It’s hard to comment on an incomplete novel but I’ll try. Even taking into account the fact it’s supposed to be book one in a series, twelve two-to-three-page-long chapters coupled with the lack of a full plot structure made this story fall short of a novel. Most of the story is spent having the protagonist outright tell the exposition and it ends before even reaching a climax.

Unless they are well-written, I detest first person point-of-view stories because they often fall prey to clunky dialogue and poor attempts at describing situations in the character’s voice (and I tend to wonder throughout the book who the narrator is talking to except in situations where it’s stated). That may just be my personal taste, but I found the first person usage in Musical Chairs to be distracting, awkward and nauseatingly reminiscent of Twilight. In the first chapter, after talking about how she likes to feed on emotional people, Annabel touches on how emotions are transferred into the blood and then says, “It’s a complex thing to explain so I’ll get into it a bit later on,” which leads the reader to believe she’s talking to someone or something (perhaps a diary?) about this story (considering the circumstances were peculiar compared to her other high school kills); however, Annabel’s thoughts are sprinkled throughout the text. It seems unlikely that since the fourth wall is already down that she wouldn’t just directly state how she was feeling/what she was thinking at that moment. Along with this, Annabel describes every detail about a person’s outward appearance when she first met them or every time she changed an outfit. It became a huge chunk of text containing nothing that couldn’t be briefly stated and it only reminded me that I was reading a story someone had written, which is surely not the effect the author intended. Every teenager Annabel ran into got some vague characterization (mainly consisting of the clothing they wore) but because it was written in first person, I’m not sure if Annabel viewed high school students as flat characters or it was simply bad writing. Aside from all this, I found it hard to overlook the obvious grammatical and spelling errors in the text, though these are more easily remedied.

I can’t say I would recommend this story to anyone before changes were made to it. ( )

This hardly seemed like a book. Hell, it didn't even feel like the outline for a book. It was more like the first chapter of a book. I suppose one could call it a short story except it is supposed to be the first in a series so, what can I say, if you like really short books, this one's for you. ( )

I won Musical Chairs in a giveaway on LibraryThing

Musical Chairs is about a girl called Annabel who goes to school at Sunset High. The classes at Sunset High are held at night. Annabel is a vampire that gets to choose one high school student a year to kill. Although this is not the only time she can or needs to feed. When choosing her one kill a year Annabel likes her victims to be someone who has a lot of emotional problems. When Annabel decides on her victim she will change her way of dressing to be more in style with theres to better infiltrate their little groups.

When Annabel first meets Aiden she tries to introduce herself to him but he ignores her. What she doesn't know is that Aiden has a girlfriend, Deblin and she is afraid of losing him. Aiden would not cheat on her but Deblin has some very bad hang ups about herself and does not know this. Annabel finally gets Aiden to let her hang out with him, Deblin and his best friend Bane. Annabel doesn't like Bane because he ask to many questions. But she eventually figures out that the only way to stay in with their little group is to date Bane. This is the only way Deblin will probably ever trust Annabel enough to let her be a part of their group.

I like Musical Chairs because it has a whole new twist on vampires. It keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end. Wait, even at the end you still do not know who her victim is, I guess that is why it is a series. ( )

I won this this book in a giveaway on this site!
This is the first vampire novel I’ve read in a while. This is a story about a vampire called Annabel, who moves around a lot and chooses one high school student to kill each year. The whole book is written from the point view of Annabel. One o f the most interesting aspects of the story is why she chooses a victim, which is to do with being able to taste her victims emotions in their blood. The characters start off as being fairly stereo typical e.g. Jock and EMO. They Annabel and the Emo (Aiden) become very interesting when they start to get to know each other.
Annabel slowly begins to disclose to the readers more about her life once she begins to closer to her prey. What I find interesting about Annabel is that she doesn’t seem to have any memories of being human, which is a change from the norm. She seems a bit lost at times and struggling with her lack of feeling emotions. I find that Aiden is interesting because of his strange girl friend (Deblin) and best friend (Bane).
Overall I felt the stories pace was just right. The ending is a cliff hanger and I was left with a lot of questions at the end. This book is a nice quick read,which leaves you wanting to know more! ( )

I won the "Musical Chairs" book by Marla Braziel on Library Thing and love it. It was written in a style that leaves you wanting more vampires and stories about Annebel even if you do not like vampire stories. I definately say it is a must read for teenagers and adults. ( )