Book Review: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst (Series #)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Format: Hardcover (courtesy of Sarah Beth Durst)
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publication Date: 09.13.2011

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?

Let's be honest: it is easy for a vampire story to take itself too seriously. Drink, Slay, Love does not. It is light, fun, and hilarious. I have never read a vampire story quite like it. With the introduction of the were-unicorn (with all the powers you would expect a unicorn to have), it is unique.

Yeah. You heard right.

Vampires vs. Unicorns.

Awesome combination.

Pearl starts off as soulless and uncaring as the rest of her relatives, but throughout the book, she slowly learns what it is like to be a human--to think, act, and (gasp!) care like a human does. As the changes in Pearl begin to take hold, we are given a really good look at how different she really is. Her struggle with who she was (pre-unicorn staking), who she is becoming, and who she wants to be, is very apparent. I felt sorry for her, because of how she was losing something that was so much a part of herself--her predatory nature. And the pressure she gets from her family doesn't help things at all.

Speaking of Pearl...she's awesome. Like really, really awesome. She's sarcastic and tough, and goes to school in steel-toe boots. She's a vampire and she knows it, and she won't let anything trivial like gaining a soul get in the way of kicking someone's trash (*Small spoiler* That scene with Jadrien in the basement? Best. Ever. You go, Pearl! *end spoiler*). She was also a great friend to one of the characters, even though she resented her in the beginning.

The other characters in this book are way cool, and I wish I could say more than that without spoiling anything. I'll just say that Pearl meets a lot of people, and they all have an affect on her, and on the story, in different ways.

There is fighting, scheming, and manipulating in this book. There is humor, and there are unicorns. There is a hilarious prom theme. There is a love triangle that isn't a love triangle. And although the story is a bit predictable (and I think it took Pearl way too long to figure out who the unicorn was), I couldn't get over the great mood I was in after finishing. It was like I had just been told a good story by a close friend. Sometimes that is just what a girl needs.

Read this if:
...

Content Warning
*This section may contain some spoilers about content!*
Highlight between the brackets to reveal the text.
{A small amount of swearing and some violence.}

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