Angie: “Marked” is the perfect combination of the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” series.

Our heroine, Zoey Redbird, is marked — a tattoo on her forehead; sound familiar? — to be a vampire. Getting marked means leaving your family behind to attend the House of Night school with other vamps in training.

Zoey’s family life pretty much sucks so leaving it behind is freeing. Again, familiar? Once she is at school she immediately meets the blonde bully, the curly-haired best friend, and the “twins,” two roommates who aren’t actually related but are so similar in personality that they are dubbed the twins.

Do you have whiplash from shaking your head “no!” in total disbelief? Me too!

The storyline isn’t all that original, but it’s a fun read if you are yearning for teen angst and feral desire in the guise of a vampire transformation. I do love my metaphors.

Mandy:In “The Graveyard Book,” Neil Gaiman tells the story of Nobody “Bod” Owens.

Bod could be described as average except for one thing: his unconventional family. The Owens found Bod wandering around their graveyard, where they reside as ghosts, when he was 1 year old. Because his parents were no longer living, the Owens unofficially adopted Bod and gave him the freedom of the graveyard. Because of this freedom, as Bod grew older, he began to realize how different his life was from the lives of other children.

In this 2009 Newbery Award-winning book, Gaiman (also the author of “Coraline”) introduces us to an uncommon world full of adventure, mischief and love. Gaiman also challenges the reader to examine the importance of family.

Spoiler alert: Family is important.