Review: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

Vampire romance takes a snarky turn in this humorous novel from Sarah Beth Durst.

Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire…fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil…until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don’t exist), and they’re shocked she survived. They’re even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl’s family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King’s feast—as the entrées.

The only problem? Pearl’s starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she’s definitely dead if she lets down her family. What’s a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

Review:

After reading Enchanted Ivy and Ice, two of Sarah's previous novels, I became a Sarah Beth Durst fan for life. Sarah is one of my favorite paranormal/fantasy writers because she writes such creative and fun stories. Therefore, when I heard about Sarah's Drink, Slay, Love, I knew I had to read it, even though I was hesitant about the whole vampire aspect. However, I shouldn't have worried one bit, as Sarah Beth Durst not only introduces a strong, kick ass protagonist in this, but she also makes story lines involving vampires sparkly and unique once again.

Drink, Slay, Love starts the story of Pearl, a teen vampire just about to make her introduction into the society of vampires. However, everything changes for Pearl when she's stabbed by a unicorn. Suddenly, she can go out in the sun as well as see her reflection, two things that shouldn't be possible for any vampire out there. Her parents, though, are making the best out of these new found abilities, as they are making her in charge of the food supply (aka high school students) for the big vampire event. But what happens when Pearl starts to identify with her family's and fellow vampires' food? Only time and more pages can tell in this fun, fast paced read about one vampire's identity crisis during a time in which one could only mean death.

I adored Pearl from the start. I loved her sarcastic and tell-it-like-it-is attitude, because not only did it cause some laughs (especially when she first starts school) but it also lead to some real important change in Pearl's high school world and life. One of my favorite aspects of this book was seeing Pearl began to transform into the life of a typical high school student. Sarah made the switch complex and twisty, as Pearl constantly was second guessing her ties to her new found friends as well as her family. This made her story more likable, in my opinion, as it showed that just like anyone, she has her flaws and setbacks. I also really enjoyed getting to see her make friends in the human world. It was sweet how she took Bethany under her wing, and I just adored her connection with Evan, a boy who could fully take all of Pearl's comments on.

The plot in this was also a lot of fun. As mentioned before, Sarah makes the vampire aspect work well, and I especially enjoyed how she mixed it with some unicorn magic as well. It allowed for a lot of exciting paranormal twists and turns to occur. The only aspect of this book I wasn't particularly found of was how it tended to drag towards the end. However, other than that, I didn't have any other big problems.

In all, Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst is great addition into vampire lit, especially for readers who want something a little different.

Grade: B+

Drink, Slay, Love (Amazon, BN, Goodreads)  is now out!

Source: Author/Publisher