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thebookaddict's review against another edition
dark
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
🇳🇱: Dit boek was niet helemaal wat ik ervan verwacht had, maar het was leuk om te lezen. De focus ligt veel bij de queer romance en veel minder bij het verhaal eromheen, ik had het juist andersom verwacht. Ik las in de reviews dat het boek homofobisch was en soms zelfs een beetje racistisch. Ik keek hier anders naar. Ik vond het juist wel passen bij het boek, omdat we het hebben over 100 jaar oude (witte) vampiers die nog moeten "wennen" aan het idee dat het meer wordt uitgesproken als je queer bent en dat mensen met een andere huidskleur nu ook naar school gaan. Deze dingen kwamen sterk naar voren in het boek en dit kan dus ook kwetsend overkomen (lees zeker even de trigger warnings als je hier niet tegen kan). Ik vond het boek goed geschreven en je leest er vlot doorheen. Ik had alleen iets meer verhaallijn willen zien met betrekking tot de ziekte en het "medicijn" dit voelde nu juist meer als een zijlijn in het verhaal. Ook had ik meer willen lezen over de reünisten. Het concept van vampieren en een ziekte waar ze door sterven vond ik heel origineel bedacht.
🇬🇧: This book wasn't quite what I expected, but it was fun to read. The focus is much on the queer romance and much less on the story surrounding it, I expected it the other way around. I read in the reviews that the book was homophobic and sometimes even a bit racist. I looked at this differently. I thought it fit with the book, because we are talking about 100 year old (white) vampires who still have to "get used" to the idea that it is more pronounced if you are queer and that people with a different skin color now also go to school. These things were strongly highlighted in the book and can therefore come across as hurtful (be sure to read the trigger warnings if you cannot handle this). I thought the book was well written and easy to read through. I just would have liked to see a little more storyline regarding the disease and the "medicine", this just felt more like a sideline in the story. I would also have liked to read more about the reunionists. I thought the concept of vampires and a disease that kills them was very original.
🇬🇧: This book wasn't quite what I expected, but it was fun to read. The focus is much on the queer romance and much less on the story surrounding it, I expected it the other way around. I read in the reviews that the book was homophobic and sometimes even a bit racist. I looked at this differently. I thought it fit with the book, because we are talking about 100 year old (white) vampires who still have to "get used" to the idea that it is more pronounced if you are queer and that people with a different skin color now also go to school. These things were strongly highlighted in the book and can therefore come across as hurtful (be sure to read the trigger warnings if you cannot handle this). I thought the book was well written and easy to read through. I just would have liked to see a little more storyline regarding the disease and the "medicine", this just felt more like a sideline in the story. I would also have liked to read more about the reunionists. I thought the concept of vampires and a disease that kills them was very original.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Cursing, Abandonment, Vomit, Death, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Child death
bree_h_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This was a little bit of a disappointing read. I had really high hopes for a sapphic vampire story, but just felt it fell short in a lot of aspects.
To start, there were some aspects I enjoyed. The world building felt solid and pretty realistic, which can be hard to do in urban fantasy settings with trying to balance the supernatural world in a way that feels realistic to the real world. I also thought some of the less touched ideas that were handled subtly were really well done. Specifically Kat and dealing with people’s sense of entitlement to hot people. There was also a really solid exploration of comp het in Kat’s development and discovery of her sexuality. Kat’s journey in sorting out her sexuality also felt ready well done and relatable.
Outside of that though, the book kept falling short. I think the book’s themes could have been handled well, but we were constantly being whacked over the head with them. It felt like someone who didn’t really get the topics the book was exploring was trying to explain them. It’s being shoved down your throat that discovering your sexuality is a journey and you aren’t entitled to know things about people, but then punishes/shames characters for being on that journey and/or not having the support systems to safely explore that.
On top of that I found every character pretty unlikable. I want characters to have flaws and blind spots, however there’s also only so much I can deal with before I decide the character’s just not a good person. Which is what I felt like every character fell into. Entitlement to know someone’s sexuality who you haven’t seen in three years, putting down more fem girls for being fem and not masc, ignoring boundaries setup by other characters (especially in the romance), and thinking someone is faking a panic attack for attention who has never displayed that kind of behaviour are just a few examples.
The final biggest issue is a really weak plot and ending. The book spent its entire run meandering about, occasionally dropping crumbs of plot, and then speed ran the entire plot in the last 25% or so. It just felt poorly done. Pair that with a poorly thought out ending (they took down the Big Bad Evil Conservative Capitalist and suddenly everyone everywhere was super accepting and no more bigotry happened) just mixed so well together to make the plot feel as flimsy as a piece of single-ply.
