Reviews with content warning for Murder - Crave

This author's fixation with being over-the-top tongue-in-cheek about the genre in which she is writing. I have over a dozen quotes noted down where she has the MC mention this is "just like a romance novel" or "just like a horror movie". The worst offender is when the vampire love interest LITERALLY gives the MC a copy of Twilight. I will say, it is funny but perhaps not in the way the author intended.
Dialogue is poorly-written, this is sometimes also very funny in an unintentional way.
There is no rhyme or reason to lore, Twilight lore is more internally consistent than this.
Going off of point #3, the outright fact that vampires are mammals in this universe and that born-vampires exist, but they cannot drink milk. Curious as to what baby vampires subsist on and how they get the mammal classification if their mothers don't feed them with milk.
I don't want to spoil it but the Plot Twist Reveal about the MC made me cry I laughed so hard. I would call it brave, groundbreaking even, but my friend told me not to.

I am compelled by "bad" art that is supremely interesting and I am having a lot of fun liveblogging this series to my friends, so I will be reading the rest of them... but I don't want to recommend them unless that's the kind of thing you're into.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Is this book good? Objectively no.
Is the writing good? Absolutely not.
Did I have a good time? An unhinged one, yes.
Will I be continuing the series? Yes for the absurdity factor alone.

I listened to the audiobook. It reads like an early 2000-2010s YA high school vampire series even though its from 2022??? The parallels to Twilight are stark and literally mentioned?! Nothing makes sense. There is no plot. It's insta-lovey in all the worst/best ways. The dialogue is cringe worthy. If you are here for a trashy good time then sure, it's maybe for you.

1.5/5 🌶️

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_hsquared_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was what i wanted twilight to be. It was a 3.5/5 for me because it was pretty slow in the world building and telling of what happened but I enjoyed the chapters from Jaxon’s POV at the end. I will definitely read the second book because I enjoyed the story line and am excited to see what happens!

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ix37lexi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

3.75

Definitely entertaining but the writing seemed a bit juvenile at points and predictable. I will continue reading the series because it has kept me intrigued and reading despite those points.

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Twilight but make it gen z. That’s it, that’s the review.

Just kidding.
As someone who was a teenager when twilight hit the shelves, no YA vampire love story is going to touch it. But I can fully appreciate the audience this was written for and know that it’s successful in its execution. The issues for me lie specifically with just how painfully, cringing-ly (this is a word now) Gen Z it is. I don’t enjoy dialogue that includes “AF” unironically (and all the time). The characters are dumb, lovable but dumb, and i think that’s a disservice to all of them. The fact that Twilight, as a book, exists in this universe and it is GIVEN to the protagonist as a very obvious gift/clue and she still can’t figure what’s going on? The reader is never going to believe that. But someone could easily have similar gripes about Twilight, and I refuse to reconsider the 5 star the rating my teen heart gave those books. So, I get it. This is definitely that for some swooning teens out there

I devoured this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Will definitely continue the series!

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