What Worked:Till Death tackles some interesting topics including grief, love, acceptance, queerness, and more. Some of my favorite moments were in the first part of the novel as George attempts to work out the emotional turmoil that comes with an aging partner that suffers from memory loss. McDaniel also provides great insight to queer history. Though I wish it was woven into the narrative in a way that didn't feel as info-dumpy, readers are bound to learn quite a bit.

What Didn't Work: The switch between the first and second part of the novel was extremely jarring. To be fair, McDaniel could have been going for a specific emotion in readers. The change between the two sections is triggered by the lack of progress made in the community in it's treatment of queer individuals. It's whiplash for the characters particularly George. However, without the necessary clarity provided by the author, I think that readers will go into this one rather confused and shocked by the changes. Also, there is, in my opinion, some unhealthy isolation that occurs when Howard and George become infuriated and retaliate against the rest of the world.

I'm not sure if this is an allegory or a cautionary tale for the state of the world and the anger and frustration that consistently is felt in the queer community. If so, McDaniel makes some interesting points through vampirism and horror; however, the lack of clarity will continue to leave most readers confused and out of touch with the purpose of the novel.

**This review is also posted on GR.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this digital advanced book! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

There were a few things that surprised me about this book. We follow Howard, an 18-year-old human boy and George, a vampire who was forcibly turned when he was 18, many decades ago (currently he is in his 80s). These two boys meet at a nursing home that Howard volunteers at and where George visits his first love, a now frail and infirm man named James. George’s first partner in the picture was…a strange development for me. I think it was included to show the maturity of his and George’s relationship, as well as the impression that James was okay with George finding love after him. Regardless, the visual age difference was icky to me.

This book was sex positive, which is awesome. I also loved the friend group that fought so hard for LGBTQ+ rights and representations at the high school. There is bias and bigotry, but also a wealth of love and support shown for the queer characters. I appreciated the spectrum of queer identities represented.

I found Howard’s growth arc interesting. He embraced the darker side of George’s characteristics as a vampire (i.e. killing) much faster than I anticipated. I think he was ready for a swifter justice than the bureaucratic and slow-moving school board members were willing to dispense. And honestly, I vibed with that. Too often, bigotry is allowed to run rampant because of established institutions like this. It was refreshing to see justice performed in a different and quicker method. Trigger warnings for murder.

I found this book to be quite advanced in mature themes. I think it might benefit from aging the boys a few years and making this a New Adult queer paranormal romance. Overall, I would recommend this to people who enjoyed Twilight but like their stories a bit darker.

2.75/5 stars

Thank you so much to Simon Teen for the complimentary copy of this book!

This book is out now!

I have been trying to expand the types of books I am reading this year including a few with paranormal elements. I do not read a whole lot of vampire books and let's be honest my own real comparison are to a certain vampire series that I read over 15 years ago now.

This whole storyline is so wild!! You have Howard this high schooler who is just trying to get through his days and he meets George while volunteering at a nursing home. But George isn't there to visit an aging relative, he is there to spend time with his long time partner during his final days. Howard is immediately drawn to George. I don't know if I would call it insta-love but it was insta connection between the two but George was technically still with his partner James. Even after James had passed (which sort of just kind of happened on page) it was like okay let's be together! I wish we got to see more of George through the grieving process and that there was more time between him and Howard starting their relationship. It just seemed so fast for someone who was so in love with their loved one.

I'm not sure if I missed it but did they even discuss what life is like for George as a vampire? Howard was all about becoming a vampire but it just didn't seem like there was no conversation leading up to it.

Its very hard to decide how I feel about this book because on one hand it was not the best romance I've read but at the same time I was very into it and couldn't stop myself from enjoying?

If you are looking for a slightly campy MM vampire book - give this one a try!
3.5

Thank you to Kellan McDaniel, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 ⭐️

I think I expected something much different from what this story delivered. I think I expected like a Twilight-esque YA romance but got something very different. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters even though I wanted to. I really liked the twist that Sue was James’ grandson but I feel like it was only there to give George and Howard a reason to go do their big finale stuff since Sue’s mom was an awful person. Having George’s surname be Culhane also gave me Cullen vibes so I was living in a Twilight fantasy for a good majority of the book. I also just did not see the ending coming, and not in a good way. I felt like Howard’s character development from shy kid to lovestruck psychopath wasn’t realistic with the timeline provided. I couldn’t imagine him throwing away his life and leaving his Oma for this guy that he hardly knew just on the basis that George was his first everything. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to a friend, but I’m still glad to have read it.

The cover alone sold me on this, and I know my library shelves would get a lot of traffic because of it. This is queer Twilight but better. I said what I said. The emotional journey really had me at the edge of my seat, and I may have squealed a few times.

