Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Vampires at Sea in exchange for an honest review.

OOF. This was not it. The cover and quirky premise pulled me in, but the book itself was a total mess.

The stream-of-consciousness writing style felt cringey and rambling, and every character was insufferable with no redeeming qualities. It's billed as a sexy horror comedy, but while there’s plenty of spice, the humour falls flat, and there’s not a single moment of genuine horror or creepiness.

I do appreciate the LGBTQIA+ representation and the fresh take on vampires feeding on emotions rather than blood—but unfortunately, those weren’t enough to salvage this read for me.

Like a chicken tender that is almost all breading with very little meat. Yes the breading is delightful, but you need substance too.

I loved the lyrical writing style and evocative descriptions. I mean how can you go wrong with a queer vampire polyamorous cruise. However, the novella lacks a compelling plot. It is more so a fun party or a character study on this self-centered vampire. I enjoyed it well enough and would read more of the authors work but this one didn’t wow me other than the writing style.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 4
Pace: 4
Plot development: 3
Characters: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 4

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

This is going to be a weird book for most people. There's not a lot of world-building; you're really just thrust into a main relationship, given external players who tear it apart, and then everything is fun! Until it's not and everything falls apart. This novella is going to appeal to a very particular set of people, and that's totally okay. It wasn't what I was expecting, and I had a hard time liking Rebekah in the beginning. Every character grew on me a bit as the story went on, but everything felt unraveled in the end -- but maybe that's the point. Not everything needs to be a clean break; you can find a new beginning even in the worst of times, even after so long. It was just a vacation! Right?

I appreciate the advanced copy and getting to read something so out of my usual space. It was interesting and fun -- definitely not something I'll recommend to everyone, but I know a couple of people who might love it or love to hate it.

Thank you so much to Lindsay Merbaum and Netgalley for the early reader copy!

What a beautifully written, sensual, wild ride. This book took all the best parts of vampires and truly created something new and fresh. The centuries old lovers, the messy interpersonal drama, the adaptation to a modern age, it’s all so genuinely fun to to real about. Any fan of WWDITS and Interview with a Vampire will definitely fall in love with Hugh and Rebekah! Hell, any unsuspecting cruise-goer will fall in love with them (for better or worse!), I definitely did!

Interesting read, fantastic vibes and great ideas, but was missing a little something to be a rue five star book.

This just really wasn't for me. I didn't like the writing or the erotic elements of this book. It felt like Merbaum was just trying to shock people. This was definitely not a win for me.

Delicious. A funny, sexy romp that delivers a fun mystery while satirizing corporate Pride viciously. I would read a million books about Rebekah.

TW/CW: Language, drinking, toxic relationships, graphic sex scenes, cheating, violence, gory scenes, death

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Immortal beloveds Rebekah and Hugh are on vacation! Against a backdrop of ongoing war, this pair of chic emotional vampires from San Francisco sets off on a queer Black Sea Cruise, eager to relax, join an orgy, and feast upon their fellow passengers’ desires and sorrows. When Hugh becomes enchanted by an alluring–and possibly magical–non-binary social media influencer named Heaven, Rebekah’s reality capsizes. As she comes to terms with a future she never imagined, Rebekah begins to question her past, much of it lost to time. Ultimately, her journey becomes one of self-discovery, and acceptance of her true nature.
Release Date: October 7th, 2025
Genre: Horror
Pages: 168
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

What I Liked:
1. The writing style was fantastic
2. Absolutely hilarious things said
3. Short book
4. Clever writing
5. Reminded me of What we do in the shadows
6. Rebekah had me cracking up
7. So much packed inside 200 pages

What I Didn't Like:
1. Some parts felt they rambled on and on without clear direction where we were going
2. Wish Hugh was a more flushed out character - he felt such a simp to Rebekah and then Heaven

Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer: I write my review as I read}}

Memory is a lie anyway. Half of what you remember is just what you imagine.


I feel like Rebekah and trying to figure out what Hugh finds in Heaven that's so special. They seem pretty basic and preformative.

Rebekah has me rolling. She's trying to hold the attention onto her by asking Heaven questions.
“Are you a makeup artist? Where did you study? Where do you get your lip rouge?”“I was a professional makeup artist, when I was younger.”They preen. “Now, I’m a motivator . . .”I can’t do it, I stop listening. No one needs to hear this.

Rebekah is every introvert short tempered person that hates small talk. I'm so here for her! The things you'll do for a unicorn.

