Vampire Weekend

If you thought this sounded like something Christopher Moore would write... it is... but it's a complete disappointment.

All the vampire and punk aspects of the book are extremely forced, it's so shoehorned in that it goes right past your eyeballs and is shoved down your gullet. It's abrasive to read and it takes you out of the story because of course the obligatory music and vampire element has to be involved somehow. It's never good. It's always random and sticks out like a sore thumb. To the point of ridiculousness. The world really would be no different if those aspects were removed. The end of the book is pretty bad. Nobody cares that there are vampires, no second thoughts given by people who really should give a second thought. The author took the easy way out in every scenario. There is no real substance to this book, it's just a stupid story that's easy to read. I really wouldn't bother. 1 star for Lola.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing an ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was given an ARC to Vampire Weekend all the way back in July. I kept putting it off, saying I was going to read it for spooky season in October. But then October came and I hit a slump hard. I think I read maybe two whole books that month, and none of them were what I needed to be reading — ARCs. But time marches onward, and here I am finally finished reading this book.

Vampire Weekend was really not at all like I thought it was going to be. The vampires in this book are neutered in a way that I wasn't really a fan of at all. I like my vampires sexy, dangerous, and mysterious. The vampires in this book are...not...any...of that. Seriously, the fact that they were vampires almost didn't really matter besides Louise needing to find way to eat. I'm still just a little baffled that someone would choose to write vampires this way. As boring. This book read more like a bad paranormal series entry than anything remotely like a vampire book that I'm used to. It was okay, but Vampire Weekend is probably not something I'll be picking up again any time soon.

Louise Chao is a vampire. A punk rock vampire who spends her time working a hospital janitor and hanging out with her dog. Seriously, when we meet her she's doing nothing remotely interesting. She's got some serious issues with her family in her past, but I mean...that was it. There was not much else to her. Then we meet her distant nephew, and he's more interesting but his entire story wraps around his mom who is dying of cancer. There's a little mystery wrapped up in the general plot of the book, but overall I just wasn't impressed with this one. It reads very easily, though, which is why I didn't put it down. Three unimpressed stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this arc. I really did not like the main character and I found her annoying. The story dragged for most of the book.