I feel so in between when I sit down to write a review on this book. One part of me enjoyed it, the other part of me couldn't get with the whole vampire thing. I've liked a few vampire books in the past, but this was just a little off in a way I can't explain. I do have to say though that I liked how death and the concept of dying was not viewed in a negative light. I feel like a lot of media portrays death as this big bad scary thing and this was refreshing in a way a book hasn't made me feel in a way.

Thank you to Simon Teen and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Actual rating 3.75/5.

Let me first start off by saying that I did really enjoy this book! There’s so much depth and diversity in the characters and I loved all of the queer history. I loved hearing some pieces of history I didn’t know as a queer woman, and it was the opening. I loved Howard and I loved George. The characters were complex and fun.

The romance was a little quick for me, as was Howard’s descent. But i don’t want to spoil it. At times I wish the pacing was a bit more even, but I still really enjoyed this! It was such a fresh concept and I loved the exploration of grief and finding love again. I would definitely recommend this!

I've remained a steadfast vampire fan, even when they were "out of style", and that's the main reason I requested this novel. It's not what I'd expected.

This story is... unusual. Vampire George is roughly eighty-years-old but was turned when he was nineteen. He's on an emotional rollercoaster as he's losing his partner of the last two decades to Alzheimer's or dementia (I can't remember if it was made clear in the novel), while also developing feelings for high school senior Howard. It's basically insta-love on both sides. Obviously the age difference/maturity levels are worlds apart, but the author handles this by making Howard an old soul. He's a fan of older movies, lives with his grandmother, dresses like a grandpa, and enjoys volunteering and working with older folks at a nursing home. They have more in common than you'd think.

Initially the story focuses on George coming to terms with losing his longtime partner, reminiscing about their time together and remembering friends lost during the AIDS epidemic. There are some very poignant moments. He and Howard experience the awkwardness of a first date and new relationship. But then the novel takes an unexpected direction. It's such an abrupt change that I almost felt like there were two different books. Taking into account the struggles and discrimination Howard and George have dealt with it's partly understandable, but the speed of this change nearly gave me whiplash.

Reviews seem to be split over this novel. I enjoyed it, but I didn't see the detour from the expected path coming. Recommended to readers who enjoy vampire fiction (obviously), stories that take an unpredictable turn, and a touch of historical fiction.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Howard has been picked on and pushed around his whole life. His parents rejected him when he came out as gay, the jocks at school constantly bully him, and as secretary for his high school’s QSA, Howard is painfully aware of how little the school board really cares about queer students’ welfare. The only places he feels welcome are at home with his Oma and volunteering at Spring Meadows, a senior center for people over eighty. There he meets George, who is here to visit the newest resident, James. But despite George only looking eighteen, like Howard, he isn’t James’ grandson; James is George’s high school sweetheart and partner. George was turned into a vampire in the summer of 1960 and has been supporting the queer community ever since.

As James approaches the end of his life, George and Howard grow closer, bonding over Howard’s passion for queer history and classic movies (which, for George, is a trip down memory lane). Howard confides in George about his struggles and his hopes for the future, and George eventually trusts Howard with his biggest secret. Inspired by George’s firsthand tales of protests and marches, Howard gains more confidence to stand up for himself, which in turn inspires George to take more action against the people who threaten Howard’s existence. But are the two really a good influence on each other? Or will they lead each other down a path of destruction that will claim them both as well?

This book does a marvelous job of setting an emotional scene. Though some of the side characters felt a bit two-dimensional, Howard and George had plenty of depth to them to make up for it and then some. It was easy to get engrossed in the story. The ending was so vivid I could hear every heartbeat, feel every drop of sweat, taste every tear. This also meant it was easy to get invested in the two main characters as they developed feelings for each other, and even in the moments where little red flags were waving in the background, I still rooted for them all the way through.

The message of the book comes across somewhat heavy-handed in places. However, it fits with the message itself, which is that sometimes a light touch isn’t enough to make your voice heard. It acknowledges the extremes and the consequences of the story’s darker moments as well, while arguing their necessity to move the plot forward. If you’re looking for a fluffy romance where everyone involved lives happily ever after, this is not the book for you, but if you want to go elbows-deep into some raw emotional and confronting generations of oppression, while finding the drive to keep pushing forward, then dive right on in.

All in all, I found this story to be well written, well researched, and well executed. Do I wish the ending could have gone better for some of the characters? Yes. Do I understand why the author made the choices he did? Absolutely, and as I said, twisting things so everyone could go home happy at the end would have been discordant with what the book is trying to say. The story does what it came here to do and hopefully it will remind the newer generations of queer activists what it took to get this far and what might have to be done to go further (though perhaps not to the extent that George and Howard do because, well, you’ll see why that might not be a good idea…)

I really enjoyed this story. It's dual POV. You have George who is an 80 year old vampire who is "18" his whole world has been turned upsidedown when his partner is moved into a retirement home. He meets Howard who is a senior in high school. They start dating and by the way they are definitely perfect for each other as Howard has an old soul and likes all the same old movies that George does. I like that the story touches a lot on queer history woven in through the story as Howard and his friends are trying to fight the school board on specific queer agenda items.

This book was… interesting. And I do mean that in a good way, despite the pause. It’s just hard to explain.

For the first part of the book, it juxtaposed the sadness of immortality with the freshness of mortality and youth in a way I hadn’t read before. Which is not to say no other book explores that, just that I’ve never found one that explores it the way this one did. By having one of the main characters grapple with losing an old love while simultaneously finding a new one. I enjoyed that exploration.

It was a little weird that the vampire MC was essentially dating one person who was 80-something and one who was 18. But I learned a long time ago to expect and embrace some weirdness when it comes to vampires. So YMMV, but it wasn’t that hard for me to shrug off. Especially since I think vampirism could cause you to exist in this conflicting mental state where part of you ages and feels old, but part of you still feels the age at which your life essentially froze.

I also liked how this book did not frame death itself as a sad and terrible thing. It acknowledged that losing someone is sad, someone dying alone or because they’ve been abandoned by society is horrible, but death itself just is, and not everyone wants immortality. It was nice that a book involving a lot of elderly characters and the grief of losing someone didn’t villainize death.

There was also a strong theme of queerness. Queer history, queer rage, queer love. A lot about bigotry, politics, and the way people are treated.

The relationship between Howard and George could’ve been developed more. I guess time was passing and they were spending it together, but the reader didn’t get to see a lot of that, so it felt a little off to me when their feelings were so strong. Still, it was a nice romance with characters who were supportive of each other.

Well, it was nice, excluding the (intentionally)… let’s call it concerning element. But that concerning element was not how they treated each other, it was more the effect they had on each other. They brought some things out in each other, but were these changes for the better or for the worse?

The thing about this book is that it takes a turn, and it’s one you might not really expect from the description. So you go into it expecting a fairly calm, maybe a bit sad, maybe a bit political, story, and instead you get something quite a bit darker. The tone also shifts from sober to almost a little campy.

I don’t usually compare books to other books or media, but I happened to fairly recently watch *SPOILER* Heathers (which is mentioned in the book), Jennifer’s Body, and Lisa Frankenstein, *END SPOILER* and I feel like this book falls into a similar category as those, though with stronger queer themes and its own unique differences. Spoilered because you can probably guess what direction the book will take if you’ve seen those, though the fun is still in seeing how this specific story and these characters turn out. Funnily enough, I didn’t really like any of those movies, but I did enjoy this book, so if you love them, you’ll probably like this book even more.

I like “typical” vampire romances, I wouldn’t read them if I didn’t, but I also like a vampire book that goes in a different direction. To be honest, I feel like the social issues in this book probably could’ve been largely the same without there being a vampire. But the author did tie it in by having him personally see the injustices done to queer people in history and living a lifetime of the injustice himself. And, well, I’m never mad about there being a vampire around 😅 He wasn’t suave and rich, he was struggling like the rest of us, but he was still bitey.

The hardcover is basically what you see is what you get, but it has beautiful cover art and fun blood splatter on the title text.

I think this would’ve been even better for me with a little more development of the relationship before the tone shift and more exploration of immortality, since the book started with that, but ultimately those were not the main point, and I still enjoyed being along for the ride!

Firstly, let me start by saying a big "thank you" to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters of this book (mostly lol). The story was entertaining and kept me wanting more. The ending was definitely an unexpected twist. I will say that at times, the prose and narration felt a bit preachy. All in all, I enjoyed this book, and excited to see what else this author comes up with. 3.5⭐️

Howard is 18 years old and looking for support in his life. His school's Queer Student Union is struggling to make their voices heard, and Howard himself has moved in with his Oma after his parents were less than accepting of his identity. As a youngster into older entertainment and aesthetics, he finds solace in his volunteer work at a retirement home. But a visit to check in on new resident James kicks off a whole new chapter of his life when Howard meets George: a young visitor who, unbeknownst to Howard, is James's eternally young vampire lover.

As George struggles to see his partner through the end of his life while hiding from James's less than understanding daughter, Howard finds acceptance with his new companion. As the two start dating, they discover their lives are more intertwined then they first realized. And the more time Howard spends with George, the more he starts to wonder if maybe the world would be better without the people blocking his ability to be himself.

