Published: February 2, 2021
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Source: Entangled Teen
Series: Afterlife
Synopsis:
When my best friend Skyler told me about this party in the Hollywood Hills, I was less than enthused. As it turned out, my feelings were more than justified. That party ruined my life.
Tansy didn’t even want to go to the party. It’s hard enough living in one of your best friend’s shadows and secretly in love with your other best friend.
And now she’s leaving it a vampire.
Now her best friend Skyler is stuck on the road trip from hell, on tour as a groupie with a literal band of vamps. Tansy sets out with Vaughn, her other BFF turned maybe more, to save Skylar’s life and take down the band. But when they find themselves in the middle of a vampire war, will Tansy be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her friends?
Marlene Perez is the author of paranormal and urban fantasy books, including the best-selling DEAD IS series for teens. The first book in the series, DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK, was named an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers as well as an ALA Popular Paperback. The first three books in the series have been optioned by Disney for television. She lives in Orange County, California with her husband and children.
*I would like to thank the publisher, Entangled Teen for a copy of the book in return for an honest review*
Witches, vampires and boy bands oh my! A campy YA novel that will make that true bleeder in you squeal!
” The last thing I wanted to do was fight traffic for the privilege of watching her flirt with some guy, but I didn’t want to let her go alone, either.”
I am not even sure where to start with this review, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings. I should start with there were many things I enjoyed and like about this book and then there were things that were so frustrating and made me want to stop. The concept of a boy band of Vampires was fun! The book quickly captivated me and I flew through it wanting to know what happened. It was layered with humor and had me giggling out loud a few times. Vaughn was a big saving aspect for me. He was so adorable and I just wanted to squish him. Love the fake dating aspect and slow burn.
I enjoyed that a large theme of the book was friendship. Although there was some romance, blood drinking and of course vampire slaying sprinkled through out the story it centered around the relationship of Tansy, Sky & Vaughn. I feel like we have all been there for a friend who fell for the wrong guy and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, we were there to save her from her mistakes, just maybe not to the extreme in which Tansy did.
“Being a vampire-band groupie was nowhere near as fun as I imagined it would be. In other words, even more terrible than expected.”
Some of the characters I feel didn’t get enough page time and they fell a little flat. But I was obsessed and needed more of the Crone Book Club, they reminded me of the Aunts in Practical Magic. Travis was the ultimate bad boy along with the other band members, but I enjoyed the banter he had with Tansy.
I struggled with some of the writing. I can’t pinpoint exactly if it was the style or pacing. There were some times I felt like things were over-explained and told multiple times and other times things were just glossed over and I am not sure why it was there or what was going on. There were a couple times I felt like the characters counteracted themselves which was confusing. The characters Thorn & Rose (which I love their names!) popped in and out and seemed like there wasn’t a real purpose or a fleshed out character arc for them.
Overall it was slightly disappointing, but a quick and funny vampire read. It slightly reminded me of a campier Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with the movie version of Vampire Academy.Although there were some frustrating parts and areas where I felt it needed more work and overall flow of the story, it was an entertaining books. It was layered with those cliche YA and vampire type things that are sometimes cringey, but mostly just add to the campy vibe. With the ending of the book, I am slightly intrigued to see where the author takes the story.
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