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writingcaia's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.25
I want to write something addressing the very bad reviews this has gotten.
I feel like so many people felt hurt or shocked by things in the book, and I didn’t. I wondered if there’s something wrong with me, I’m so empathetic and attentive but I’m also white and cisgender, although not straight, still…
To be honest I don’t see how anything in the book is outrageous or offensive, everything seems so straightforward and candid, but I hate that people felt wronged or hurt, and I’m sure there’s validity to it, even if I didn’t feel or see it. It simply wasn’t my experience and I don’t think I’m a bad person or oblivious to other peoples’ struggle because of it.
It actually felt as if the author is super woke and perfectly attuned to the new generation fighting for queer right, POC rights (being white), environmental changes, etc. The difficulties of fitting in at the same time as finding out who you are, felt pretty real, especially since I read a YA lesbian fiction recently with a similar discovery phase. Nothing felt forced at all.
Also, the writing was so very good, the story pretty interesting and captivating, a great take on vampires and their relationship with humans when they can no longer drink from them and have a blood substitute.
A lot of power plays and ugly, colonialist, conservative types among the older vampires which may trigger some, but I found that it is as reasonable as the truth about people 100 years or more ago, and how most rich and moralistic/religion zealots saw the world and shaped it, even today.
There’s queer romance and super sexy vamps. Girls fighting for girls, and oblivious entitled boys (and girls) that redeem themselves.
So, if you are looking for a queer vampire book, a coming of age and sexuality, with romance and murder mystery subplot, and a lot of mean girls and goth vibes this is for you.
But, yes, read the bad reviews too, maybe it might be triggering for you.
The one thing that could have improved the book for me was the finale which I wish hadn’t been so rushed especially since it’d be interesting to find the consequences of what happens at the end.
I feel like so many people felt hurt or shocked by things in the book, and I didn’t. I wondered if there’s something wrong with me, I’m so empathetic and attentive but I’m also white and cisgender, although not straight, still…
To be honest I don’t see how anything in the book is outrageous or offensive, everything seems so straightforward and candid, but I hate that people felt wronged or hurt, and I’m sure there’s validity to it, even if I didn’t feel or see it. It simply wasn’t my experience and I don’t think I’m a bad person or oblivious to other peoples’ struggle because of it.
It actually felt as if the author is super woke and perfectly attuned to the new generation fighting for queer right, POC rights (being white), environmental changes, etc. The difficulties of fitting in at the same time as finding out who you are, felt pretty real, especially since I read a YA lesbian fiction recently with a similar discovery phase. Nothing felt forced at all.
Also, the writing was so very good, the story pretty interesting and captivating, a great take on vampires and their relationship with humans when they can no longer drink from them and have a blood substitute.
A lot of power plays and ugly, colonialist, conservative types among the older vampires which may trigger some, but I found that it is as reasonable as the truth about people 100 years or more ago, and how most rich and moralistic/religion zealots saw the world and shaped it, even today.
There’s queer romance and super sexy vamps. Girls fighting for girls, and oblivious entitled boys (and girls) that redeem themselves.
So, if you are looking for a queer vampire book, a coming of age and sexuality, with romance and murder mystery subplot, and a lot of mean girls and goth vibes this is for you.
But, yes, read the bad reviews too, maybe it might be triggering for you.
The one thing that could have improved the book for me was the finale which I wish hadn’t been so rushed especially since it’d be interesting to find the consequences of what happens at the end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Bullying, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Racism
thaliareads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Such a fun take on vampires and vampire society, I loved all the the ethical and moral hypotheticals raided throughout the book looking at how vampires and humans coexist. Such a well done queer slow burn romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Classism, Gaslighting, and Blood
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Emotional abuse, Murder, and Infertility
In general, the boarding school that the MC's go to is elitist and lacks diversity, meaning there are many instances where the other students seem like classist bullies, and they are not very open to queer people. In addition, as a book about vampires blood is quite frequently discussed. Finally, it is mentioned that while some vampires can have children - others find themselves infertile. Now for the content warnings that require spoilers:decklededgess's review
dark
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
trigger warnings: alcohol, sexual assault, blood and gore, death, bullying, homophobia and lesbophobia, death, death of parent, classism, racism , sexism, misogyny, kidnapping, infertility, murder, terminal illness, toxic relationships, vomit, violence, colonization
I am choosing to look at this book from the lens of a teacher. This is a moment to learn and grow and hopefully never make a mess like this again. This, despite all the internet hating, is a redeemable piece of work. I am choosing to not write off the author as a terrible person. There's ample evidence in the book that the intentions to do the right thing were there, the execution was just piss poor and likely no one on their review team was equipped to catch the big errors. So I'm going to dig in as much as I can (based on what I remember since it has been like a month) and discuss what is fixable and what isn't.
