I requested and received an eARC of Till Death by Kellan McDaniel via NetGalley. I mean gay vampires? I don't read much YA fiction these days, but I was definitely drawn to this book and had to check it out. Howard is waiting until he can escape the confines of his high school. He doesn't fit in there and prefers to spend his time volunteering with the elderly at a nursing home where he encounters a strange, handsome teenager. Or who appears to be strange, handsome teenager. George is facing the loss of his partner, James, after twenty years together. George and James met when they were teenagers, but lost track of one another until they reconnected in their early sixties. Now James is slipping beyond George's reach, because George is a vampire. Immortal. Forever trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old.

The second chapter of this book absolutely stole my heart and sold me on this story. No offense to the first chapter, which was a wonderful introduction to Howard, but the second chapter of this story really sunk its teeth into me and refused to let go. The emotional hook, the impending devastation between George and James, sealed my investment in Till Death. The way McDaniel peels back the layers of their history gave them added depth without being overly maudlin and the way their story plays out reflects a very issue that the queer community has been faced with — the disenfranchisement of a partner based on homophobic legality. I think there’s a political awareness to the story that is both important and necessary.

Queer youth do live lives that are politicized, whether their heterosexual, adult counterparts wish to acknowledge that fact or not. We also see this dynamic play out in the story as Howard and his friends face the local school board in an effort to improve the experiences of queer students at their high school. I enjoyed the budding romance between Howard and George, but I do wish there had been more scenes with Howard’s friend group. You know, after about the 50% mark, I have to say I wasn’t entirely sure what direction this story was headed. This isn’t a bad thing, it kept me on my toes and sent me racing toward the conclusion. And man, what an ending. This one is definitely going to stick with me for some time to come, because I’m still wrestling with what to make of it all. While a lot of queer YA books have chosen to lean into a space of light and positivity, Till Death relies on queer cynicism which I found to be both refreshing and honest.

This was a little slow to get into but once I got to the 20% mark I couldn’t put this down! I really enjoyed the themes explored in this and I enjoyed the Heathers parallel. I will never say no to reading a vampire book or a queer book.

Review also shared on goodreads.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I love vampire books and this cover is so good. I had so much fun reading this book and I love forward to more from this author!

as a lover of vampire fiction, i tried so hard to enjoy this book but i just could not do it. it felt so disjointed and there were way too many plot points that didn't get resolved at all that seemed almost pointless throughout. and while i won't spoil where the plot ends up going because it is crazy, but essentially it did not make any sense i can tell you that

Till Death follows Howard who one day meets George. George is about to lose his life partner James after twenty years together. George is a vampire and is questioning what to do next. Soon Howard and George start to grow closer. Will they be able to be together or will the vampire thing stop it?

This book was cute! I will say I did think it took a while for the romance to start, so I was a bit bored. I have also read a lot of books similar to this. But I still really liked it. This book in my opinion you were written for younger YA readers. I did really like that this book brought to light important queer issues. I just feel like this book was missing something. But I did like it!!!

Thank you so much Kellan McDaniel and Simon Teen for the ARC of this book.