Demon in My View
Demon in My View
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Paperback ©2000--
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Doubleday/Delacorte
Just the Series: Den of Shadows Vol. 2   

Series and Publisher: Den of Shadows   

Annotation: Seventeen-year-old Jessica Allodola discovers that the vampire world of her fiction is real when she develops relationships with an alluring vampire named Aubrey and the teenage witch who is trying to save Jessica from his clutches.
Genre: [Fantasy fiction]
 
Reviews: 8
Catalog Number: #4130808
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 2000
Edition Date: 2001 Release Date: 09/11/01
Pages: 176 pages
ISBN: 0-440-22884-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-440-22884-4
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 99051782
Dimensions: 18 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
Horn Book

A teenage writer of vampire novels has written this novel about . . . a teenage writer of vampire novels. Jessica, the overly idealized protagonist, is shocked when a seductive new classmate bears a marked similarity to a fictional character Jessica created. Fans of Anne Rice may be drawn to this uninvolving story of teenage vampires, but Anderson's Thirsty and Klause's The Silver Kiss are more full-blooded, satisfying works.

Kirkus Reviews

Full of atmospherics, but weak on style, this novel pits a feisty teenaged novelist against a community of vampires in the next town over. Jessica is a high school senior who has always felt like an outsider in her town—she lives with an adoptive mother (no one is sure who her biological parents are), and even more unusually, she's had a horror novel published under the pen name "Ash Night." Jessica's life is thrown into even more than its usual turmoil when a new boy, Alex Remington, shows up at school, a boy so like Jessica's fictional vampire character Aubrey that Jessica begins to be unsure whether she is living in the real world or in the world of her novels. Throw in a good witch determined to save Jessica from the hunky teenager who may or may not be a danger to Jessica and you have a novel full of vampires, witches, vampire hunters, and (perhaps most evil of all) ordinary suburban adolescents. This should be more fun to read than it actually is. Atwater-Rhodes ( In the Forests of the Night , 1999) wrote this at age 15, a fact the publishers are clearly planning to exploit. Not surprisingly, it reads like a work written by an inexperienced, novice writer—cliches abound and many passages are tedious or pretentious. Not bad for a 15-year-old, but not a well-written, fully realized novel either. (Fiction. YA)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Jessica, who put in a cameo appearance for <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">In the Forests of the Night, writes a book about vampires; what she doesn't know is that they actually exist. "Atwater-Rhodes exercises impressive control over the complex lineages she has imagined, and she comes up with creative solutions to advance her story," wrote <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

<EMPHASIS TYPE=""BOLD"">Note: Additional reviews of children's books can be found in the Children's Holiday round-up (p. 42).

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-High school senior Jessica Ashley Allodola is a misfit and a malcontent. What no one knows is that she is also a writer and has just published a new book, Tiger, Tiger, under the nom de plume, Ash Night. Her books, written in a dreamlike trance, describe a vivid and detailed world of vampires and witches. Conversely, what Jessica doesn't know is that the books she assumes are the strange imaginings of her subconscious are, in fact, true. And the vampire inhabitants of that world are determined to stop her, while the good witches are just as determined to save her. Two of these preternatural beings appear in the guise of new students at Ramsa High: Caryn, a witch of the Smoke Clan, and Alex, the very real vampire Aubrey from Tiger, Tiger. The clash between the witches and the vampires and the truth of Jessica's birth take the plot down many twisting and suspenseful paths. Unfortunately, there are too many subplots and minor characters. The book comes alive when it focuses on the relationship between Jessica and Alex/Aubrey. The two lovers are finely drawn and believable. Their relationship is compelling and drives the story, as well as readers, past some confusing plot developments. Demon in My View is not as tightly plotted or generally as well written as Atwater-Rhodes's first novel, In the Forests of the Night (Delacorte, 1999), but it will draw horror fans.-Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Word Count: 26,782
Reading Level: 6.4
Interest Level: 7-12
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 6.4 / points: 4.0 / quiz: 47257 / grade: Middle Grades+
Reading Counts!: reading level:6.1 / points:9.0 / quiz:Q24208
Lexile: 820L
CHAPTER 1

The black oblivion of sleep was shattered by the caterwauling of some singer on Jessica’s clock radio. She groaned and viciously beat the alarm clock into silence, then groped blindly for the light switch. The somber red glow of her Lava lamp provided just enough light to read the time.

Seven o’clock. The red numbers glowed sadistically, and Jessica swore. Only two hours of sleep again. How she managed to remain in the conscious world at all was a mystery, but she dragged herself into the shower, where the cold water finished what the alarm clock had started.

Only one hundred and eighty days of school left, Jessica thought as she prepared for the first day of her senior year of high school. There was barely enough time to get dressed before she had to pull her backpack onto her shoulders and dart down the street to catch the bus. Breakfast? A fleeting dream.

Ah, Ramsa High School. What a perfect little niche of Hell, she thought as the bus pulled up to the school. In one year, you will be out of here forever. That fact was the only thing that had convinced Jessica to get out of bed that morning: if she passed senior year, she would never need to succumb to the grasp of Ramsa High again.

She had lived in the town of Ramsa since she was twelve, and had long before realized that the other students would never accept her. Few were openly hostile, but no one could be described as warm and fuzzy, either.