To start with the positives, the sapphic romance in this book was actually amazing. That is what carried me through my entire reading experience. I badly wanted to know how these estranged best friends got around to dating each other. Kat and Taylor were compelling main characters.
Kat is trying to access education at a vampire institution that her mom hates with no explanation for why. She's naive because her mom has kept her in the human world, away from other vampires to learn their social norms and so on. Kat WANTS a life with history, with vampiric culture and so on. She is without a doubt interesting. Foolish and a bit too idealistic, but that makes the potential for her growth actually captivating. Will she lose that rose coloured perspective of the vampire world? Will she learn that not all adults are out to protect her? She's annoying but she holds your attention in that same way that the Bachelor franchise does. I liked screaming at the page when she did something stupid.
Taylor is the opposite side of the same coin. Annoying and foolish but she KNOWS things. Despite the fact that she's angry and jaded, she's probably making the exact same mistakes that Kat is, just with different motivation. She's dealt with homophobia, is ostracized because she's the only out lesbian at the school and refusing to adhere to rules of femininity, she has been used by people wanting to experiment, is the favourite punching bag for administration, and more. She's angry. But she's all bluster and absolutely no punch. Beneath all that snarl is a sad girl wanting love. She can talk big talk, but when it comes to actually fighting back, pushing against the structural problems she loves to complain about, there is literally nothing. She's a chicken. Honestly...relatable. I hate to say it but that's what I'm like.
So while they look like polar opposites, they're actually just two different manifestations of nurture. And honestly this is what I think makes them idiots to lovers. Like they're not just idiots about each other they're just idiots in general. A chaotic choice for main characters but when they end up working through conflict together, they're surprisingly functional. Their combination of braincells can finally create a spark.
If you shovel out all the other distracting stuff in the story, these two girls are actually really fascinating to follow through the book. I really enjoyed them despite the mess of it all.
Now the main issue with the plot of the book is that the author tried to take on too many topics. I realise that writing a book in the era of COVID and BLM that social consciousness is necessary but that doesn't mean overstepping bounds when the topic isn't ABOUT YOU. She tried to include discussion on racism, classism, homophobia in old established institutions, big pharma, capitalism and monopolies, the AIDS epidemic, and more. THAT IS ENOUGH SLICESSSSS.
Choosing to take on racism and classism where neither of your main characters is a person of colour is...a choice. But when only one of your secondary characters is biracial and all BIPOC characters are unnamed and mentioned to exist in single digits in this school...bestie maybe we should have thought that through. If you want to take on racism, give voice to someone who can speak on it. Had there been a main or even secondary character who had the authority to speak on racism in the vampire world it would have made sense.
A secondary character would have allowed the author to not speak on their behalf. A sensitivity reader could and would have helped ensure that the book didn't scream white saviour complex. Alas. This book was full of virtue signals. BUT. I'm adding those as a tally in favour of the author. It shows that she wanted to write something that spoke on racist academic institutions. She either didn't know how to do it or she didn't find someone to check her missteps. There was effort made it just wasn't done well and that led to devastating results when it got in the hands of readers.
There was a line said by the biracial Indian character in the book that stuck out to me and many others. This boy is wealthy, from a legacy, and has a lot of ease moving through the world despite the fact that he carries a lot of pressure. I'm withholding my "boohoo sad rich boy" comment but just know that I am thinking it. He said "it's not as messed up as it sounds" in response to the main character asking him "[your parents met through] the British East India Company that colonized India?" The intention here, I think, was to say that oh no his parents didn't meet in weird circumstances. His BEIC daddy met his rich Indian princess mommy and courted her and it was totally normal she was not stolen at all.
Now let's think historically. Back then how young did girls get married? Pretty fucking young. Back then, when a white colonizer came and asked for your hand in marriage while you witnessed people in your country get abused and cut down do you think your immediate response would have been to refuse?????? Yeah probably the fuck not. Did the author think through this nuance? I don't know but it doesn't look like it. It looked like she was trying to justify the existence of this happily married vampire couple and then move on.
This character honestly would have been a great opportunity to dig into the racism of the vampire community, to discuss the impact of white vampires through centuries of colonization, to talk about the ugly underbelly of vampiric history. Nope. Brushed over. There was opportunity and it wasn't done the justice it deserved. It comes of as performative and ignoring the history of the BEIC in India. Again, there was potential, it was not done well. It could have been fixed if someone caught it.
Now I don't know how many people had issue with the blood borne disease subplot of this book but I have words. The context here is that vampires are now consuming a synthetic blood because humans were infected with a blood disease that, if consumed by vampires, killed them almost instantaneously. This disease is in the book is still affecting humans since Kat's mom is working in a medical facility for the patients of this disease. Due to this disease feeding on humans has become a very bad idea. Vampires are the ones who got eradicated in hordes due to careless feeding practices and lack of knowledge and protection. You know what that sounded like to me? The AIDS epidemic. Interesting take on the author's part if it was intentional. That meant that vampires were the equivalent of queer folks who died due to government negligence. Dicey choice because vampires were an antisemitic and anti Romani stereotype during the Holocaust where queer people were also intentionally murdered.
But the flip side of this subplot is that the way humans were treated as dirty ALSO made them an allegory for queer people in the AIDS epidemic. The detail to this subplot makes me think it was intentional but the lack of clarity could also mean that it wasn't on purpose. All around a really messy choice. Could have been interesting. Could have actually been an appropriate topic considering the author is queer and therefore this topic is something they can talk about with ample care and nuance with the help of research. But again, we have a mess.
Closing out my compliment sandwhich, the subplots that were done relatively well were the discussions on homophobia and transphobia in institutions, and the combination of big pharma, capitalism, and classism. Taylor and Kat navigate two very different aspects of homophobia in this school that enforces conformity. Taylor gets ostracized for being out. Kat witnesses the homophobia and definitely doesn't stay quiet but it does affect her own journey coming to terms that she's lesbian. She wants approval and that forces her to ignore herself. I thought that was really well done.
The big pharma aspect of the book was also super cool. Without providing spoilers, the book talks about medical monopoly on access to important medicine (what I saw as a nod to insulin prices) and how the lack of a cure of certain diseases is financially beneficial for companies that hold monopolies. I really loved the dialogue and resolution around that.
Plus the combination of classism and family legacies was pretty great too. Kat comes from a single parent household with no vampiric legacy to carry her through the world. She and her mom had to struggle to access the blood substitute, she gets shunned for not having a notable name at the school. The classism is applicable to Kat. White people struggle financially too because systemic institutions that uphold the wealthy also work to keep the poor that way no matter race. Combining her perspective with a BIPOC character in the book would have patched up a lot of blind spots in that regard but even without a BIPOC character to fortify that story line it was well done. Not perfect but it was making several good points.
Overall, there were some really solid efforts made in the book soured by some really egregious oversights. In my opinion, not enough to cancel the author and certainly not enough to write off her future work. I think the book shows she had good intentions but did not have the tools to execute it well. If I were teaching higher grades or even a college course on fictional writing and literally devices, this would be an excellent book on analyzing what to do and what not to do. The opportunity to fix is there, it's just a tad to late for the book.
I genuinely hope Sasha Laurens continues to learn from the constructive feedback she's getting from this book and writes more queer novels for a YA audience. There's incredible potential for growth. I would genuinely love to help with sensitivity reading on her books but obviously lmao not gonna happen. I'm cautiously optimistic for her future books.
I am choosing to look at this book from the lens of a teacher. This is a moment to learn and grow and hopefully never make a mess like this again. This, despite all the internet hating, is a redeemable piece of work. I am choosing to not write off the author as a terrible person. There's ample evidence in the book that the intentions to do the right thing were there, the execution was just piss poor and likely no one on their review team was equipped to catch the big errors. So I'm going to dig in as much as I can (based on what I remember since it has been like a month) and discuss what is fixable and what isn't.
To start with the positives, the sapphic romance in this book was actually amazing. That is what carried me through my entire reading experience. I badly wanted to know how these estranged best friends got around to dating each other. Kat and Taylor were compelling main characters.