On the one hand, Till Death is a compelling story of grief and loneliness—of how difficult it can be to care for a loved one when your relationship isn't even accepted by that loved one's family. James and George's story is tragic and heartfelt and beautiful. But once Howard and George get close, things get odd. On the one hand, having someone who can impart both history and support is a valuable thing. On the other, teen vampire romances are messy at the best of times, and the constant hand-waving of Howard and George's relationship because Howard is an "old soul" is far too reminiscent of real-world problems, regardless of sexuality. Considering Howard's change in personality the longer he's with George, perhaps this is intentional. Perhaps this is the story of someone making someone else worse. The result, though, is a fractured narrative: equal parts compellingly beautiful and worryingly toxic.

This book was dark in the best ways, it was deep and really makes you feel all the feels. It really puts you back in time following the queer MMC as he navigated high school with all that drama on top of his sexuality. There are some heavy subjects throughout the book and I would say upper YA for most of it.

Overall I enjoyed it and will be suggesting to other readers!

DNF @ P.33

I don't usually give up so early but I can't get over the fact that there's romance between this awkward teenager and an ageless vampire who has a literally still alive lover he's been with for 60 years. It's given me the ick. Also realised this is KM Szpara and I haven't liked his works previously

This story carries a significant message that deserves to be shared and acknowledged by all. However, there were aspects of the narrative that could have been improved. To begin this review, I want to highlight the many positive elements present in the story. First and foremost, I found the cover to be striking and captivating, which drew me in and sparked my interest even before I fully understood the plot. As for the narrative itself, I appreciated the characters; they were relatable and embodied the essence of everyday individuals facing genuine challenges, rather than being portrayed as unrealistic figures with perfect or excessively troubled lives. Their development, both individually and collectively, was executed effectively. Additionally, I enjoyed the multi-layered structure of the story, featuring various points of view that contributed to a well-rounded narrative. However, this approach occasionally led to confusion regarding whose perspective we were following. Another aspect I found less enjoyable was that, at times, the story felt like it included information dumps rather than seamlessly integrating details into the plot. Overall, it was a compelling story with an important message, and I am grateful for the opportunity to read it.

Till Death is a YA vampire romance centering on Howard (a teenage boy) and George (an eternally 18 year old Vampire).

As a huge fan of LGBTQ+ YA novels (specifically those with a bit of horror or the paranormal) and a general lover of vampires, I went into this with high expectations. Unfortunately it felt very disjointed throughout; with too much focus on too many plot points. There was massive amounts of info-dumping, with very little attempt to weave these points coherently into the storyline. It mainly just left me confused, and I think some of the political points are unfortunately lost because of this.

Lastly, the relationship between George and Howard is pretty toxic (even for a vampire romance), so that didn’t make me want to keep reading despite the poor pacing and plot holes.

All this said, there are several important themes and messages here that I wish could have been more coherently presented. I think I’d file this one in a “not for me” category, but someone else (who doesn’t primarily read fantasy romance) would like it.

First and foremost as always thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. This was an incredibly good read! The story was beautifully written and the characters were flushed out really well! I was hoping for a bit more and it fell just a little short for me.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me.

I actually really liked the concept of a queer vampire staying with his aging human lover, a source of so much gay history, the tension between being completely out and on the margins of society versus the lover who married, had a family, lived to the world as a straight man until his 60s and all of his differences in those two experiences. The story touches on it a bit—the missing out on community but also lack of understanding of some struggles. The conflict with the homophobic daughter of the lover and the struggles of never being legally married clearly parallel the struggle of queer people without the right to marry historically.

However. The addition of a teenage lover, the development of that relationship amidst the (apparently very short) mourning period, the high camp YA feel of the second half complete with The Heathers references and murder sprees… I did not like the teen romance at all. I think a campy teenage vampire murder spree book could also have been fun if the entire book developed that storyline better, ideally making the teenagers more three dimensional, but it felt like it didn’t go far enough to make that enjoyable.

This felt like two totally different books, with the plotline from one really hurting my enjoyment of the plotline for the other.

This book gave a way more realistic explanation about what it would be like to be a teenage vampire in my opinion. George doesn’t have investments, identification or his life together, and now he has to face that reality and figure out his next steps. When he meets Howard, they connect immediately as two old souls. Howard is only 18 and mortal, but he loves volunteering at a retirement home and is passionate about history. Together they grow close as they share their troubles and try to figure out their next steps in life. I flew through this book because both of their voices were so real and easy to read. Definitely recommend you check out this book when it comes out on March 18th.