Youngblood

By: Sasha Laurens

Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez, Katie Koster

High school sucks. Especially for the undead.

“This is the lesbian vampire boarding school story I've always needed, but it's smarter, nastier, and more fun than I ever could have dreamed."—Kylie Schachte, author of You're Next

Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.

Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through a two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.

When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.

©2022 Sasha Laurens (P)2022 Listening Library

Youngblood

Wow I really loved this book!! This is a great FF YA book. I was hesitant about the it having too much high school angst and drama, but it was perfect. Sasha Laurens wove this Vampire world with LGBTQ+ spin. Kat and Taylor both grew into independent thinking queer young women through the story. It is a ex friends to lovers FF paranormal romance. Stacy Gonzalez and Katie Koster did an incredible job narrating this book.

Better than expected

I knew this was going to be a book that I would enjoy. I had seen that the book suggested so many times when on likewise, so I checked it out. this really did meet up to the hype that was given. I am glad I bought it so I can listen to it again.

astonishing

The narrating was perfect and the story even better. I loved every part couldn't stop relistening to it. utter perfection. Only downside, would have loved just a little more Taylor and kat moments. Otherwise it was amazing best book of the summer.

Feel very seen

Thank you for articulating things that young me struggled to even organize in her own brain and heart and for this wonderful story. I love them. And great narration!

cute, fun, kinda campy

I loved this!!! it was cute, sweet, had a good message without being preachy, and was just generally a fun ride from start to finish

Eh

The plot was very predictable. it was okay though. the characters were annoying, however.

Maybe don't look to this story for gay vampires.

I understand the mixed reviews. Good start, slow middle, questionable lead up towards the climax. Also the reviews about the main characters being dense is accurate. I started to have a hard time knowing who to like as the story hit the midway point. I just feel like it's a bit mixed over all. The pacing was off. The story does keep your attention, but it could've been better. Also if you came here for slow build romance, look somewhere better. The romantic drama in this is complicated for no good reason. Also if you came looking for vampires, it's a little lack luster.

P.S. They talk too openly about secret stuff, and I just kept wanting them to get caught cus they earned it at this point.

P.P.S. Who ever thought the mean girl was worth befriending? Why was that even a thing?

I LOVED IT

I wish more queer stories were like this, where yeah they're gay but there's also more to the story, they have stuff they gotta do that's not just about their romance and it makes it feel so much better to read a fantasy story where bad stuff happens not because they are lesbians

Charming

This was super fun to listen to, especially with the two separate audio narrators! Highly recommend!!

DNF. The characters were deliberately dense.

I started the book hopeful that I could listen to a cool story about a vampire school but instead I got an 80s highschool drama where the kids had a dietary restriction. You could remove the vampire portion of the story and it'd be nearly the same drama. If that was the worst part I'd listen to the whole thing.

The characters seem to deliberately avoid the most obvious answers and actions for the sake of the plot. Someone who's a human sympathizer dies with a dead human next to them and suddenly the characters believe what they're told instead of just pointing out the obvious that it looked like a setup. The main girl finds out her mom is actually a pretty famous vampire and instead of asking her why she lied she just decides to stop all communication entirely. So many of the characters actions feel stupid and nonsensical in a way that doesn't feel genuine. I understand self denial of pursuing the person you like but holy shit was this exaggerated. They didn't even realize the miscommunication from when they were kids until 9 hours into the story? They didn't bring it up once? They live in the same room and argue constantly and never went for the low blow? This story could've been reduced to an 80 page drama and it still would've felt like the author dragged it out.