Review – Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 400 pages
Publisher: Maragaret K. McElderry Books
Release Date: September 11th, 2012
ISBN: 978-1442423749
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

Prior to reading this book I had read Ice and The Lost by Durst and enjoyed them both. Durst has been an author that I always enjoy, but I never think her books are absolutely amazing. This book was similar to the others I have read in that aspect. I enjoyed it and thought it was well written. This was a quick and fun read, that was a bit different from other YA paranormal stories out there.

Pearl is a sixteen year old vampire, she’s vicious, full of herself, and sees humans as less than…well…human. That is until she is stabbed through the heart by a Unicorn, her first thought is, “where the hell did a unicorn come from” then she passes out. When she wakes up amidst her vampire family she discovers something crazy; she can walk in the sun. Her family quickly takes advantage of this and assigns her the task of luring humans to the King of New England’s Feast. As part of the plan Pearl is supposed to go to High School…seriously. Things are going pretty well until Pearl realizes that being stabbed by the unicorn changed her in more ways than the obvious.

I know the premise sounds a bit goofy and this is definitely a more light-hearted read. There is quite a bit of humor, but it also ends up being a sort of coming of age story for Pearl. Beneath all the silliness there is a solid discussion about people becoming who they want to be and not what their family tries to force them to be. There’s also an underlying theme of forgiveness. I was kind of surprised that such a solid heartfelt message was delivered in a story with such a goofy premise.

Pearl definitely changes drastically over the course of the novel. Her growth and change is really what propels the story. This is definitely a “high school” paranormal book. Pearl spends a lot of time in high school and some of that is spent learning to quickly navigate the social waters there. Pearl is incredibly smart and fun to read about.

I also enjoyed some of the side characters; both the ones she meets in high school and the ones in her vampire family.

Overall this was a fun and light paranormal read. It’s a unique premise and it worked well for this story. The story is funny and ironic, while still being heartfelt and engaging. I really enjoyed it and I would recommend to those looking for a light YA paranormal read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge