This book just didn't work for me unfortunately. I wasn't into the plot at all, and the way it was in first person and would switch perspectives mid chapter also wasn't too my taste. I won't be recommending this to other people.

This book was really engaging in the beginning but kinda lost me in the end.

This is a friends to enemies to lovers sapphic YA romance (also there's vampires). What's not to love. Kat Finn grew up with her mother shielding her from the vampire world but one day she finally gets accepted to Harcote Academy, a super elite vampire boarding school. Here she is reunited with her former childhood bestfriend, Taylor Sanger. They must learn to get along in order to unearth the mysteries that Harcote Academy holds.

Also SPOILER ALERT I don't see a lot people mentioning the school's discriminatory practices. I understand it's a plot point but CWs for racism and homophobia (I just don't see a lot of reviews mentioning it).

Katherine, mostly going by Kat, has always felt like an outsider, having to hide who she is since she lives with humans. Her life has pretty much always been a struggle and she dreams of going to Harcote, a school for elite youngbloods, which are vampires who have been born. When she receives her acceptance letter, her whole life changes. She feels that she finally has a chance at a future where she and her mom no longer have to struggle to acquire Hema, the blood substitute they survive on. Taylor is the other character who feels like the coin queer person at Harcote. She is proud of who she is, even though she also feels a bit lonely. Taylor speaks her mind and does not really care about the consequences. The book is dual perspective so we as readers get to see inside the minds of both Katherine and Taylor.

One of the highlights of Youngblood is that it is very inclusive. Katherine asks Taylor’s pronouns when they meet again, questions the extreme lack of diversity at the school, and MANY other aspects and factors of the LGBTQ+ community and its surrounding topics. It was so great to see! Katherine struggles with trying to belong and prove her worth when she arrives at Harcote. It was so relatable to see her try to change a bit of herself and befriend the popular kids to fit in. Even though Taylor has been at the school for two years, she also feels she does not fit in. She is the only queer person that is out at her school and is a little bit of a pessimist. Her only real friend is the eccentric science teacher, who is honestly super cool and I would love to have had Kontos as a science teacher. I think we have all experienced this to some degree.

Based on the synopsis, I thought the mysterious death would take place a little earlier in the book and therefore having the plot surround that mystery. It does not actually occur until the latter part of the book, which I was a little sad about. That’s not to say the first part was boring. There is a lot of discussion of the disease that affected everyone, tension between the two characters, and other events that I do not want to spoil that aids in the mystery and murder elements. The tension between Taylor and Kat is very satisfying and realistic. They have been separated for a handful of years and each have their own version of what they were told as to why this happened.

Their tension, decisions, and similar views drive the story. It leads to some of the big events, such as encouraging others to stand up for what they believe in and bring awareness to important topics. This ultimately leads to the final part of the book and its ending. I was afraid the ending would be rushed, which I feel can happen with standalone novels, but this one wasn’t! Everything came together nicely and was extremely satisfying in many ways.

I definitely recommend Youngblood if you enjoy vampires, a bit of deceit and mystery, friendship, fighting for what you believe in, and discovering yourself. I also hope everyone falls in love with Taylor like I did lol

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to have an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 😊

Yeahhh, I didn't love this one. I was kind of expecting it because I'm not a vampire person, nor am I a urban/paranormal fantasy person, but I loved the synopsis and cover, so I picked it up. And while the first half of it was great, the second half fell a bit short.

The real problem with this one was the amount of things it tried to do. It wasn't just a romance, no. It tried to tackle ethics, racism, poverty, and so many more issues. The problem is, none if these topics got fully explored. They were glanced over and then never mentioned again.

This trend continued into the plot as well. The end wrapped up way too neatly. Everyone was happy! The world was saved! The bad guy was defeated! I know this was a romance first and foremost, but it had a strong enough plot that i wanted more.

Despite all of Mt complaints, I did like our characters. Both Kat and Taylor were fun characters, and I wasn't ready to let go of them at the end. I do wish we'd gotten more of their romance, as it was super slowburn, and it had so much potential. I also wish we'd gotten a bit more from Galen, because he was a character with a lot of page time, but not a lot going on.

By no means did I dislike this book. It was a fun read, and one with serious potential. It just dragged and had a lot of things that i wanted more of. I think it'll find an audience though, and I hope it does well.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Reviews Posted: July 3, 2022
Goodreads
Storygraph

I had a feeling going into this one that I was going to have a fun time reading this, and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed all of the characters and liked reading about their different journeys through the story. The overall plot, while predictable at times, was still fun to read, and my favorite part was watching the characters team up along the way. The thing that fell short to me is the writing and the pacing at times.

