Sweetblood, by Pete Hautman

Retrieved from: the library
(0689850484), 2003

I found this on our library shelves awhile back when I was looking for lunchtime reading. Here's a four-word synopsis: diabetes, vampires, goth culture.

This is a YA book that deals with the anger of a teenage girl with diabetes, anger towards herself mostly, but directed outward. She equates her illness with the symptoms of vampirism from the Middle Ages (an interesting and telling theory). She's a goth. Her mother calls her Sweetie/Honey/Sugar. She attracts the attention of a very creepy guy.

And, as in most YA fiction, most of the loose ends are tied up at the end. Still, I'd say the premise of this book was one of the more fascinating I've come across, and it's pretty realistic about teenagers.