonlight, it is the easy seduction of a teen who is a victim of her own insecurities that rings most true. Alice Casey Smith, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ
School Library Journal (05/01/1995)
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