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A review by booksthatburn
How To Bite Your Neighbor & Win A Wager by D.N. Bryn
emotional
reflective
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
5.0
Vincent has been sneaking into Wesley's house to bite him at night because his blood tastes so good he can't stay away. Wesley needs a vampire to hand in to a shady pharmaceutical company which experiments on vampires. Wesley wants the access to get information about his mother's disappearance after she signed up for one of the drug trials, but as he gets to know Vincent he starts seeing him as a person rather than just a means to an end. Vincent doesn't trust Wesley enough to confide that he's sleeping rough, hounded by someone who hates him for being a vampire and starts spreading that information to make his life impossible. The vampire hunters who work for the pharmaceutical company use classist tactics to make it impossible for vampires to live stable lives, then further take advantage of the precarity caused by being unhoused and unemployed to further the fear of vampires due to their diet.
HOW TO BITE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND WIN A WAGER has a self-contained and very satisfying story, featuring a slow exploration of the boundaries between "liking someone who is a vampire" and having a vampire fetish. The romance builds slowly, held back for a while by mutual distrust and fascination which eventually turns into passion. I get very stressed out by stories where at least one of the characters in a relationship is lying, but this was handled in a way that meant I was able to finish the story without being too stressed to keep reading. I like a lot of things about how this was handled, from the worldbuilding sneaking in info about how vampires have existed for hundreds of years (or longer), to Wesley's long-distance best friend who can provide emotional support but can't solve the logistical problems. A lot of excellent storytelling decisions were involved, and I had a great time reading this.
I'm pretty sure one of the minor characters is the protagonist of the next book, but even if I'm wrong, there are some pretty big things that Vincent and Wesley weren't able to handle which could be addressed in future books. I'm looking forward to the next one!
HOW TO BITE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND WIN A WAGER has a self-contained and very satisfying story, featuring a slow exploration of the boundaries between "liking someone who is a vampire" and having a vampire fetish. The romance builds slowly, held back for a while by mutual distrust and fascination which eventually turns into passion. I get very stressed out by stories where at least one of the characters in a relationship is lying, but this was handled in a way that meant I was able to finish the story without being too stressed to keep reading. I like a lot of things about how this was handled, from the worldbuilding sneaking in info about how vampires have existed for hundreds of years (or longer), to Wesley's long-distance best friend who can provide emotional support but can't solve the logistical problems. A lot of excellent storytelling decisions were involved, and I had a great time reading this.
I'm pretty sure one of the minor characters is the protagonist of the next book, but even if I'm wrong, there are some pretty big things that Vincent and Wesley weren't able to handle which could be addressed in future books. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma