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readsbyhope's review
emotional
inspiring
sad
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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Death of parent
thebankofbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Terminal illness
jodierose14's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, Cancer, and Blood
aya_neela's review
3.0
Story: 3
Writing: 4
Characters: 1.5
Overall: 3
This has been on my TBR for a while. First the name attracted me then the cove art itself.
I did not read the blurb in the back of the book so when I started this and realized it was a book about a young woman dealing with the grief of her dying father I was initially pleasantly surprised.
Initially.
But the interest I felt very quickly faded away.
I am not one to DNF books but the end of chapter 12 nearly made me do this.
Everything about this book was great. The premise was solid and intriguing. The setting was cool. As a fan of vampires I appreciated the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Even Nicolas (the sexy vampire) and Henry (the sexy human) were neat characters, though I questioned on more than one occasion if Henry’s brain was functioning right…
Cause Victoria was the reason this book inevitably sucked (no pun intended).
Which is terrible because she was the main character.
On many occasions I found myself in Henry’s shoes, trying to justify her behavior.
She is clearly in a lot of pain and is not the sort of character that thinks before they do anything.
I kept reminding myself that this was an 18-19 year old girl and that she just didn’t understand regulating her emotions or fully processing the consequences of her actions.
But then we get to the end of chapter 12 and that was the moment I said, “Nope it’s not that she doesn’t know any better…she just doesn’t care.”
And it was disgusting.
I’ve come across my share of unlikeable and villainous characters but there was always something fun or “justifiable” in their actions.
I tried to find that in Victoria and it did not exist.
Sure, one could argue that her wanting to save her father’s life was selfless.
But it would be a lie.
Her moral event horizon came when she was willing to sacrifice Henry for a piece of paper. Now nothing happened to him, and I do blame his character for questionable decisions in casting his lot with Victoria, but the sheer lack of self-awareness or rather the blatant disregard of it, made it very, VERY, difficult to be empathetic to her.
I simply could not stomach anything she did from that moment onwards.
At. All.
Tonally, it was also difficult to connect with the character’s emotions.
“I’m the hero of this story.”
Spare me.
One thing I cannot deny is how BEAUTIFULLY this was written. Honestly for how much I loathed Victoria I understood and could at the bear minimum relate to those muddy feelings she had.
And the ending was bittersweet perfection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Cancer
katsmedialibrary's review against another edition
3.5
Starts out strong but a slog to the finish line
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
buttermellow's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, and Terminal illness
faduma's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Cancer, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Grief
irene_g08's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
3.5
3.5 stars rounded down. The book was pretty good but it took so long for the MC to even find what she was looking for. The setting and the descriptions of New Orleans were incredible and so easy to imagine. The problem was that the plot was so easy to figure out. From the beginning of the book you could see who was destined to be together whether or not Victoria gets her wish, and who’s actually who. The beginning is slow but once Nicholas is introduced the book’s pace picks up. The last 30% of the book is fast-paced and I felt like the big reveal was flat.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Car accident
itsocchiolism's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood
princessrensa's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Great book, and a very poignant exploration of grief and the ways we try to deal with it. I will say, this book either needed more vampire stuff or less vampire stuff, and that probably won't make sense until you read it.
This book follows a teenage girl named Victoria whose father is close to passing away from pancreatic cancer. She ends up taking a trip to New Orleans that she had planned with her dad, accompanied by her estranged best friend Henry in place of said dad. Convinced since childhood that vampires are real, Victoria begins searching for a vampire who can help her save her dad from dying, and eventually becomes convinced she has found one. She's willing to jump through almost any number of hoops to prove her worthiness to become a vampire, and is assigned various scavenger hunt-esque tasks to complete in order to do so.
The part of this book that I was the most invested in was Victoria's friendship with Henry. The two of them are childhood friends who had feelings for each other, but grew apart after Henry started dating someone else. Now single again, Henry is trying to reconnect with Victoria throughout the book (primarily as a friend and as someone else who has recently experienced loss, not like in a pushy "date me" way), but she's continually pushing him away because he doesn't fully support her vampire quest. Honestly, Henry is great and Victoria is kind of awful to him at points, but I still wanted them to be together, or at least for her to let someone in. I'm just saying, if I had someone like Henry following me to New Orleans to hunt vampires, I would be a lot less interested in the vampires. This is huge for me to say, because I love vampires.
