Mary Downing Hahn's many acclaimed novels include such beloved ghost stories as Wait Till Helen Comes, Deep and Dark and Dangerous, and Took. A former librarian, she has received more than fifty child-voted state awards for her work. She lives in Columbia, Maryland, with a cat named Nixi.
"Hahn deftly creates the proper atmosphere and setting for this spine chiller." --Kirkus Reviews --
Gr 6-9‘A vampire story with all the formulaic trappings of Gothic romance. Rebellious and hostile, Cynda refuses to accompany her mother and stepfather to Italy, so she goes to spend a six-month trial visit with her father, young stepmother, and half-brother at an old inn on the winter-desolate Maine coast. She learns the dark history of her new home, which is reported to be haunted by the ghost of a former innkeeper's daughter, who was murdered, drained of blood, and tossed into the ocean in the 1930s. Will, the housekeeper's grandson, fleetingly wins Cynda's attention until a mysterious, tall, dark, and drop-dead handsome stranger appears in a silver Porsche bathed in moonlight during a blizzard. Vincent, sexy and poetic, jokes with her that he is 30 years old, give or take a few centuries. He quickly insinuates himself into the inn's routine, charming everyone, especially Cynda, who feels like an outsider in her father's new family. Only the child Todd fears and distrusts Vincent. When the vampire turns his attention to the boy and sucks his blood, Cynda fights back to save him. The novel's aura of romance and suspense, coupled with images of Bess, the landlord's daughter from ``The Highwayman,'' elevate the prose somewhat and help sustain reader attention and interest. But like Cynda's crush on Vincent, the narrative is predictable. The happy ending is disappointing; could a weakened vampire's thrall so easily overcome her centuries-old despoiler? In most vampire stories, evil demons usually fight to the death, taking a few innocents with them. Though a step up from ``Fear Street'' and other horror novels, this book lacks the gripping, palpable action and poignant emotion of Annette Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss (Delacorte, 1990) or Margaret Mahy's The Changeover (McElderry, 1984). In Look For Me by Moonlight, it is the easy seduction of a teen who is a victim of her own insecurities that rings most true.‘Alice Casey Smith, Monmouth County Library Headquarters, Manalapan, NJ
"Hahn deftly creates the proper atmosphere and setting for this spine chiller." --Kirkus Reviews --
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