Kat is trying to access education at a vampire institution that her mom hates with no explanation for why. She's naive because her mom has kept her in the human world, away from other vampires to learn their social norms and so on. Kat WANTS a life with history, with vampiric culture and so on. She is without a doubt interesting. Foolish and a bit too idealistic, but that makes the potential for her growth actually captivating. Will she lose that rose coloured perspective of the vampire world? Will she learn that not all adults are out to protect her? She's annoying but she holds your attention in that same way that the Bachelor franchise does. I liked screaming at the page when she did something stupid.
Taylor is the opposite side of the same coin. Annoying and foolish but she KNOWS things. Despite the fact that she's angry and jaded, she's probably making the exact same mistakes that Kat is, just with different motivation. She's dealt with homophobia, is ostracized because she's the only out lesbian at the school and refusing to adhere to rules of femininity, she has been used by people wanting to experiment, is the favourite punching bag for administration, and more. She's angry. But she's all bluster and absolutely no punch. Beneath all that snarl is a sad girl wanting love. She can talk big talk, but when it comes to actually fighting back, pushing against the structural problems she loves to complain about, there is literally nothing. She's a chicken. Honestly...relatable. I hate to say it but that's what I'm like.
So while they look like polar opposites, they're actually just two different manifestations of nurture. And honestly this is what I think makes them idiots to lovers. Like they're not just idiots about each other they're just idiots in general. A chaotic choice for main characters but when they end up working through conflict together, they're surprisingly functional. Their combination of braincells can finally create a spark.
If you shovel out all the other distracting stuff in the story, these two girls are actually really fascinating to follow through the book. I really enjoyed them despite the mess of it all.
Now the main issue with the plot of the book is that the author tried to take on too many topics. I realise that writing a book in the era of COVID and BLM that social consciousness is necessary but that doesn't mean overstepping bounds when the topic isn't ABOUT YOU. She tried to include discussion on racism, classism, homophobia in old established institutions, big pharma, capitalism and monopolies, the AIDS epidemic, and more. THAT IS ENOUGH SLICESSSSS.
Choosing to take on racism and classism where neither of your main characters is a person of colour is...a choice. But when only one of your secondary characters is biracial and all BIPOC characters are unnamed and mentioned to exist in single digits in this school...bestie maybe we should have thought that through. If you want to take on racism, give voice to someone who can speak on it. Had there been a main or even secondary character who had the authority to speak on racism in the vampire world it would have made sense.
A secondary character would have allowed the author to not speak on their behalf. A sensitivity reader could and would have helped ensure that the book didn't scream white saviour complex. Alas. This book was full of virtue signals. BUT. I'm adding those as a tally in favour of the author. It shows that she wanted to write something that spoke on racist academic institutions. She either didn't know how to do it or she didn't find someone to check her missteps. There was effort made it just wasn't done well and that led to devastating results when it got in the hands of readers.
There was a line said by the biracial Indian character in the book that stuck out to me and many others. This boy is wealthy, from a legacy, and has a lot of ease moving through the world despite the fact that he carries a lot of pressure. I'm withholding my "boohoo sad rich boy" comment but just know that I am thinking it. He said "it's not as messed up as it sounds" in response to the main character asking him "[your parents met through] the British East India Company that colonized India?" The intention here, I think, was to say that oh no his parents didn't meet in weird circumstances. His BEIC daddy met his rich Indian princess mommy and courted her and it was totally normal she was not stolen at all.
Now let's think historically. Back then how young did girls get married? Pretty fucking young. Back then, when a white colonizer came and asked for your hand in marriage while you witnessed people in your country get abused and cut down do you think your immediate response would have been to refuse?????? Yeah probably the fuck not. Did the author think through this nuance? I don't know but it doesn't look like it. It looked like she was trying to justify the existence of this happily married vampire couple and then move on.
This character honestly would have been a great opportunity to dig into the racism of the vampire community, to discuss the impact of white vampires through centuries of colonization, to talk about the ugly underbelly of vampiric history. Nope. Brushed over. There was opportunity and it wasn't done the justice it deserved. It comes of as performative and ignoring the history of the BEIC in India. Again, there was potential, it was not done well. It could have been fixed if someone caught it.