As for the vampire thing - spoilers follow. Throughout the book, we're constantly lead to doubt whether vampires are actually real. Although Victoria meets a boy posing as a vampire, the "proof" she's clinging to that he's real is tenuous at best, and eventually falls apart, revealing how hopeless her quest has been. He was never a vampire, just a teenager who sends people on these scavenger hunts to remind them of the joys of life. I liked this. It's a very non-traditional kind of vampire story. However, it gets a little weird when Victoria suddenly figures out, the night before her flight home, that someone else she met IS actually a vampire. She goes to confront him and his vampirism is confirmed when he bites her, either to kill her or turn her. But she isn't turned, and flies home the next morning with a little less blood. I feel like I understand why Maggie Fuston would have included a real vampire at the end of this story, but as a vampire lover I respectfully think she should have resisted the urge. I think it would have been stronger to leave the reality of vampires ambiguous - maybe Victoria suspects someone of being a true vampire, but doesn't get to confirm. Victoria leaving behind her hunt for vampires (even if she has reason to believe they ARE real) could act as a metaphor for her accepting her grief and her dad's death. And yes, she does accept her grief at the end, but I think it would have been more powerful if she didn't get confirmation. For Victoria to keep looking for a vampire (no matter how dangerous the vampire in question may be) after everything she's been through and the emotional journey she's been on just felt...odd, especially at this point in the story. ALTERNATELY, for a "more vampires" option, if this was an entirely different story, Victoria becoming a vampire could be a really interesting conflict to unpack. So that's what I meant by saying this story needs more vampires or less vampires. I personally lean towards less vampires and cutting the reveal, but I'm sure some readers would have been left cold without some kind of resolution to the mystery.
Also, I wish we could have spent more time exploring Victoria's relationships with her friends and family and how she begins repairing those relationships at the end of the book, since that was the heart of the story for me. The scavenger hunt she goes on dragged out just a little too long, although I did enjoy the setting it was taking place in. Like Henry, I was getting more frustrated with Victoria as things continued.
Overall, a very good book that I really enjoyed. I'm really interested to see where Maggie Fuston will go from here, and in general I hope we get more non-traditional vampire stories in the future. I love a good vampire story, and this was a great twist on the traditional formula.
This book follows a teenage girl named Victoria whose father is close to passing away from pancreatic cancer. She ends up taking a trip to New Orleans that she had planned with her dad, accompanied by her estranged best friend Henry in place of said dad. Convinced since childhood that vampires are real, Victoria begins searching for a vampire who can help her save her dad from dying, and eventually becomes convinced she has found one. She's willing to jump through almost any number of hoops to prove her worthiness to become a vampire, and is assigned various scavenger hunt-esque tasks to complete in order to do so.
The part of this book that I was the most invested in was Victoria's friendship with Henry. The two of them are childhood friends who had feelings for each other, but grew apart after Henry started dating someone else. Now single again, Henry is trying to reconnect with Victoria throughout the book (primarily as a friend and as someone else who has recently experienced loss, not like in a pushy "date me" way), but she's continually pushing him away because he doesn't fully support her vampire quest. Honestly, Henry is great and Victoria is kind of awful to him at points, but I still wanted them to be together, or at least for her to let someone in. I'm just saying, if I had someone like Henry following me to New Orleans to hunt vampires, I would be a lot less interested in the vampires. This is huge for me to say, because I love vampires.
As for the vampire thing - spoilers follow.
Also, I wish we could have spent more time exploring Victoria's relationships with her friends and family and how she begins repairing those relationships at the end of the book, since that was the heart of the story for me. The scavenger hunt she goes on dragged out just a little too long, although I did enjoy the setting it was taking place in. Like Henry, I was getting more frustrated with Victoria as things continued.
Overall, a very good book that I really enjoyed. I'm really interested to see where Maggie Fuston will go from here, and in general I hope we get more non-traditional vampire stories in the future. I love a good vampire story, and this was a great twist on the traditional formula.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief