A review by hex_its_jaff
Blood on the Boardwalk by Donna Taylor

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Thanks to Spooky Thing Books and netgalley for a copy of this Arc!

This book is ya first and horror second. This is not a dig just an observation and unfortunately it made it not quite work for me personally. If you enjoy ya i think it would be a draw.

The horror is effective. We get some very nice moments of the almost possession of vampires where I think Taylor really shines.  

The drama of the undead is secondary to the drama of our protagonist discovering herself. I think if I had read this at the age of the main cast I likely would have seen my self in Jenna. We get a lot about how shes weird and has no friends but in a way that comes across as relatable not pick me. We never really get a satisfactory reason why, but isn’t that usually the case with teenagers bullying each-other. Jenna fits the chosen one archetype pretty well and her transformation from loser to hero is pretty enjoyable.

Taylor doesn’t hold any punches and the stakes do feel dire, the danger seems real but a lot of horrible things just kind of get written off as not that big of a deal by many of the characters. A character gets choked to the point she has visible bruises? No call to cps. A characters sister is maybe dying oh well she kinda sucked. It keeps the tone surprisingly light, but didn’t quite work for me.  We do get somewhat of an explanation but you do have to suspend some disbelief and expect some bad choices for the sake of the plot that don’t quite feel organic.

the book is not particularly genre defining on the horror side and doesn’t particularly have anything that will make it stand put against the other vampire media.  We do get secret societies, one where teenagers team up to save…well maybe not the world but part if it anyway, that do feel very ya in a way that will probably appeal to ya genre fans. 

If you liked early seasons of Buffy and like the lost boys and the vampire diaries I think you’d really like this. I’d recommend to young readers who are looking to get in to horror. Fun and campy. Feels very cinematic with vivid imagery and fast paced plotting.

I probably won’t pick up more in the series I would probably tell younger readers or people who are just getting into horror to give it a chance.