Review: Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Team Human
Author: Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Paranormal
Release date: July 3rd, 2012
Pages: 352 (ARC)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Source: ARCycling
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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.

Mel has her reasons of being suspicious of the new vampire at school (or of any vampire, at that).  The last thing she wants is to get involved with one, but when her friends welcome Francis to their group with open arms, Mel has to learn how to deal.  Quickly, she can see her best friend falling head over heels for Francis, and she's willing to do anything to protect the people she loves.

Mel is an interesting main character, especially for this story.  She should be used to vampires among humans, especially growing up in a town like New Whitby.  Vampires have never been kept a secret there, but after one particular vampire tore her friend's family apart, she began to think of vampires as being monsters.  They couldn't laugh, they drink human blood and seemed to come from a completely different world.  I wouldn't blame her for being at least a little uncomfortable around one.  Other than being biased, you can tell that she's incredibly stubborn, but very caring.  She just wants the best for her friends and family.

I'm not going to lie, Cathy bothered me more than any other character.  The fact that she fell for Francis immediately after meeting him, willing to become a vampire just to be with him forever, pushing Mel away even though she's just trying to get her to see the situation from her point of view...I just wanted to knock some sense into her.  For being the most intelligent person in this book, she definitely acted dumb throughout the entire story.  And although the book seemed to be based around Francis and Cathy's relationship at first, the plot shifts into something more interesting.  We find Mel teaming up with someone we never thought we'd see her with in order to get to the bottom of things.

Team Human was funny, light and easy to read.  The characters weren't the best, but the story makes up for it.  There's not too much going on, and although it didn't capture my interest 100%, I found myself able to finish with a smile on my face.  I suppose the thing that I liked most about this book was that these vampires weren't necessarily something to idolize, yet they had enough manners not to bite any random human.  They weren't completely good, but they weren't evil, either.  In a way, you can say that they were almost human.