I know what you're thinking. "What makes something a Super Chiller?" 50 extra pages. That's it. They're no scarier than regular Fear Street books, they're just longer. Now here's what I'm thinking. Who is that supposed to be on the front cover? She doesn't match the description of our female protagonist at all.
I remember reading this book as a kid and listening to "Diggin' On You" by TLC on repeat because I'm pretty sure that was my favorite song on CrazySexyCool and I knew that was a summer song and this was a book about summer and it just...Felt right. It added to the mood, you know? I don't know how I did it, I don't think I've been able to read with background noise since then. That's how good that song was though.
Predictions! Listen, I'm going to be honest. I think I remember how this book ends, so it's not really a prediction, but more of a spoiler. April is going to become a vampire and kill her boyfriend. I don't remember anything else that happens in Goodnight Kiss, but I distinctly remember April becoming a vampire. Let's see if I'm right or if I'm imagining that ending.
Goodnight Kiss begins with Jessica (not our MC) going on a blind date with a boy named Gabri. The movie they're seeing sucks (no pun intended), so Gabri suggests they leave. Can we talk about how stupid that nickname is? His name is Gabriel or something. How did R.L. Stine decide to go with Gabri instead of Gabe? I have a theory that it's because he hates this character as much as I do. Anyway. The two of them head over to the beach and Gabri decides to take a bite out of Jessica, but surprise! She's a vampire, too. Now that dinner has been ruined for the both of them, they need to find someone else to eat or Gabri will never shut up about "needing the nectar." (His dialogue is really bad and it makes me cringe.) These two vampires do not get along. Not in a fun, hate-to-love way either. It's an immature, She's All That, "Let's make a bet to see which of us can make a human fall for us and then drink from them three times and turn them into a vampire first" kind of way. They even choose each other's victims.
Our main character, April Blair, is vacationing for the summer. Her boyfriend, Matt, and his best friend, Todd, are also vacationing in the same town, which April's mom kind of hates because she thinks Matt is immature for liking video games and horror movies and I feel personally attacked right now. Mrs. Blair wants April to spend time with people she doesn't know from Shadyside, which makes sense since half the people in Shadyside either end up dead or being the reason other people end up dead. (That's not her reasoning though.) So we have Jessica and Gabri who are vampires, April who is going to become a vampire, Matt who is an idiot (trust me, he is) and Todd who is the shy third wheel. He has a lighter he plays with when he's nervous. He absolutely has social anxiety. I do the same thing with my phone. There always needs to be something else to focus on when I feel anxious. I really hope none of these characters treat him badly because of it. I think he'll probably just die though. Right? He's probably not going to last very long, someone has to die.
Jessica tells Gabri that she's choosing April as his target, and since she has a boyfriend, Gabri says, "I really must protest." THANK GOD she calls him out for sounding like a bad movie. Really though, April seems to secretly hate her boyfriend, so I don't think Gabri is going to have to work too hard. As for Jessica, she has to go after Todd...He's definitely going to die.
Jessica wastes no time with Todd. Seriously. She finds him on the beach and gives him a story about how this is her first time there and she's lost. He walks her in the direction of the summer homes and kisses him. They met like, two minutes ago. And luckily for Gabri, April is annoyed because Matt is 20 minutes late meeting her (that's my biggest pet peeve, so I'm right there with her), so he takes that as an opportunity to introduce himself to her. April explains that she's waiting for someone and Gabri suggests that maybe her "friend" misunderstood and went to the beach to wait for her. He then offers to walk her over there because it's dark outside. Wouldn't want anyone dangerous to approach her. With no sign of Matt anywhere, Gabri decides to take a chance, fangs out and everything, when bat-Jessica swoops in and attacks April. This sends her running down the beach, into Matt's arms. No nectar tonight.
Unfortunately, Matt screws up again and forgets he made plans with April and she is mad. So when Gabri asks her to go to the carnival with him, she says yes and he gets his first bite. Meanwhile, Jessica bites Todd for the third time, but she drinks too much of his blood and kills him. She leaves his body in the water at the beach, where Matt finds him and believes he drowned. Rather than admit defeat, Jessica decides to continue the bet, making Matt her new target. Good luck getting him out of the arcade.
After having a nightmare about Todd, Matt believes vampires are to blame for his death. Even with all the evidence...Todd and April's exhaustion, the bat attacks, Gabri being "allergic" to garlic and not having a reflection (Matt doesn't know about that last part, but April does), Todd getting paler on their beach vacation...I still think I would have a really hard time jumping to that conclusion. He runs to tell April, who may or may not still be his girlfriend? They're being super weird with each other. Of course, she gets mad. She thinks it's a bad joke. Matt sees two small puncture wounds on April's neck and tells her Gabri is a vampire and if they weren't broken up already, I think that probably did it.
Jessica definitely has an M.O. Lure unsuspecting boys down the beach, kiss them immediately, and then bite them. What's wrong with Matt though? This is the girl your dead best friend was dating. At least try to control yourself for five minutes. Just hold out a little bit. Jessica wastes no time, she's onto her fourth bite, meanwhile Gabri has bitten April once and now she's wearing a silver cross around her neck, so by the time he ever tries again, summer will be over. Luck is on his side though and the necklace falls off. Still, he's slower than a snail and I have little faith in him, even though I know April will be a vampire by the end of this book.
Corpse Todd comes to warn Matt that Jessica and Gabri are vampires. I kind of had to skim this entire section, it was pretty gruesome. Matt decides the only way to make April believe Gabri is a vampire is to act like a creepy stalker and take pictures of them together. When Gabri doesn't show up in the pictures, she'll have to believe Matt. Once they're developed, Matt has a picture of April, alone, in the ferris wheel. There's his evidence. Too easy, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. He drops the photos when he sees Gabri on a boat with April, headed towards an island, and he runs after them. Matt stakes Gabri with an oar and then sets Jessica on fire. (Since when does fire kill vampires?)
A few nights later, Matt is out with April when he finds her cross on the ground. She won't look at it and tells him to leave it there. I KNEW IT. Matt was too late, Gabri turned April into a vampire before he staked him. April bites Matt and I guess he kinds of deserves it for that one time he made plans with her and forgot about it, which really, if you think about it, was the catalyst for this whole thing anyway. She probably wouldn't have gone out with Gabri if that didn't happen. Nice going, Matt.
Goodnight Kiss is okay. Vampires really aren't my thing. The only vampire-related media I enjoy is 30 Days of Night. Nosferatu is an interesting example of German Expressionism in film, but other than that...Yeah, not a fan of vampires. The book isn't bad, I just think of all the monsters you could tell a story about, vampires are the most boring. Plus, Gabri was really strange. And Jessica was mean. Matt reminded me of too many of my exes. April was stupid because she never even questioned the bite marks on her neck. The only one I could relate to was Todd and he was killed off halfway through the book. Overall, I'd still rate it a 4/5 since Matt most likely dies.
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