Review: Drink Slay Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst


My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars  
Source: Bought

Synopsis from Goodreads:
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?

For a book featuring evil, soulless, murdering vampires- this has to be one of the funniest vampire books out there. That synopsis pretty much sums up everything you need to know about this book. And it delivers everything it says on the tin! It's cute and fun, and totally addictive!

When bad vampire girl Pearl gets stabbed through the heart by a unicorn horn she unwillingly starts to change. Pearl gradually discovers that she can step outside into the sunlight, and walk around with people during the day. And as she mixes with people rather than just seducing them for their blood, she also struggles to curb her naturally sarcastic and caustic personality, finding out that she doesn't actually enjoy hurting her new friend's feelings. Pearl has never really cared about getting to know her food before, but she changes and grow so much through the story, and inevitably has a hard choice to make. Family loyalty, or saving her new friends? I loved her tough-girl exterior, and all her sass and snark.

I loved the humour in this book, and the friendships that Pearl forms with the humans she initially despised. Best friend Bethany is so sweet and so eager to see the best in everybody. And I loved the cheesy duo of dorky superhero wannabes Matt and Zeke. But Evan is definitely the cutest. Determined to be a knight in shining armour and rescue anybody, he definitely made me smile. He is there for Pearl as she starts to turn from a vampire into a human and develops a conscience, even though she doesn't know thats what's happening to her. Always a gentleman, determined to help and to do the right thing, and absolutely adorable! Evan helps shelter her from her cruel family and mean self-centred vampire boyfriend and wears down her tough-girl barriers.

If you want a book with plenty of laughs, packed with drama, and moments that'll make your heart melt- read Drink Slay Love. An utterly unique tale of self-discovery, with seriously evil bad guys but seriously sweet good guys, and a romance that sneaks up on you. It's fun, light, and refreshingly makes fun of YA cliches, rather than being one.

Quotes:
I could list so many of my favourite quotes because there's one on nearly every page, but here is a line that really made me chuckle-

“Tara. I'm a vampire," Pearl said. 
 "Yeah, whatever, and I'm queen of the sea." 
 "Your Marine Majesty, I'm a vampire," Pearl said. 
 Concentrating, she slid her fangs out. "Tara. Tara!" She curled back her lips to expose the points. "See" 
 Tara screamed. 
 "I won't hurt you," Pearl said. Calm down. Sheesh." 
 Tara continued to scream. 
 Pearl considered biting her merely to shut her up. Regrettably that would be counter productive. Studying her nails, she waited for Tara to quit screaming. She noticed that Tara didn't try to exit the car, which was an interesting choice. 
 "You aren't running away," Pearl said. 
 "Duh, it's raining outside," Tara said.

 page 307

Also check out Missie's Book Boyfriend post at The Unread Reader on Evan Karkadann- I'm pretty sure it was this post that made me buy this book in the first place!