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xangemtheelibrarian's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book has interested me since it first came out, and I finally got the chance to read it! I adored the idea of a "Teen Vampire Revenge Story" where these girls are planning to kill their toxic ex vampire boyfriend.
I thought the story was a rarely used idea, one that harkens back to the movie The Lost Boys (1987). Except, instead of fighting to save themselves from being turned, these three girls are fighting to free themselves and save another girl in the process.
The plot itself is really fun. They have a bit of a heist moment trying to get all the ingredients for their plan. There's a romance element between Holly and Parker, and Elton is SO easy to hate. And the story does not lack those classic teen vampire romance elements. (i.e.: Parker biting her lip so hard it draws blood, Holly smelling that delicious blood and being very unsure if she's about to kiss Parker or kill her. But also, Parker!! ARE YOU OKAY? Cheezus! Chill on the lip biting!)
This book got surprisingly graphic as far as violence goes. I still shudder thinking about the part where Holly describes in great detail the sounds and feeling of having her ENTIRE ARM ripped from her body. Vampires really like tearing each other apart limb by limb. There is a single sex scene, but it doesn't get any more graphic than "we touched each other everywhere and chased our pleasure" or something to that effect.
Overall, I'm happy I read this! It was an enjoyable, quick read.
I thought the story was a rarely used idea, one that harkens back to the movie The Lost Boys (1987). Except, instead of fighting to save themselves from being turned, these three girls are fighting to free themselves and save another girl in the process.
The plot itself is really fun. They have a bit of a heist moment trying to get all the ingredients for their plan. There's a romance element between Holly and Parker, and Elton is SO easy to hate. And the story does not lack those classic teen vampire romance elements. (i.e.: Parker biting her lip so hard it draws blood, Holly smelling that delicious blood and being very unsure if she's about to kiss Parker or kill her. But also, Parker!! ARE YOU OKAY? Cheezus! Chill on the lip biting!)
This book got surprisingly graphic as far as violence goes. I still shudder thinking about the part where Holly describes in great detail the sounds and feeling of having her ENTIRE ARM ripped from her body. Vampires really like tearing each other apart limb by limb. There is a single sex scene, but it doesn't get any more graphic than "we touched each other everywhere and chased our pleasure" or something to that effect.
Overall, I'm happy I read this! It was an enjoyable, quick read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, Dementia, Death of parent, and Abandonment
nella_allen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
fast-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? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, Dementia, Death of parent, and Alcohol
behindherpages's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting
mx_virg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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
3.0
I loved the premise and really wanted to like this book. And the base elements are there. I liked the characters, the way they come together, how the plot progresses. I like that a big part of the book focuses on female friendships. I enjoyed reading it, but I don't think much will stick with me for long.
The world building is really lacking here. How can vampires just carelessly go through the world, killing people left and right, in this day and age? The number of people they kill to feed on isn't small, and yet it's never really a concern. Nothing really is, aside from the main villain. We're given just enough to understand why things have to happen the way they do, nothing more. The vampire thing feels more like a b-plot, we're not given enough info and I wasn't that invested or interested when vampiry stuff happened as a result.
The romance started out cute, but became bland from the half-way point. And even though I liked the ending, the twists felt unnecessary and created if not plot holes, at least more questions that we won't get answers to (because we're given so little info to begin with). The writing didn't help. It wasn't bad, but didn't pull me in either.
So yeah, it's a "meh" read for me, but one I still enjoyed. I'd love to read a book on how our heroines carve a life for themselves, together, from here on out.
The world building is really lacking here. How can vampires just carelessly go through the world, killing people left and right, in this day and age? The number of people they kill to feed on isn't small, and yet it's never really a concern. Nothing really is, aside from the main villain. We're given just enough to understand why things have to happen the way they do, nothing more. The vampire thing feels more like a b-plot, we're not given enough info and I wasn't that invested or interested when vampiry stuff happened as a result.
The romance started out cute, but became bland from the half-way point. And even though I liked the ending, the twists felt unnecessary and created if not plot holes, at least more questions that we won't get answers to (because we're given so little info to begin with). The writing didn't help. It wasn't bad, but didn't pull me in either.
So yeah, it's a "meh" read for me, but one I still enjoyed. I'd love to read a book on how our heroines carve a life for themselves, together, from here on out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexism, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
longlost's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
2.0
mmm. i really wanted to like this book. like many other reviewers i was sold on the Sapphic Vampire Revenge Story premise and while there were parts of the book that really spoke to me and made me feel like it was worth reading, the parts that bothered me were.... a bit too Much to gloss over in favour of what i did like about it.
the good: hartl's brand of dark humour used to tell this story made it feel very engaging to me, but that's very much personal taste. i liked the characters - the core vampire trio (later quartet) were easy to love for their quirks and i found what we did learn about their backstories and histories to be genuinely interesting and at times heartbreaking. holly's issues w/ her mother also really spoke to me when they did become front and centre, and i likedthe resolution with her mother in their final scene together. ive never really been that invested in vampire stories so im going into this world with the basics of vampire knowledge, but i really enjoyed the work hartl put into worldbuilding regarding the vampire lore. when i picked up the book to continue reading i was as much interested in seeing where the characters would go next as in how the world and the rules behind vampirism would be unraveled. which sucks because the stuff im going to talk about next really ruined whatever good aspects those parts had.