Kat and Taylor were interesting to read about, and I think they complimented each other nicely, as did their stories. I felt that their chemistry was instant, and I think their journeys together and apart are what made the romance more real and easier to connect. The side characters also add to the story and had their own unique journeys that added to the plot, but I also could have read more about the side characters. The side characters were complex in their own way, and I’m glad that they were more fleshed out than most side characters I come across.

The plot was defiantly predictable at times, but the way the characters went about everything and the way they interacted with each other throughout the story is what really pulled me in. Now I think the premise and concept for the story was really cool, and I liked the twist that the author had for vampires.

The writing is why I think I didn’t absolutely love the book. The book's first half was just so slow, and I was waiting and waiting for anything to happen. The second half was so fast that I sometimes had to stop and digest what I read. The world-building was okay. I wish so much wasn’t packed in the first part of the book.

Overall this was a super fun read, and I felt that the fantasy aspects and real-world aspects were intertwined nicely.

4.25/5 stars

I loved this! It’s not anything new or revolutionary but it was well thought out and I loved the dynamics. I thought the beginning was a little slow and we didn’t really get into the mystery until the halfway point. I did find the mystery interesting but it was also quite obvious who the bad guy was from the start. I do feel this was almost intentional though.

I found Kat to be a little infuriating at times. She continuously trusted and defended this person for a time and while I understand why it did annoy me. My favorite thing about Kat was her realizing she didn’t like guys. While I’m not a lesbian, from my limited scope and knowledge I think people will find her realization incredibly relatable.

I thought Taylor was an incredibly interesting character. She’s a self-assured lesbian who takes shit from no one but she also had this vulnerability that I found relatable. Taylor is someone who leaves before she can get hurt which causes detriments to her relationship with Kat.

Taylor and Kat’s relationship was an amazing slow burn childhood friends to enemies to unwilling allies to friends? to lovers. I thought their relationship was done well and their internal thoughts and struggles just added to the complexity of their relationship.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and definitely recommend you pick it up.

This is the book I wanted when I was high-school and I am over the moon that people will have it now. This was great too. I was loving every second of reading this book. I actually read this book all in one night because I just couldn't put it down. The book just made me so happy.

3.5 stars

Childhood friends have a major falling out and reconnect in their junior year at an elite vampire academy. They work together to solve a mystery and defend human rights.

Youngblood is a kind of vampire world you may not have seen before. A disease has made it impossible for vampires to feed on humans, they drink a blood substitute, and they have an actual community now.

Kat was raised outside of this community and she wants nothing more than to be a part of it. A full scholarship to the academy for her generation of youngbloods is her shot at joining their world. Taylor is the token queer girl at Harcote and she settle comfortably into her roll as an outcast with her only friend being the quirky gay chem teacher. All she wants is a way out of the toxic vampire culture.

Plot: 4/5
It’s been ages since I read a YA standalone so at first it felt like the pacing was too fast. But once I realized it wasn’t a serious, that made a lot more sense. Everything wrapped up so nicely and basically all the readers questions were answered. The ending was fairly obvious for most of the book but it was interesting to see how we got there.

Characters: 3.5/5
Mag was a fairly solid mc. I found her queer discovery extremely relatable and I think readers will really enjoy the way she found herself. She is a fairly selfish character at some points which is, in a sense, understandable cause she’s a teenager but it was also really annoying at points.

Taylor is a rule breaking token queer at Harcote. It seemed like she just let everything happen to her and never fought back for anything despite her small acts of rebellion. She secondly had some character growth related to this though.

The side characters Galen and Evangeline I think are actually really great characters. There is for sure a lack of diversity but this point is frequently addressed. The best friends back home are pretty one dimensional despite there importance to Kat.

Writing: 4/5
Overall I think that Laurens’ writing is pretty solid I don’t have any major complaints about her style but there was a heavy use of foreshadowing that definitely spoiled the shock of the big reveals.

Queer factor: 3.5/5
This is definitely a story about isolated baby gays trying to figure out how they fit into the world. But it just made me feel weird how they both were in semi relationships and dumped the people for each other. There is representation for gay men and trans/enbies with Kat’s friends back home. But it’s made very clear that Harcote isn’t an inclusive environment so there isn’t that kind of diversity at the school.

Overall I think this was a fun little story. I’m not overly impressed by it but it was different and still enjoyable. If I was a bigger vampire fan I may have liked it more but I kinda missed the twilight craze that started that for everyone.

3.5*
Vampire Academy/ Carry On but sapphic!
I really adored the world building and characters in this. I really loved the world building around the idea of CFaD and Hema and how it was able to incorporate real world issues. All of the characters will really intriguing and I would love to read more about the teachers and what happens next with their movement

I had two issues with this book. First was the slow burn, so much of it was just miscommunication and dragged on for so long it got annoying. And by the time they got together the story was pretty much over so we didn't get to see their relationship. and the conclusion, everything was building up and i was so ready for the end, but it just fell flat. it was rushed and anti climatic. I was especially disappointed we didnt see Galens epilogue or anything that happened to him.

Content Warnings: Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Homophobia
Rep: lesbian, sapphic, side POC

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for the arc of this book!

Kat has wanted nothing more than to go to the Harcotte school for Youngblood Vampires and be among her own kind. When her dream is realized through an anonymous donor, she goes despite her mother's insistence that she stay. But it turns out her roommate is Taylor, her ex-best-friend and betrayer. And perhaps her mom was right about her not going to the school...

This book started so strong! Kat is a really interesting character and there are a lot of threads to follow throughout the story. There were a lot of different mysteries and realizations that kept the story interesting and moving along quickly, and the tension between Kat and Taylor was awesome. I really love Taylor and her unapologetic queerness and I loved to get to see inside her head as well as Kats. Galen was also a really interesting character! I honestly wish he had been able to do more.

Was I incredibly disappointed by the HP reference? Yes, yes I was. But I heard that that will be taken out for the final version, which I hope is true. In the end, my rating was lowered a little because I wasn't satisfied by the pacing at the end or how everything turned out. I was really invested for the first 90%, but it just didn't end strong for me.

That being said, I overall really enjoyed this one!

Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Grief, Bullying, Homophobia, and Ableism
Minor: Death of parent

Dark, moody, and full of angst, Sasha Laurens really hit it out of the park with Youngblood. I can't wait to add this to our YA shelves.

3.5 stars rounded up

Vampire Academy but make it queer and more socially conscious? Yes, please! I was immediately sold by this premise and Youngblood has a lot going for it. But what could have been a 5 star read was dragged down by the uneven pacing, too-slow romance, and too-many plot threads tied up in a rush at the end.

Kat lives among humans with her mom, hiding her vampiric identity and struggling to make ends meet. When she gets offered an all-expenses paid scholarship to an elite vampire-only academy, her mom doesn't want her to go but she wants more for herself and is determined to go anyway. But Harcote is filled with elite, mostly white, homophobic vampires and Kat will have to change who she is to fit in.

But her roommate turns out to be the childhood best friend who betrayed her....

Taylor has a devil may care attitude and is the one openly queer vampire in school. And she's been in love with Kat for as long as she can remember. A secret conspiracy affecting all of vampirdom might be the thing that brings them together, but Kat's need to belong and succeed at any cost could push them apart.

The world set up for the vampires in the story is great. In some ways reminiscent of Trueblood, there is a synthetic blood substitute known as Hema, developed to save vampires after a virus that kills them spread rampantly among humans and was carried in their blood. Thematically this book deals with class divisions, the greed of pharmaceutical companies, medical ethics, and privilege. It's got a lot of pieces that could have made it a home run, but it's bogged down in a boring middle and too-quick resolution at the end. And the romance is SO slow burn, you don't get time for it to breathe. I wanted more longing and build-up on both ends, which would have really improved this.

That said, I still think a lot of people will enjoy this and I want it to do well because we could use more queer vampire books! Note a content warning for non-consensual blood drinking, medical experimentation, and mind control of humans. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Youngblood is perfect for fans of vampire CW TV shows but this time with lesbians. If we're being specific it gives off Legacy vibes. We have a vampire boarding school with a new student who introduces us to the concept of "Vampirdom" and also meets her ex-best friend who betrayed her.... the drama.

While it is a really good book when it comes to exploring your sexuality and everything relationships between the characters, the plot drags the book down. I saw every plot twist coming from a while away. I was never surprised, always knew what was going to happen because this is just a remix of stories you've read before.

First for foremost I want to thank Penguin Teen for an ARC of this book.