Overall it had a lot of potential and could have handled its complex themes in a nuanced, subtle way. However, it just ends up feeling like the author bit off more than she could chew.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cursing, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Death, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual assault
dododenise's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed reading this book but it also didn’t do what I wanted it to do. It started promising. It really leant into the highschool cliches with the added vampire flair. The premise is amazing. But the romance just didn’t hit. I wasn’t feeling the tension or connection. The miscommunication was getting really tiring at some point and I don’t know why these characters like each other. The character work needs improvement.
The mystery element of the book was fine. I kind of wanted it to be bigger, as it relies on big political and ethical questions, but I understood the scaling choices for this kind of book. This way it kept the high school element of the story.
It definitely wasn’t perfect and I really hoped the premise would fulfil its potential, but regardless of its flaws it was a fun book to read.
The mystery element of the book was fine. I kind of wanted it to be bigger, as it relies on big political and ethical questions, but I understood the scaling choices for this kind of book. This way it kept the high school element of the story.
It definitely wasn’t perfect and I really hoped the premise would fulfil its potential, but regardless of its flaws it was a fun book to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, and Death
lunep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Classism, Colonisation, Infertility, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence
evelynyle_88's review against another edition
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? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Racism
Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Cursing
skypotion's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I recommend reading some of the other review by BIPOC people (especially @bookstagramrepresents on Instagram) becuase there are some problematic things that have been brought up about this book. There's one conversation about the East India Trading Company that will definitely make you cringe when you read it. I know it did for me.
For the most part, I feel like this book had potential but it just kind of fell flat, outside of the things mentioned in other reviews. There didn't seem to be a lot of romantic chemistry between Taylor and Kat, and it was more told than actually shown in the book. All in all, there are probably better vampire books out there for you to read.
For the most part, I feel like this book had potential but it just kind of fell flat, outside of the things mentioned in other reviews. There didn't seem to be a lot of romantic chemistry between Taylor and Kat, and it was more told than actually shown in the book. All in all, there are probably better vampire books out there for you to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Death of parent, Cursing, and Domestic abuse
There is a scene that is kind of sexual assualt-esque when vampires coerce a group of humans into their house to feed on them, seemingly without their consent and wiping their memories.laurajones's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Classism, Bullying, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Domestic abuse
orianymoom's review
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
on the surface, not terrible... it was generally entertaining and it did get me out of a reading slump, so it has that going for it :)
there is lesbian vampires and a murder mystery set at an elite boarding school, so the premise intrigued me and while I can't say it's bad, there is some room for improvement: the story only really picked up at about 60% in, the twists were highly predictable and the two main characters were just regurgitating the same points over and over again, so they felt a little flat...
there is also the very heavy-handed discussion of racism, classism and homophobia and while other people in these reviews (which i recommend reading) make much better, more educated points in that regard, i agree that it felt shoe-horned and perfomative and at least the racism aspect would have made much more sense if one of the main characters were a person of colour, because having them both be white kinda reeks of white savior complex... altogether, you could tell the author was well intentioned and trying, it just wasn't executed all too well...
the writing style is definitely aimed at a younger teenage audience, but i really liked the friends-to-enemies-to-idiots-to-lovers romance and the boarding school setting and the vampire lore were pretty well done too :)
2,5 out of 5 stars, not the best but i did enjoy it for the most part and do not regret picking it up :)
there is lesbian vampires and a murder mystery set at an elite boarding school, so the premise intrigued me and while I can't say it's bad, there is some room for improvement: the story only really picked up at about 60% in, the twists were highly predictable and the two main characters were just regurgitating the same points over and over again, so they felt a little flat...
there is also the very heavy-handed discussion of racism, classism and homophobia and while other people in these reviews (which i recommend reading) make much better, more educated points in that regard, i agree that it felt shoe-horned and perfomative and at least the racism aspect would have made much more sense if one of the main characters were a person of colour, because having them both be white kinda reeks of white savior complex... altogether, you could tell the author was well intentioned and trying, it just wasn't executed all too well...
the writing style is definitely aimed at a younger teenage audience, but i really liked the friends-to-enemies-to-idiots-to-lovers romance and the boarding school setting and the vampire lore were pretty well done too :)
2,5 out of 5 stars, not the best but i did enjoy it for the most part and do not regret picking it up :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Death of parent
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