Mere Mortals

Following a deadly indiscretion, vampire siblings Charlotte and Reginald Drake, who have been undead teenagers for over a century, are sentenced by the vampire elders to the worst punishment imaginable: mortal life. Stripped of their vampiric abilities, they’re sent to live in boring Nowhere under irascible, retired vampire slayer Salvador’s supervision. Attending Hope High School, the siblings attempt—with mixed success—to blend in with their fellow students, finding both friends and potential romances, even as they petition the elders for a retrial to regain their immortality. Charlotte and Reginald soon stumble upon a Nowhere secret that could potentially return them to their former glory while circumventing the retrial, but when they realize this ancient and powerful magic comes at a high price, they must decide what they’re willing to give up for a new lease on undead life. Though the protagonists’ characterizations feel thin and the worldbuilding lacks depth, Lange (The Chaos of Now) deftly balances the siblings’ fish-out-of-water hijinks with the underlying drama and intrigue surrounding their former existences and Nowhere’s history, humorously subverting the classic vampire genre. Major characters read as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)