Reviews

Being Dutch means growing up with American tv shows and books. I've spent so much time in America that it feels like I know the country even though I've never been there. I know hotspots, I know skylines, I know the differences between certain cities. However, I think there's not one city as vivid to me as New Orleans. Mostly because New Orleans seems to have the most unique and intriguing atmosphere ever.

I was however not prepared to cry my eyes out while reading this book. It was the good kind of crying, by the way, the crying because it was all so beautiful and raw and honest and pure and real. It was the kind of crying because I recognized the journey of the main character and I liked the lessons she learned along the way. The kind of crying because I felt this book has some amazing quotes all so incredibly true.

Along the way the book shows us everything New Orleans has to offer. Like I said, I already read a lot of books set in New Orleans. I devoured the Originals, also set in New Orleans. And still I have the feeling this book made me experience the city as I had never done before. It takes us to see all the amazing hotspots, which makes it a great guide when visiting New Orleans I can imagine, and we meet some really interesting people.

What I loved mostly about all the people we meet, is that they're not all good and not all bad. These people are real. They make horrible mistakes, they do things that are maybe not okay, they hurt others and at times they also hurt themselves. It's not always pretty, but it's for sure interesting, intriguing and very relatable. This is the kind of book where it's about the journey, the characters learning and growing and being confronted with themselves, and not so much about the destination.

izzys_internet_bookshelf's review against another edition

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DNF

I was really excited to read this book, it just got a little too spooky for my taste

theeniemartinko's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was so sweet, adventurous, very corny and incredibly sad. If those things sound good to you and you’re ready to feel, then I’d recommend this book to you!

annamickreads's review against another edition

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3.0

If there's one thing I can say for this book it's that there were SO many feelings and I felt them all equally. Whew.

This story is about Victoria, who has always enjoyed things about vampires with her Dad, who is dying of pancreatic cancer. In this world, much like the True Blood universe, vampires have revealed themselves to the world as real but have retreated back into hiding. Victoria seeks a vampire to turn her so she can turn her father, heal him, and they can live forever.

However, the first step to becoming immortal is to find a vampire, and do to that, she must fly to New Orleans, where the last known vampire resided. Tagging along is her childhood friend/crush Henry, who is determined to assure Victoria grieving a perfectly natural, healthy process.

I really liked the premise and even though I could predict the ending, there was a lot to love about this book in terms of expressing grief and all the complicated emotions that accompany it. I was extremely annoyed with both main characters for an extended period of time about their behavior, but I tried very hard to remember they're both high school seniors so naturally things would go awry. Victoria's behavior to Henry significantly annoyed me because of her single-minded quest to find a vampire even when Henry was just trying to look out for her, especially because it was a strange city she'd never been to before and she was hell-bent on seeking out a dangerous creature.

That said, I was also annoyed with Henry because I felt like he would push his emotions on her sometimes and let his romantic feelings get in the way of what she likely needed—but either way I knew they'd both make the right choices in the end.

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