Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Stuck at age 15 since 1973, Sydneyite Nina Harrison has no special powers as a vampire. In fact, she and her fellow support group members are weak, sickly individuals with extreme photosensitivity and an unfortunate propensity to drop dead from sunrise to sunset. They do not seduce, swoop or loom; instead they dither and bicker among themselves, activities that come to an end only when one of them is murdered. Only then do our crochety invalids come alive as they try to solve a murder mystery without involving themselves in violence or blood. Awkwardness results as the characters flail about, much in the way that real people might if they realized they were in a storybook whodunit. While the vampiric whininess gets tedious, Catherine Jinks compensates with non-stop action and plenty of twists and turns, all the while remaining true to her vision of vampirism as a combination of addiction and disability. Though Jinks does not have a sharp enough flair in her writing to pull off a biting satire [instead, it nips occasionally], her relentlessly realistic depiction of average people trying to be superheroic is consistently appealing.

Sweet! Rement's doing a Candy Shop!

Rement is coming out with a Candy Shop in September. Normally I become bored with Rement's endless iterations of cakes, chocolates and other sweets, but these candies seem novel. I especially like the "Animal Pops," lollipops in the shape of animal heads. LHF can make room for animal-headed lollipops, right? ( Pictures here. )

In other upcoming Rements, there is European Grandma/Grandma's Kitchen, which combines food with old-fashioned utensils. I especially like the scale in set #1 and the sunflowers in set #2.

Rement is also coming out with these awesome pendants, Jumbo Food, that show ridiculously overflowing portions of rice, ice cream, sushi, etc. The exploding bacon cheesburger looks delectable, while the many ice cream cones look just the right size for soft-serve cones. My favorite, however, is the listing tower of pancakes with a cascade of syrup streaming from them. I hope these pendants come Stateside.

N'Yenya is here!

Nicely enough, Andrea shipped her with a hoard of Rement so she wouldn't get hungry and also some clothes so she could dress herself in clashing LHF style.
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