the bad (and the Ugly): so. the entire premise of the book is the three girls who were coerced by the main villain - a vampire creep who preys on vulnerable, isolated teenagers - teaming up to kill him so he can't ensnare anymore victims. and then we spend the entire book developing a romance between holly and parker of which the inherent weirdness of it is never really acknowledged ? like yea, we know that holly genuinely cares because we're reading things from her point of view and there's a lot of emphasis on how being Turned pauses you at that point in time meaning that holly is Technically still 16 but. it is just, not that simple ? she's been existing for like 30 years and parker is. a teenager. maybe there could have been ways to approach it well but here it just felt.... extremely brushed over despite a major plot point of the story being how the villain did similar things to the main character & her friends. the romance felt kinda bland too but tbf i was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until the out of nowhere underage sex scene which very nearly made the book a DNF for me but there wasnt much of the story left at that point and i wanted to keep to my rule about having read a book in full before writing an in-depth review like this and i felt like these issues were glaring enough that they needed to be discussed in context of the story which is. as explained, never really addressed by the author other than holly being like "oh no if we date parker will eventually grow old and die" which. doesn't even begin to address the juxtaposition between the entire revenge plot and holly and parker's relationship. the overall ending seems to be contentious from reading other reviews here but tbh at that point id disengaged emotionally so i dont have any real thoughts on that.
the good: hartl's brand of dark humour used to tell this story made it feel very engaging to me, but that's very much personal taste. i liked the characters - the core vampire trio (later quartet) were easy to love for their quirks and i found what we did learn about their backstories and histories to be genuinely interesting and at times heartbreaking. holly's issues w/ her mother also really spoke to me when they did become front and centre, and i liked
the bad (and the Ugly): so. the entire premise of the book is the three girls who were coerced by the main villain - a vampire creep who preys on vulnerable, isolated teenagers - teaming up to kill him so he can't ensnare anymore victims. and then we spend the entire book developing a romance between holly and parker of which the inherent weirdness of it is never really acknowledged ? like yea, we know that holly genuinely cares because we're reading things from her point of view and there's a lot of emphasis on how being Turned pauses you at that point in time meaning that holly is Technically still 16 but. it is just, not that simple ? she's been existing for like 30 years and parker is. a teenager. maybe there could have been ways to approach it well but here it just felt.... extremely brushed over despite a major plot point of the story being how the villain did similar things to the main character & her friends. the romance felt kinda bland too but tbf i was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until the out of nowhere underage sex scene which very nearly made the book a DNF for me but there wasnt much of the story left at that point and i wanted to keep to my rule about having read a book in full before writing an in-depth review like this and i felt like these issues were glaring enough that they needed to be discussed in context of the story which is. as explained, never really addressed by the author other than holly being like "oh no if we date parker will eventually grow old and die" which. doesn't even begin to address the juxtaposition between the entire revenge plot and holly and parker's relationship. the overall ending seems to be contentious from reading other reviews here but tbh at that point id disengaged emotionally so i dont have any real thoughts on that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Dementia, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings
kt2e56's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
This felt like it was the author’s first time ever writing a book: so many repeated phrases, no proper sense of pacing, a romance with absolutely no chemistry or believability, the blandest dialogue, every cliché imaginable, and the most egregious crime an author could commit: ZERO depth and personality for the characters.
Each character spoke exactly the same despite their age/time period differences. Like the entire book felt like one person arguing with themself.
The book was told from Holly’s point of view but she had no real personality to her.
Rose’s personality was just the author describing her outfits (and she was the only character who ever got such devoted details when it came to clothing. Everyone else might have been naked based on the lack of description they received).
Ida’s personality was that she was supposed to be the dark, edgy one who makes “quirky” art projects using the bodies of her victims but like that’s literally it. Just that one note played over and over and over again.
Parker was beautiful. That’s it. Beautiful (no other character had the same level of description when it came to physical appearance) and unbelievably foolish because her little plan to help save the day in the end truly made no sense. Her being turned into a vampire made all of the hard work of the other characters feel pointless. Her romance with Holly wasn’t believable in any way. They barely knew each other. There was no genuine buildup there. None. The author couldn’t be subtle if she tried so the romance between Parker and Holly was not even remotely a surprise but it felt like it came out of nowhere because there was no actual spark or connection between the two characters, just lots of cliches and bland dialogue.
Side characters were also given just one personality trait per person.
It’s a shame this book was as bad as it was because the premise sounded great and I love me a sapphic romance! But c’mon. Us queer women need to stop settling for mediocre books like this because we want representation so badly.
Each character spoke exactly the same despite their age/time period differences. Like the entire book felt like one person arguing with themself.
The book was told from Holly’s point of view but she had no real personality to her.
Rose’s personality was just the author describing her outfits (and she was the only character who ever got such devoted details when it came to clothing. Everyone else might have been naked based on the lack of description they received).
Ida’s personality was that she was supposed to be the dark, edgy one who makes “quirky” art projects using the bodies of her victims but like that’s literally it. Just that one note played over and over and over again.
Parker was beautiful. That’s it. Beautiful (no other character had the same level of description when it came to physical appearance) and unbelievably foolish because
Side characters were also given just one personality trait per person.
It’s a shame this book was as bad as it was because the premise sounded great and I
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Dementia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
pineapple_queen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent
kay_w's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Dementia, Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment
hermithebs's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Minor: Violence and Death of parent
ecn's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
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? Yes
1.25
Predictable, poor character development, and nothing to keep me drawn to the story. The only reason I didn’t DNF was bc it was short, I was 60% through, and I wanted to know specifics to see if it became more interesting (it didn’t). Also, Ik the age gap of the MC and the ex’s GF isn’t ~technically~ pedophilic, but come on. It’s disgusting and pedophilic and I cannot move past that!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Blood, Death of parent, and Abandonment