Now I don't know how many people had issue with the blood borne disease subplot of this book but I have words. The context here is that vampires are now consuming a synthetic blood because humans were infected with a blood disease that, if consumed by vampires, killed them almost instantaneously. This disease is in the book is still affecting humans since Kat's mom is working in a medical facility for the patients of this disease. Due to this disease feeding on humans has become a very bad idea. Vampires are the ones who got eradicated in hordes due to careless feeding practices and lack of knowledge and protection. You know what that sounded like to me? The AIDS epidemic. Interesting take on the author's part if it was intentional. That meant that vampires were the equivalent of queer folks who died due to government negligence. Dicey choice because vampires were an antisemitic and anti Romani stereotype during the Holocaust where queer people were also intentionally murdered.
But the flip side of this subplot is that the way humans were treated as dirty ALSO made them an allegory for queer people in the AIDS epidemic. The detail to this subplot makes me think it was intentional but the lack of clarity could also mean that it wasn't on purpose. All around a really messy choice. Could have been interesting. Could have actually been an appropriate topic considering the author is queer and therefore this topic is something they can talk about with ample care and nuance with the help of research. But again, we have a mess.
Closing out my compliment sandwhich, the subplots that were done relatively well were the discussions on homophobia and transphobia in institutions, and the combination of big pharma, capitalism, and classism. Taylor and Kat navigate two very different aspects of homophobia in this school that enforces conformity. Taylor gets ostracized for being out. Kat witnesses the homophobia and definitely doesn't stay quiet but it does affect her own journey coming to terms that she's lesbian. She wants approval and that forces her to ignore herself. I thought that was really well done.
The big pharma aspect of the book was also super cool. Without providing spoilers, the book talks about medical monopoly on access to important medicine (what I saw as a nod to insulin prices) and how the lack of a cure of certain diseases is financially beneficial for companies that hold monopolies. I really loved the dialogue and resolution around that.
Plus the combination of classism and family legacies was pretty great too. Kat comes from a single parent household with no vampiric legacy to carry her through the world. She and her mom had to struggle to access the blood substitute, she gets shunned for not having a notable name at the school. The classism is applicable to Kat. White people struggle financially too because systemic institutions that uphold the wealthy also work to keep the poor that way no matter race. Combining her perspective with a BIPOC character in the book would have patched up a lot of blind spots in that regard but even without a BIPOC character to fortify that story line it was well done. Not perfect but it was making several good points.
Overall, there were some really solid efforts made in the book soured by some really egregious oversights. In my opinion, not enough to cancel the author and certainly not enough to write off her future work. I think the book shows she had good intentions but did not have the tools to execute it well. If I were teaching higher grades or even a college course on fictional writing and literally devices, this would be an excellent book on analyzing what to do and what not to do. The opportunity to fix is there, it's just a tad to late for the book.
I genuinely hope Sasha Laurens continues to learn from the constructive feedback she's getting from this book and writes more queer novels for a YA audience. There's incredible potential for growth. I would genuinely love to help with sensitivity reading on her books but obviously lmao not gonna happen. I'm cautiously optimistic for her future books.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Addiction, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Racism, and Sexism
the_crooked_neighbor's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I really enjoyed reading this book and finished it over two days. It was a toss-up of whether it was a 5 star read but in the end I feel like I needed a bit more from the ending. I really enjoyed the world-building. The relationships between all the characters were interesting. The romance was cute. I appreciated that it is a fade to black. I am glad that the ending had a couple of twists because some of them were a bit predictable. I am so glad Victor wasn't secretly her actual dad. I really wanted a bit more of how Galen ended up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia
Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Death, Alcohol, Homophobia, Violence, Slavery, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Racism, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
None of the content warnings are too graphic but it is a book about vampires which inherently means people with old fashioned beliefs and blood.dreams_while_reading's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I enjoyed this queer vampire friends to lovers, boarding school, murder mystery story but it fell a bit flat for me. It highlights a bunch of issues that are relevant to today's world and tons of high school drama. I did enjoy following Kat and her self discovery, learning to be who she truly was and not who she thought she was supposed to be.
I did notice there was quite a bit of uneven pacing throughout the story. Some areas dragged a bit while others felt completely rushed. Everything gets tied up in the last 50 pages of the book, which part of that was more of a "what happened afterwards".
TW: homophobia, classism, references to racism, bloodborne virus, adjacent to drugging, murder, sex scenes,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Blood, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol and Emotional abuse
homophobia, classism, references to racism, bloodborne virus, adjacent to drugging, murder, sex scenes,
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