The Season of Risks

The Season of Risks
"Vivid characters and deft plotting make this an excellent third addition to the "Ethical Vampire" series." LIBRARY JOURNAL

Set in Florida, Georgia, and Ireland, this mystery centers on finding, losing and reclaiming one's identity. It explores the tension between memory and forgiveness, the prescience of folk tales, the beauty and power of impermanence, and the future of a society in which vampires and mortals must coexist—or perish.

READERS' GUIDE here:
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Season-of-Risks/Susan-Hubbard/9781439183427/reading_group_guide


REVIEWS:


"Hubbard, a professor of English at the University of Central Florida, has proven that a novel can be entertaining and literary at the same time. Her gift for language is reflected on every page with her fluid descriptions of places, thoughts, and feelings that never seem to get bogged down by cliche or overly flowery prose. And yet she still manages to present complex stories with intriguing characters without mixing High School Musical and the supernatural....
If you are looking for an alternative to Twilight, I'd strongly encourage you to check out Susan Hubbard's series. These books present vampires without all the shirtless flexing." --Brian Fitzpatrick, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER July 26
http://www.seattlepi.com/books/424037_139793-blogcritics.org.html

"Aglow with the promise of her budding friendship with third-party presidential candidate (and closet vampire) Neil Cameron, Ari Montero returns to school frustrated, like most teenagers, that she’s just not old enough—darn it!—to be accepted in grown-up circles. But Ari isn’t like most teenagers. Half human, half vampire, she is destined to remain at the same tender age at which she crossed over. Her desire to achieve instant adulthood leads her to the Miami clinic run by a vampire notorious for his delusions of world domination. There she is injected with a serum that instantly takes her from 15 to 22. But just as Cameron is about to clinch the presidential nomination, Ari’s true age is mysteriously leaked to the press and the ensuing scandal sends Cameron’s campaign crashing in flames—just like the jet carrying Ari to Ireland to visit her parents. Artfully handling the conundrum of age versus maturity, Hubbard continues to provide substance as well as thrills in her thought-provoking series (Society of S, 2007; The Year of Disappearances, 2008)."
—Booklist, July 1

“The Season of Risks puts its own twist on the familiar tales. Main character Ari Montero is a half-human, half-vampire who looks older than her actual age and lives in a world that isn't fully aware of the undead walking among them. The season of the title is what Ari calls the "summer of love," a time when she falls in love with a very politically ambitious vampire. But things turn much darker when Ari learns that some vampires, those who adhere to the more common dining habits of those creatures, are interested in studying her medically and have been following her growth a bit too closely. . . . entertaining and thought-provoking.”
--Austin American-Statesman, May 29

“Susan Hubbard’s Ethical Vampire series for young adult readers isn’t as famous as Meyer’s and Harris’ books, but that could change with The Season of Risks, the third in the series and first aimed at adult readers. Hubbard, a creative writing professor at the University of Central Florida, has won the Kafka Award and has been published in many literary journals. Young Ariella Montero, her half-vamp, half-human protagonist, gets caught up in a political conspiracy involving online social networking in a story that travels from her family's farm in Homosassa Springs to Savannah, Ga., New York and beyond.”
--The St. Petersburg Times & The Myrtle Beach Sun-News, May 23


"Susan Hubbard’s wonderful vampire tale will appeal to fans of vampire lovers who love their vamps portrayed as another species most of whom are good and live like humans except at mealtimes. As a half human who is ignorant of what her extrasensory abilities will be since hybrids rarely exist, Ari must learn them while the heat is on. Her energy is invigorating as she discovers by trial and error what she can do. With a political sexual subplot that is very realistically portrayed, readers will enjoy Ari’s coming of age enthralling and riveting hybrid investigative urban fantasy."
Harriet Klausner, http://genregoroundreviews.blogspot.com

REVIEWS OF THE SERIES:

"Elusive, complex, poetic and sophisticated."
Margot Adler, National Public Radio, Feb. 2010

"Anyone still lingering under the misconception that academics can't compete in the majors would be well advised to pick up either of Hubbard's novels, which combine the creepiness of Stephen King with the acute social commentary of the Beats, Philip K. Dick and Don Delillo. It's a heady mix; then again, so is our society today."
Jay MacDonald, News-Press.com