Reviewed by Karin Perry for TeensReadToo.com

James Weston never wanted to become a vampire. He didn't even know that his mother was one until the night she changed him without even asking. After waking up from the horrible experience of having his neck bitten and being forced to drink the blood of his mother, James began his education on being a vampire. His mother's friend, Alistair, took him to his estate and began his training along with two other newly-turned vampires named Susan and Adam. Susan seemed to understand James' reluctance to succumb to the freedoms of the vampire life, but Adam, on the other hand, was the exact monster that James envisioned a true vampire would be. James realized he couldn't fit into the life his mother and the others wanted for him so he decided to leave and hopefully disappear in New York City. James never wanted to be found.

Before being turned into a vampire, James had plans of becoming a doctor. He tried to attend classes, but realized it would be difficult with all the human blood he would come into contact with so he decided to give up the medical field and focus on plants. Even though he didn't need money since his father left him a sizable inheritance after his death, James usually had a couple of students he tutored each semester. That was how he met Victoria. The minute he saw her, his life changed. It had been five years since he left Alistair and the others and except for his cat, Solitaire, he didn't have any friends. Meeting Victoria made him realize he wanted companionship and someone to love. He just couldn't trust himself around her, which drove him crazy. Each time they got close he could smell the blood running through her veins and wanted to do nothing except bite her neck and taste her sweet blood.

Everything in New York was fine until a serial killer began to strike. He leaves his victims drained of blood, which leads the media to call him the Vampire Killer. On top of all of his feelings for Victoria and the Vampire Killer being on the loose, James thinks he sees Adam. Eventually his fears are confirmed when Adam starts hanging around Victoria. James is scared for Victoria's safety, but is caught between a rock and hard place because he can't tell her the truth about the reason Adam is dangerous. Life becomes even more hazardous for James when other people from his past find him and force him to face some unwanted truths.

VAMPIRE DREAMS: A SparkNotes SAT Vocabulary Novel is an interesting story even though it is a little forced at times because of trying to fit in all the difficult vocabulary. It didn't interrupt the flow of the story at all to look at the bottom of the page to check the definition of each of the boldface words that was used in the story. VAMPIRE DREAMS is a story not only for people studying for the SAT, but for everyone who is a fan of the vampire genre. ( )

Vampire Dreams by Spark Notes is a book that is supposed to help you prepare for the SAT's. At the bottom of every page it has the definition of the SAT words on the page which are in bold. It is a fun book about James Weston a boy who is turned into a vampire, but never wanted to be. He falls in love with a human Victoria. When bodies drained of there blood start showing up all over the city. I enjoyed the story a lot but I did not learn very many words, few if any.