Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst Purchase on: Amazon, iBooks
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Synopsis:
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 entrees.
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?
Truth be told, not only Drink, Slay, Love is loads of fun, but it has way more depth than it appeared at first. Trust me, if I was able to enjoy it even though 1)I don’t like vampires and 2)I’m bored by PNR more often than not lately, there’s a good chance you will too. Let’s take a look at what you have here, okay?
☑ An alpha female vampire MC, who’s at the top of the food chain and intends to stay there, even though she starts feeling – UGH – emotions (so annoying). I loved Pearl : she’s unapologetic, selfish, kick-ass, smart, and hilarious. What not to love?
“I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings,” he said.
” I don’t have feelings, at least not the inconvenient ones.”
“Okay,” he said. “I hope I haven’t hurt your ego.”
“Yeah, that part of me is a bit miffed,” Pearl said. “What exactly is not hot about me? You’re a teenage boy. I have boobs. What part of the equation is missing?”
☑ A freaking fantastic unicorn!! Of course I was giggling like a complete moron, what do you think! View Spoiler »
☑ Not a drop of slut-shaming!
☑ Friendship that overtakes the differences and a complex dynamic between the characters.
“Bethany beamed at her, and the other three girls looked as pleased as cats with milk. She met their smiles with her own until a terrible thought occurred to her :
Oh, crap. I have friends.”
☑ Off-the-wall depiction of high school life : Don’t get fooled by the appearances, because if almost all the stereotype are present (first of all the different cliques), each and every one of them is dismantled and OMFG IT’S AWESOME!!!
Clothes : “Antoinette selected jeans plus a formless sweater. “This says, ‘Too hot to care what I wear. Worship my wit instead.’ Best if worn without a bra.”
“I’d like a simple, ‘I’m human. Move along.'”
Traditions : “It’s a corsage,” Tara said as she breezed past them into the ballroom. “You wear it on your wrist, and you pretend it doesn’t itch like hell.”
High-school power hierarchy : Actually, I’m going to let you discover this one on your own^^
☑ An adorable male-lead whom you’ll want to hug even if he has a little hero complex.
“You’re just the whole package, aren’t you? Kind to kittens and puppies. Don’t park in the handicap spot. Never leave the toilet seat up. I’ll bet the girls melt every time you walk by.”
Yeah, well, his chivalrous personality sure didn’t appeal to Pearl at first.
“Again he radiated sincerity nearly as bright as the sun. She wondered if all humans were this intrusively nice. It was obnoxious.”
Nope. Nope nope nope.
But then, View Spoiler »
☑ No instalove. I mean, Evan is food for fuck sake. Would you fall in love with a chicken? Huh? That’s what I thought. Icing on the cake, the romance stays light, believable (they don’t trust each other at first sight, thank you very much) and never overtakes the plot.
☑ A false love triangle that never feels like a love triangle, because there’s no feeling between Jadrien, the vampire hot piece, and Pearl. They’re betrothed, that’s all. Traditions and all that stuff.
“Surrender?” she said.
“To you,” he said, “I surrender my heart and soul.”
She rolled her eyes. “Very romantic, considering you have neither.”
☑ Family pressure. Hierarchy. Expectations. Vampire’s life isn’t as easy as food’s human’s life you know.
“She wondered what kind of punishment constituted a “detention.” Mother had several holding cells, each a lightness nightmare. Pearl had been in one once for shoplifting at the mall.”
☑ Hilarious dialogues that made me smile so big and again, giggle. I know, I’m ridiculous. Bu-bu-but UNICORNS! Bahahahaha.
► I’ll stop there, but trust me, if you need to relax, this book is exactly what you need.