Okay, I was only 12% into Youngblood when I knew that I was going to LOVE it (and I was correct)!! This book was my first fantasy read of 2022 and fully resparked my love for vampire books all over again! I absolutely loved the writing style, character growth as well as ALL the characters. Yes, there were very annoying characters that I wanted to slap but that just makes it more real. I enjoyed all the side characters as well and fell absolutely in love with Kat, Taylor and Galen!

I do not want to spoil anything for Youngblood and I do recommend going into this book pretty blind. But here's what you need to know(read if you like): Vampires, boarding school, sapphic novels, making fun of Twilight, plot twists, cool and quirky teachers (I pictured Sikowitz from Victorious), bully trope (not entirely bully romance).

This. Was. Amazing!!! Vampire Diaries meets dark academia? I was in before I finished the first page. I loved the mix of fantasy and real-world applications like representation and it was so interesting the way that CFAD was basically COVID. Definitely a lot of allegories there, but mostly I loved how outspoken Kat was. She was so unafraid and unapologetic, and listening to her school the other vampires in human lessons was incredible. So much we could learn from her out here! Her relationship with Taylor was so intense, and I found myself rooting for them harder than I've ever rooted for another person. 10/10 passion. i loved everything about this! Don't skip it.

Are we seeing a revival of vampires in various media again? I really hope so, especially if it leads to more diverse and modern stories within the vampire ouvre.

I came into Youngblood by Sasha Laurens fresh off of binge watching all of First Kill on Netflix, and after that ending I was really wanting more sapphic vampires in my life. There has definitely been an explosion of wlw stories being represented in books over the last few years, especially in YA, something I wish I'd had as a teenager myself. And sapphic vampires? Be still my heart, it's what dreams are made of. Now, I wouldn't say that First Kill and Youngblood are similar, I'm just saying that if you want vampire media with girls kissing, they both fit the bill. If, like me, you watched all of First Kill and were left hungry for more queer vamps, I recommend picking up this book. And not just for the queer rep, this book was fantastic! I read it in two sittings and had a hard time tearing myself away from it at all,

The world of Youngblood sets up is similar to our own, except with vampires. (Not that we know for sure vampires don't exist, just saying.) There is a disease that has swept through humans but can also be fatal to vampires who drink the infected blood -which has led to invention of a blood substitute for vampires called Hema. Hema is incredibly expensive though, and unless you have money, it's barely accessible. It's classism for vampires. And of course the wealthy vampires can afford to send their kids, the Youngbloods, to Harcote Academy, an elite vampire only school with "traditional" vampire values. Read: vampire elitism.

Kat Finn manages to get in to Harcote despite her unimpressive bloodlines and lack of money, her acceptance coming with a mysterious benefactor funding her entire education and anything she might need. Despite her mother's disapproval she goes, determined to do better for herself. She doesn't even let the fact that she's stuck sharing a room with her ex best friend, Taylor Sanger, bring her down. But the school isn't what she thought and she and Taylor find themselves mixed up in school drama, vampire politics, and an on campus conspiracy. Plus, they're totally falling in love.

Laurens' writing is propulsive and fun. She raises questions about tradition, inclusivity, class, race, and bodily autonomy. She presents commentary on the world and society while also tackling the nuances of being a teenage girl and all the difficulties that come with trying to figure out who you are and what your place.

I think the book works well as a standalone novel, but I certainly wouldn't be adverse to more stories in this universe. I would love more about Galen Black, the prodigy vampire who isn't sure he wants to play into family expectations. I would even read something about Evangeline, the quintessential mean girl. Overall, the book was fun and compulsively readable and I look forward to more from this author.

Murder mystery at a boarding school which just so happens to be an all vampire school WITH queer vampires? Sign me up.

This incredible book with a plot twist that had my jaw dropped and had lovable characters that I absolutely wish I could be best friends with. As well as characters I disliked but learned to love is most definitely making it on my favorite books of the year list. If I was a vampire and didn’t need sleep I would’ve stayed up all night to finish this book, it reeled me in by the first chapter and didn’t let go until far after I finished it.

3. 75
I was really excited for this book with it being a YA vampire book set in an elite/exclusive school for vampires. But I didn't like the pacing. It felt like it read much longer than it is. Not much was happening in the first half, the mystery started in the 2nd half, but by 85% mark, I felt like much more should’ve happened with the mystery. Kat was was hard to understand, it felt like her character was all over the place, not in an intentional way, it felt like she was supposed to be but it didn't come off making sense. I knew I'd be disappointed with the end. It happened way too fast - we got the bad guys, the end. But I liked Kat and Taylor’s relationship.

