Vampire Knight (1-3) by Matsuri Hino

I love Manga – it’s special and different when compared to American comics/stories.  Manga borders on the silly while having serious moments.  This one is no exception.  I loved it.

Yuki is the adopted daughter of the headmaster of a special boarding school.  The day classes are fairly normal but at night a different set of students come to learn and they are vampires.

Yuki works as the special guardian with Zero.  Their job is to keep the vampires a secret and prevent them from harming the human students.   Both Yuki and Zero have been victims of vampires in the past which led them to the academy.  Yuki has no memory of her life before vampire Kaname saved her from another vampire. 

As is common in Manga there is a love triangle between Yuki, Zero and Kaname.  I get the feeling that she loves Zero more but we’ll see.

If you love silly romance or anything vampire – I recommend this series. I’ve read through volume 3 and I hate having to wait to get my hands on future volumes.

Matsuri Hino also wrote Captive Hearts – a super silly comedy about a man who is cursed to fall in love with a particular girl.

She has a great style and I love her inserts about her life as she writes these stories.

Hollowfields by Madeleine Rosca

Earlier this year I reviewed the first volume of Hollowfields, to my surprise we found a copy with all three volumes. This is defininetly the way to go. Hollowfields is such a cute story with so much action that it should please most readers. This is my 14 year old son's favorite story so far.
Nine year old Lucy Snow is going to boarding school for the first time in the middle of the year. She gets lost and finds herself at a school. It's been raining and she is so hungry that she signs the school's contract just to stay inside. It doesn't take long for her to discover she has just joined a school for future mad scientists.
Each Friday, a student with the lowest grades is sent to detention in the Windmill where they are never heard from again. Lucy wants to avoid the Windmill and sneaks out at night to find a dictionary in the library. What she finds is Dr Bleak, a speaking metal cube. Dr Bleak helps her with her assignments and help keeps her out of detention (but just barely because there are forces working against her).
Through the course of the story, Lucy matures (as much as a nine year old can) and finds herself plotting to save the children from the Windmill and free all the students from HollowFields.
There are some scenes that give you the history of the school and how it came to be. It's a rather predictable story but so engaging. Lucy is cute and animated but she's surrounded by all these gruesome experiments. She keeps a very Pollyanna attitude and becomes the hero at the end. There is some animated violence but it's done in such a way that it's not scary. There's a lot of humor and silly cartoon antics.

Captive Hearts vol 1 by Matsuri Hino

This book was a collection of 3 romantic mangas. A Manga is an asian style graphic novel (for those who didn't know). They are not as seriously drawn as American graphic novels and this one was super over the top but it worked.
The stories are interesting tales of love but in the early stages of the relationship. The relationships are very innocent. I am not even certain there was any kissing. The first story is great - about a young man cursed to be the servant of a young girl and some times he has manservent fits.
Not only are the stories fun but the author inserts little notes through out the book which only add to the stories. She admits that they are silly and over the top which makes it easier for the reader to get into the stories.
My son actually picked out this book and the second volume but I have a feeling that this is not a book for boys. It's too romantic and silly and no fighting (unless boys getting hit over the head by a girl counts).
A fun and easy read but more time consuming that I thought. I expected to get both volumes done this afternoon and only got one which is nice to know that they take a little more effort (most manga are super quick reads and pricey when you buy them at the bookstore).

Hollowfields by Madeleine Rosca

This was a cute story about a little girl on her way to boarding school and ends up at the wrong one. The school she finds is for children of mad scientists. No one cares there's a mistake because she signed the contract for attendance. She must keep her grades up or be sent to detention where no child returns from.
It's a great story about dedication and finding yourself. It was discovered by my son who loved it.
Sadly this is the first volume so we have to be on the lookout for more.