Something worthy of your attention, and five reasons I love it.

1. The Blood Between Us is the story of three siblings struggling with real life issues. One is dealing with his college girlfriend’s pregnancy. The second is battling racism at his high school. The third fights to have her dreams taken seriously despite her disability. Then the vampires show up.

2.  Though the novel has three interconnected storylines, the standout character is Lorelei. Lorelei is obsessed with comic books, and she is eager to prove her keen detective skills even if the local police department won’t hire her as anything more than a crossing guard. She has Down syndrome and –while that might change the way the world sees her – it doesn’t change the way she sees herself. She possesses a keen awareness of how the world views people with Down syndrome, and she uses that knowledge to her advantage in hilarious ways throughout the book.

3. The Blood Between Us mixes genres with confidence. The cover says it’s a ‘Twisted Teen Comedy’, but I think it is more than that. It’s a family drama, a coming of age story, and an adventure story all in one.

4. In the interest of full disclosure, The Blood Between Us is written by my good friend, sometimes bandmate, and former classmate (kindergarten through fourth grade). Jerrod works as hard as anyone I know on his craft, and it has been a pleasure to watch him grow into the writer he is today.

5. The Blood Between Us features a unique take on vampires. If you are tired of the sparkly vampires of Twilight and the feral vampires of Let the Right One In, check it out. It draws its bloodsuckers with a different color palate than anything I’ve seen before.

Check it out here.