At the beginning of this book I felt really interested about the world-building and Kat and Taylor's plot seemed awesome (the friends to enemies angst, chef kiss) it was easy to like both of them

But I think I had so many expectations of the mystery part that it was a bit disappointing at the end, the plot twist didn't surprise me because I already saw it coming tbh

Also the miscommunication between Kat and Taylor became boring, I was waiting for more drama like they weren't okay because their friendship ended pretty badly, but at the same time they usually acted like nothing had happened and that felt weird. Plus I had some issues with the fact that it was the 80% of the book and Taylor was still having sex with Evangeline (or whatever their relationship was) and Kat was "dating" Galen

Despite what I mentioned before, it was a nice reading and very engaging so I enjoyed it

Thanks NetGallery and Penguin Teen for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review

If the maze runner and twilight made gay had a baby, it'd be this book and i'm HERE FOR IT!! We follow 2 students; Taylor and Kat who were once childhood friends that lived together. After Kat and her mother skip town, their friendship is severed, well for now. They never heard from eachother until they both show up at a vampire academy (ikr, cool already) and coincidentally end up as roomates (and they were ROOMATES!) 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. cool eh?

Lets get into the nitty gritty.

The world:
This book is what I would consider low fantasy. Normally this isn’t something I gravitate towards but I actually really enjoyed it. When I read a fantasy book, one of my main pet peeves is over the top world building that is there for more of the volume aspect then the actual contribution it makes for the plot. With youngbloods, that wasn’t something I had to worry about. The world building was fairly easy to understand and played a huge role in the plot. I was confused a little pit with the pedigree system, but as it got applied (wink wink nudge nudge) its became more clear.

Speaking of the school, this is where we spend the most time in the book. I didn’t mind that at all especially because it is supposed to be school centered. I loved learning about what a vampire school would be like, especially with things like decendants day. I thought that was super cool. I also found really interesting that there was one rule. It is said many times in the book that this rule is to get the youngblood vampires to start thinking like the other vampire generations. I thought this was really a nice detail to describe vampirdom, and to show what it really is.

Now lets Talk ABOUT THE ROMANCE YAS!
I kid you not I was SCREAMING THE ENTIRE TIME. Talk about slow burn! Taylor has had a crush on kat since they were living together, and kat was convinced she was straight (more on this queer discovery later bc yes, its discovered.) the romance is SO SWEET. Even when they’re pretending to hate eachother in their dorm room they somehow were always there for eachother. One of my favourite moments that had me shakily writing notes on my notes app was in the middle of the prom, when kat is panicing and taylor’s the one that’s there for her. It’s a sweet and tender moment (that later gets doused with a big bucket of ice water) but it still melts my heart 😊

While this was a sweet moment, the romance wasn’t always sweet. Infact, it was actually agonizing at times. Both taylor and kat while in denial of their feelings are with other people. Kat gets with galen, while being aware she feels nothing. And taylor gets with Evangeline who is…I’m not sure if using her is the right word? But she gets closer to taylor and then messes with kat after finding out taylor has feelings for kat? Its AGRIVATING. But, I liked it. I loved the torture the author put us through as they made us endure these scenes with either of their partners for the time being. It helped to make me want them together more and further drive in that sense of slow burn. So much so that multiple times I literally wrote out “They’re killing me.” Not only that, but the build up to the big ol’e confession was amazing. While you spend most of the time hating Galen and Evangeline, they sure come around which I’m glad about. Enduring them paid off in the end to get to….Tat? Kaylor? UHM ANYWAYS

Writing-
I did have a few issues here. A lot of it was real, real, REAL modern. Like the sentence “A version of taylor lived rent free in my mind.” I get what’s trying to happen here, this is a modern book, but a pet peeve of mine is when it becomes too modern. This was toeing the line a bit. Also I noticed a lot of big words I didn’t see the need for like…clavicle? Why not just collarbone 😭😭

The Queer Discovery:
I really enjoyed that this was a part of the book. I was so proud of kat as she discovered more about herself. One moment that I appreciated that stuck out to me was this quote:
“I’ll figure out labels later.”
Labels can be confining and can make one feel like they have to fit in a box, and therefore I appreciated this. It really helped to convey the idea that you don’t need to identify with one label, and was a healthy approach to it.

This book was such a cute, special read and made me want to go watch First Kill on Netflix again lol. Anyways, 5/5 stars and I RECOMMEND HIGHLY!