REVIEW: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Drink, Slay, Love
by Sarah Beth Durst 
GENRE: Young Adult, Vampire
PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry Books (September 13, 2011)
MY COPY: S&S Galley Grab
BUY: Amazon / B&N / The Book Depository
RATING:

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?

REVIEW:

I was first attracted to Drink, Slay, Love because of the lovely cover (yes, I know don’t judge a book by its cover) and then I read the synopsis and was even more intrigued by the were-unicorn idea. I thought now there’s a were I’ve not heard of before; so I had to try it.

I devoured this book in about two nights; long late nights because I grabbed it from Simon & Schuster Galley Grab and let it set on my Nook for too long and only had 3 days to read it before it expired. I got to the middle of it yesterday and thought OMG I have to finish this book. I needed to know what happened to Pearl so I stayed up past midnight to finish. And even though I’m dragging at work today I’m glad I did finish.

I love the plot and the fact that the vampires are old school vampires, these are NOT sparkling vamps. They are kick ass killers and all the old movie myths are attached to them: no reflection, no soul, holy water hurts them, ways to kill them; stake or beheading, no sun light for these vamps, must be invited into a home, you get the picture.

But for Pearl a few of these rules change when she is staked by the were-unicorn’s horn while getting a nightly snack at the Dairy Hut.

Sarah Durst's writing is side-splitting funny and dripping with sarcasm. She throws in references to teen 80s movies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. And even a head nod to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie not TV show). Which was great for me since I loved all those movies (yes, I’m in my early 30s). Not to mention the funny ways that Twilight was picked apart in this book. I’m not a Twilight hater but I was LMAO with some of the digs at the series. Funny stuff!

But not only does Drink, Slay, Love have humor but there are some deeper issues in the plot. Like family dynamics and when you should stay or leave an abusive home life. Pearl’s Family is called just that, The Family; her parents are called Mother and Daddy. We never find out their names which I found to be a little ominous.

Pearl has tons of aunts, uncles and cousins and since in Durst’s world vampires are both born and made we never really find out if all The Family are blood kin to Pearl or not. We do learn that at least one of The Family was made, Uncle Jeremiah; something happened during the process and he is not quite right in the head. He acts more like a toddler than a creature of the night.

Drink, Slay, Love has a great plotline and cast of characters. I would call it a dark comedy and recommend it to anyone that is a fan of Young Adult within the paranormal genre.