Some of the stuff they talk about is so outlandish and ridiculous in the best way possible. Rebekah says they aren't ready for a ship orgy and that Hugh didn't even bring his cape. What does he do with his cape? I wish I knew haha

Heaven being a shapeshifter wasn't something I thought wasn't going to happen in this book. Love that Rebekah gets one last sexing in with them despite their equal hatred of each other. Doing the finger guns out the door was the icing on the cake for me.

I am confused on what substance they feed on though. It seems like Rebekah is a energy vampire since it's never said she directly feeds of blood. Not sure what Hugh is - maybe the same since he loves the attention from people knowing his art.

Loving all the different vampires in the book. She meets Misha another vampire but I quite enjoyed the way in which they talked about how they fed. Rebekah mentions she uses her beauty while Misha uses grief or anger to feed. He even feeds from Rebekah while getting her to talk about her husband leaving her. Just enjoying the vampires that sucked emotion out of people.

Oh I love that Rebekah chose herself. I get what Hugh was saying about how she always did what she wanted but in an open relationship he crossed a line of falling in love that you just don't do. Yeah, he had a spell put on him but at that point Rebekah was clearly done.

Is Heaven really gone? I doubt it.

Final Thoughts:
This book reminded me in so many ways of What We Do In the Shadows (series)
Rebekah and Hugh are just like Laszlo and Nadja and sprinkled with Colin's psychic vampire feeding since he's an energy vampire too. So if you loved this book watch the show there are queer rep and relationship goals. (in the acknowledges author says they are a fan of the show!)

I love that the author mixed influencer with shapeshifters. It's so clever and I was loving it.

This book was so much fun! I seriously hope we get a second book!

queer vampires. pirates. tongue in cheek humor and saber sharp wit. what more could you want? this was such a gem.

I didn't really *get* this novella. I wasn't sure what it was trying to say, or even if it was saying anything at all. It was a short read, and I got through it, but had it been a full length novel I would have DNFed. I'm not really able to explain why this didn't work for me, but it just didn't. And I love queer vampires, but this was just a miss.

I am not 100% sure what I read here and for me, that's ok. I like weird. This won't be for all readers, that's for sure. As someone in the lGBTQIA community, I appreciate it and think other members of the community will as well. We don't often get works of fiction like this in our world so it's fun and it feels nice to be in the cool/weird kids club :)

What a weird -in a good way- little story about -very horny- vampires on a queer cruise! It was a bit chaotic in the execution but fast-paced for a quick and nice read. I liked the whole idea, especially the change with the vampires feeding on emotions and people's energy rather than blood. Rebekah was a wickedly funny narrator and the change operating on her during the last bits of the book just makes me want to say "good for her".

This book was weird! It wasn’t for me, because I am, sadly, a little normal. I do know, exactly who it is for, though, and I do think I’ll be recommending it for the Queer bookclub around Thanksgiving!

This was an incredible read! It was fast paced, interesting, yet the characters had depth and were well developed. I was hooked and couldn’t put it down and read it it one sitting! I cannot recommend it enough!
Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the ARC!

I had high hopes for this book. Queer vampires? On a cruise? What's not to love? Unfortunately it was hard for me to root for the main character. However, I was definitely rooting against the antagonist. Which when we get to the climax, was disappointing. It was a lot of built-up, for them to be dispatched so easily and quickly. And for the protagonist to move on From their paramour, with so little emotion, seemed bizarre. But maybe that's what vampires like that are.

Vampires at Sea is a book I judged by its cover—and it disappointed me, unfortunately.

The writing was the main issue for me. I couldn’t get into it or enjoy any aspect of the story. The writing was unfortunately corny and cringey which made the entire reading experience unenjoyable.

this is currently being marketed as a quick, fun romp, but all it is is a quick romp. what is it they say, two out of three ain't bad?

to elaborate: i'm not really sure what kind of humor youre supposed to be packing in order to enjoy the "humor" this one claims to have. i didn't laugh once, not even a pity-snort.
i guess what im trying to say here is that the bar was low. all i expected was to laugh at least once. at the very least, half a laugh. a snort, even. none. nothing. very boring characters in a bland story.

but let's go back to what i said: 2/3 isn't really a bad miss. it's just not for me.

thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

This was a weird one and while it didn't work for me I can absolutely see why other people are loving it.

You jump right into the world with basically no world building or context, into a relationship that's existed for a long time and then everything changes so rapidly! It's a whirlwind 2 weeks at sea with 2 vampires.

I'm sure this will work for plenty of people and I have to say the ending satisfied me

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book

Vampires at Sea
Lindsay Merbaum

3.5 / 5

This one was slow to start, but once I got into it, I found it really fun, frisky and funny.

If you're prudish, you might not enjoy it as much, but I had a blast. Recommend.