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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
DNF about 60% of the way through. The story had a strong, promising start, but the dual POV ultimately bogged down the pace and organization. Further, half-way through the book, the 2 main characters still hated one another?? Why??? I love a slow-burn as much as the next person, but even a slow-burn implies that there will be at least some development in their relationship. Ugh, disappointed
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was good, but i kept waiting for it to be great…? there were a lot of cute parts, like cat dad jamie, and entertaining dialogue, as well as good commentary on upper class people. likable characters, and good twists. all the concepts in the book were solid; the delivery and writing for the romance is really where it got a lil shaky-shaky… the ending felt like a set-up for the sequel so it didn’t satisfy me as much as it could’ve. part of it might be because i would’ve liked to see more on valeriya. but it’s all good; i’d read a second book on this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent
Moderate: Racism, Toxic friendship, Colonisation
Minor: Slavery, Suicidal thoughts
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
All opinions are entirely my own. I am in no way affiliated with the author or publisher. Remember to support your local indie bookstore and library!
⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨ ᰔ ୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹
"One day you will get me killed." Layla stopped and stared hard at Elise. "Oh, wait. You already did."
- Discovery: Tiktok
- Reading Format: Digital
- Read Time: 5 Hours
1920s New York with all the trimmings. Jazz music, underground speakeasies, lesbians, and vampires.
Beautiful depiction of friends to enemies to lovers. Would love to see more nuanced discussion of how the reaper epidemic disproportionately affects marginalised groups.
Another YA queer vampire book I enjoyed is 'Court of the undying seasons'
slow-paced
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of these stars is just for the interspersed yearning. An altogether "okay" book with an ending that does nothing besides demand you read the eventual sequel.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book left me with all kinds of feelings and an ending that left me unsatisfied. All that being said, I'm glad I read it. It was a true adventure. It kept me on my toes all the way to the end.
3.5 stars rounded to four because I want to send love and strengh to the author and I'm really hopeful for the next one.
I wanted to start this review by saying how the whole idea made me so so happy. Sapphic vampire is always a must read for me. I was beyond happy when we could get a free ARC on Net Galley and not to have to wait until august to read it. This was to say thank you and to make you understand that I really waited this book, and I was excited to read it.
First good points. I loved every idea in this book. Of course the sapphic vampire/ vampire hunter pairing : perfect. The idea of the characters in general, the childhood best friends, the found family who's not quite that great, the toxic family dynamic, the dream of each other that are working together ( music and dance, complementary you know).
Even the sides character were awesome ( obviously my favorite one died like right away) Sterling the friend/brother, Mei (but kinda not like her relationship with Layla because of the age gape and how young Layla is), the cat dad gangster ( love him).Elise's dad was also great in a terrific way, hated him but in the way the author wanted it.
So characters : YES
The Plot was really really cool too, murders, secrets, gangsters, vampires, scientists and greed around a possible cure to vampirism? YES. All the politic is also incredible.
I think I liked every idea that was present in this book. Everything was well worked together. But I didn't rated it five stars for one reason.
I have some quote that have such a hold on me to omg. Like this one : "She's not fair game, she's mine"
My main "problem" with this book was the writing and the rythme. I would like to remind you ( so it stays in your mind during this paragraph) that this is the first book she published, stay nice. The ideas were incredible but the application not as much. Some scenes were looking a lot like each other, the vocabulary was really repetitive and sometimes it just felt like reading the same thing multiple times throughout the book. The rythme was to slow for me, if you are against the clock, if you're searching for a murder it has to be faster. I don't think saying it is kinda a murder mystery was great because it don't really feel important in the way it is written ( but it should have been because the plot was saying it was important). The writing wasn't always focusing on the right thing to make the story going. But as I said earlier it's the first book.
The ennemies to lover wasn't that smooth, the whole relationship between Elise and Layla wasn't that smooth. It wasn't really building up, the tension wasn't constant and it felt like Elise just changed her mind some time in a radical manner. Some chapter had such tension ( and extremely cool) but it was kinda going from nowhere. Because there was no build up the whole romance fell a little flat. It was good but not as much as it could have been ( It was not bad don't get me wrong). The writing really didn't worked that well , it was to scattered, going to one thing to another...Elise feelings alone could take chapters (it wasn't romance or plot really, it was as if it was another story of it's own) and it was too long and it was one of the thing that really felt like going over again and again,she was saying the same thing again and again. The lasts chapters were so weird. I'm not going to spoil anything, but like the ennemies to lovers, what happened had no build up and was TOO surprising to happen, and i'm not even sure to have fully understand what was at stake and how it would set the context for the next book.
I think that the thing that worked the best in the writing was the whole relationship between Elise and her family. The dynamics with her father and her dead sister was specially interesting. Elise was really an interesting character, and very unique as was the other main character Layla, who was a little darker ( which I liked a lot). I would like to give a thank to the author for having a vampire love interest whois not 100000 years old and in love with an 18 years old. Really, thank you.
Anyway this book was really cool and if you're reading this to decide if this book is worth your time the answer is yes.
I wanted to start this review by saying how the whole idea made me so so happy. Sapphic vampire is always a must read for me. I was beyond happy when we could get a free ARC on Net Galley and not to have to wait until august to read it. This was to say thank you and to make you understand that I really waited this book, and I was excited to read it.
First good points. I loved every idea in this book. Of course the sapphic vampire/ vampire hunter pairing : perfect. The idea of the characters in general, the childhood best friends, the found family who's not quite that great, the toxic family dynamic, the dream of each other that are working together ( music and dance, complementary you know).
Even the sides character were awesome ( obviously my favorite one died like right away) Sterling the friend/brother, Mei (but kinda not like her relationship with Layla because of the age gape and how young Layla is), the cat dad gangster ( love him).Elise's dad was also great in a terrific way, hated him but in the way the author wanted it.
So characters : YES
The Plot was really really cool too, murders, secrets, gangsters, vampires, scientists and greed around a possible cure to vampirism? YES. All the politic is also incredible.
I think I liked every idea that was present in this book. Everything was well worked together. But I didn't rated it five stars for one reason.
I have some quote that have such a hold on me to omg. Like this one : "She's not fair game, she's mine"
My main "problem" with this book was the writing and the rythme. I would like to remind you ( so it stays in your mind during this paragraph) that this is the first book she published, stay nice. The ideas were incredible but the application not as much. Some scenes were looking a lot like each other, the vocabulary was really repetitive and sometimes it just felt like reading the same thing multiple times throughout the book. The rythme was to slow for me, if you are against the clock, if you're searching for a murder it has to be faster. I don't think saying it is kinda a murder mystery was great because it don't really feel important in the way it is written ( but it should have been because the plot was saying it was important). The writing wasn't always focusing on the right thing to make the story going. But as I said earlier it's the first book.
The ennemies to lover wasn't that smooth, the whole relationship between Elise and Layla wasn't that smooth. It wasn't really building up, the tension wasn't constant and it felt like Elise just changed her mind some time in a radical manner. Some chapter had such tension ( and extremely cool) but it was kinda going from nowhere. Because there was no build up the whole romance fell a little flat. It was good but not as much as it could have been ( It was not bad don't get me wrong). The writing really didn't worked that well , it was to scattered, going to one thing to another...Elise feelings alone could take chapters (it wasn't romance or plot really, it was as if it was another story of it's own) and it was too long and it was one of the thing that really felt like going over again and again,she was saying the same thing again and again. The lasts chapters were so weird. I'm not going to spoil anything, but like the ennemies to lovers, what happened had no build up and was TOO surprising to happen, and i'm not even sure to have fully understand what was at stake and how it would set the context for the next book.
I think that the thing that worked the best in the writing was the whole relationship between Elise and her family. The dynamics with her father and her dead sister was specially interesting. Elise was really an interesting character, and very unique as was the other main character Layla, who was a little darker ( which I liked a lot). I would like to give a thank to the author for having a vampire love interest whois not 100000 years old and in love with an 18 years old. Really, thank you.
Anyway this book was really cool and if you're reading this to decide if this book is worth your time the answer is yes.
DNF @ 23%. I just couldn't connect to the writing even though the concept of this was so good.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Alcohol