As she neared the building, Jessica was acutely aware of how many students walked in groups of friends. She had known these people for five years, but that didn’t seem to matter as they moved past her without a word. She even saw two girls notice her, whisper to each other, then quickly retreat as if Jessica was somehow dangerous.

One senior, a boy Jessica had known since her very first day at Ramsa Junior High, crossed himself when he saw her. She was tempted to start chanting satanically in the hopes of scaring him. He had long before decided that she must be a witch, and she had no idea why. Occasionally, out of spite or simply boredom, she encouraged his belief.

The thought was amusing in a way. The only witches she knew lived solely in the confines of the novels she’d been writing for the past few years. One of her witches could walk right in front of this idiot and he would never recognize her as what she was; Jessica’s witches tended to be rather human in their manner and appearance.

More humorous, though, was the fact that her old enemy was holding the book Tiger, Tiger by Ash Night. Jessica wondered how he would react if he knew that she would soon be receiving royalties from his purchase.

Jessica had been struck by the idea for Tiger, Tiger several years before, when she and Anne had been visiting one of Anne’s old college friends in Concord, Massachusetts. She had spent nearly the entire week- end vacation locked in her room, and those hours of work had finally paid off.

In homeroom, Jessica sat in the back, alone as always. She waited in silent contemplation for attendance to be taken. The teacher was a young woman whom Jessica had not seen before; her name was written on the board and had received a few snickers from the students. Kate Katherine, high-school teacher, must have had sick parents. On the other hand, her name was probably easier for people to remember than Jessica Ashley Allodola.

“Jessica Allodola?” Mrs. Katherine said as if cued by Jessica’s thoughts.

“Here,” Jessica answered absently. The teacher checked off the name in her book and went on to the next person on the list.

The words of Jessica’s adoptive mother, Anne, echoed through her mind.

“Tomorrow is the first day of a new year, Jessie. Could you at least try not to get sent to the office? Just this once?”

“Don’t call me Jessie,” she had answered.

“Just try, Jessica,” Anne had pleaded. “For me?”

“You aren’t my mother. Don’t tell me what to do.”

“I’m the closest thing to a mother you have!” Anne had snarled, losing her patience.

The remark had stung, and Jessica had stalked to her room, mumbling, “My real mother was smart enough to get rid of me early.”

Snapping back to the present, she wondered bitterly if Anne considered it bad luck that Jessica was the child she had ended up adopting. Jessica wrenched herself from these thoughts as a pretty girl with chestnut hair tentatively entered the room.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” the girl said. “I’m new to the school, and I got a bit lost.” She introduced herself as Caryn Rashida. Mrs. Katherine nodded as she found Caryn’s name on her list.

Caryn looked around for an empty seat; one was conveniently located next to Jessica. But when she saw Jessica she hesitated, as if she might go sit somewhere else. Jessica wasn’t surprised. The residents of Ramsa all seemed to shy away from her almost unconsciously.

However, Caryn made up her mind and walked resolutely across the room. Extending a hand, she spoke. “Hi. I’m Caryn Rashida.” She stumbled a bit over her own last name. “Why are you sitting all alone here?”

“ ’Cause I want to,” Jessica answered coolly, leveling her emerald-green eyes at Caryn’s pale blue ones. Caryn held the gaze for a moment longer than most people could, but then looked away.

With disgust, Jessica had noted the girl’s unease and her decision to make an effort despite it. Jessica had no wish to be taken under Caryn’s wing like a homeless child. Dislike she understood; pity she could not stand.

“Wouldn’t you rather have some company?” Caryn asked, her tone more subdued but no less friendly.

Ignoring Caryn’s attempts at conversation, Jessica pulled out a pencil and started to draw.

“Well, then . . . I guess I’ll leave you alone,” Caryn said, voice muted. She moved to another table. Jessica continued drawing, ignoring Caryn and the teacher, who was droning on about locker assignments.

Mrs. Katherine asked Caryn to help distribute the locks, and when Caryn had finished, she lingered a moment at Jessica’s table. Jessica wondered grimly at the girl’s persistence.

“I’ve never been able to figure these out,” Caryn muttered as she fiddled with her lock. She spun the combination a dozen times without success. “Maybe it’s broken . . . You want to give it a try?”

Jessica plucked the lock from Caryn’s hands and had it open in a second. “Hope you don’t need to use the locker too much this year.”

“How do these things work?” Caryn laughed at herself cheerfully.

“Figure it out yourself,” Jessica answered as she shut the lock and tossed it back to Caryn.

“What did I do to you?” Caryn asked, finally deflated, and Jessica wouldn’t have been surprised to see her eyes start to tear. “Why do you have to be so nasty to me?”

“It’s who I am,” Jessica snapped, closing her notebook and putting it away. “Learn to live with it.”

She turned her back to Caryn as Mrs. Katherine led the class to their lockers. The girl didn’t try to talk to Jessica again for the rest of the day. No one else did either; besides the arrival of Caryn, nothing had changed.

Excerpted from Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Though nobody at her high school knows it, Jessica is a published author. Her vampire novel, Tiger, Tiger, has just come out under the pen name Ash Night. Now two new students have just arrived in Ramsa, and both want Jessica’s attention. She has no patience with overly friendly Caryn, but she’s instantly drawn to Alex, a self-assured, mysterious boy who seems surprisingly familiar. If Jessica didn’t know better, she’d think Aubrey, the alluring villain from her novel had just sprung to life. That’s impossible, of course; Aubrey is a figment of her imagination. Or is he?


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