Book Review: Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

By: Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Published by: Harper Teen

Released on: July 3rd, 2012

Source: arc from publisher to review

4 stars: I Enjoyed It

Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love. -quoted from Goodreads

It doesn't matter if you're Team Vampire, Team Zombie, Team Human, or Team Unicorn (not that there's any Unicorns in this book), you'll enjoy this book. Heck you can even be Team Shadowhunter, and still enjoy this book. I don't know who's idea it was to have Sarah Rees Brennan and Justine Larbalestier join forces and allow their wit and talent for storytelling to collide, but it was genius! The book's tag line, "Friends don't let friends date vampires", by itself should be an indicator of what readers and fans can except to read about in this book. Love, friendship, a whole lot of paranormal elements, and plenty of humor make this a fun, fast paced read.

 I loved that this book was mostly about friendship first, followed by romance. Maybe I should say it's mostly about Team Human with a dash of Team Vampire, and a possible Team Zombie sprinkled in. Mel's story takes place in the quaint little town of New Whitby, Maine, where most of it's citizens are vampires. I'm not talking about vamps that were just turned. We're talking vampires that founded this city and were in the US when this country was basically born. So yeah, vampires are citizens, and people are fully aware of them, including her best friend Cathy, who falls head over heals in love with the only vampire to grace Mel's high school, Francis.

Normally I would have found Mel's sense of protection for her best friend admirable, but after awhile it got on my nerves, which was about the same time other characters told Mel to just let her friend be happy. Don't get me wrong, I would have wanted to do what Mel did at first, but I loved that Cathy wasn't some ditzy character who loved Francis just because he was a vampire. I liked that their love was a bit more old fashion, and on a deeper level than even I had excepted. What I loved about Mel is her ability to just dish it to Francis. I mean who cares that he's way more than 150 yrs old, and could kill her in no time if he really wanted to (which I'm sure he did more than once in this book). She wasn't scared of him, and despite learning a few moving lessons during this storyline, Mel is a character who doesn't care if you're a vampire or a human, she's going to do all she can to protect those she cares about, and it's that loyalty she has that I admired the most about her. I also enjoyed some of her laugh out loud banter with Francis, as well as with her love interest Kit. 

I enjoyed how this story was written. I felt like I was on one big adventure/mystery. Mel was trying to figure how to keep Cathy and Francis apart, while at the same time she was also trying to get to the bottom of her other best friend's father's disappearance and why her friend's mother, who just so happens to be the high school principle is acting so weird. On top of it, Mel finds out what it's like to fall in love for the first time. This story has this perfect balance of fun, mystery, paranormal tropes, and important life lessons all in one. Not to mention romance. We all know that you can't read a Sarah Rees Brennan book without having some sort of romance. Well both of the romances in this book are great.  Whether you're Team Paranormal or Team Human, I'd recommend picking this one up!