My Five Word TL:DR Review: Two Friends, One Wild Party

Rachel Harrison is a great storyteller and I love her supernatural stories which usually involve strong female friendships (well, the books I’ve read so far at least).

So Thirsty is her latest creation and in her usual style she brings the supernatural to life once again, this time in the form of vampires.  Vampires are definitely the new ‘black’ at the moment.  It seems we went through a very dry spot for a while and I confess I was happy for some vampires to show their fangs once again.  The creatures in between these pages are the bored and beautiful type.  They’ve embraced their monstrous natures but at the same time live a life that causes the least possible problems (and there are far worse predators out there).

As the story begins we quickly meet our leading ladies.  Sloane, our MC and her bestie Naomi.  The two are chalk and cheese but their friendship has stood the test of time, even if they don’t see each other for months at a time they speak often and when they get back together it’s usually intense.  Sloane is about to have a birthday, she’s not feeling upbeat about another year in fact she’s reached the age where she’s beginning to not only notice fine lines but also to reflect where she is. With that in mind she’s not really in the party mood but it seems her husband has organised a get together break for Sloane and Naomi at a luxury retreat.  Personally, I smelled a rat – would he not want to spend time with his wife on her birthday – but what do I know, he’s perhaps being incredibly selfless and trying to cheer his wife up by reuniting her with her BFF.  Mmm, we’ll see.  Or more to the point – he’s a so-and-so.  Anyway, moving on.

So, our two ladies.  Sloane wants security.  She’s chosen stability, a home, a 9 to 5 job, a husband and the picket fence.  Is she happy, not really.  Naomi on the other hand is something of a wild child, travelling the planet, enjoying each day as though it’s her last, well, until she found herself working for her rock star boyfriend in a role that is becoming more intense as his star rises.  As you see, both our women are not totally happy.

Now, the setting.  The two are sharing a luxury cottage in a resort type setting with a small town nestled close by.  The cottage is a little unwelcoming and the weather is harsh but the two decide to make the best of it.  They pay a visit to the small town where Naomi promptly ditches Sloane for most of the night to talk to a handsome stranger.  The next night, Sloane’s birthday, Naomi has arranged for them both to attend a party.  Sloane has mixed feelings about the whole thing which are only intensified when the gates to the house clang shut behind them.  From there, well, find out for yourself.  In a nutshell though, the two women find themselves transformed.

What I really enjoyed about this.

Harrison is a gifted storyteller, I love the way she writes and she can really build atmosphere.  The chapters where Sloane and Naomi go to the party, for example, you just know that something is going to go wrong and boy does it go wrong.  From this point forward the women panic, they leave the house, determined to be alone and frankly to put as much space between them and the party scene as possible.  Of course, they have terrible thirst, they’re young vampires and they have little control.  The ensuing chaos is very dramatic.

The vampires here almost take a backseat to the transformation of these two friends as they feel their way into this new life.  It’s like they’re the parents (which I suppose they are) cleaning up the messes.  Of course, vampires can’t recklessly move through society killing and destroying at will, they’ll be discovered and eliminated.  They need secrecy and security.  Bolt holes to escape to.  They don’t need newbies running amok, leaving destruction in their wake.

I enjoyed this.  Never a dull moment.  I was happy to return to a world of predators with a lot of the lore that I’m already familiar with, if switched up a little.  I did have a few little issues that kept this from being as good a read as Cackle or Black Sheep.  I didn’t totally buy into the friendship between Sloane and Naomi.  Sometimes they just didn’t fit as well as I was being led to believe, there was resentment and anger brewing.  Also, there is quite a feeling of slow(ish) build up earlier in the novel before we really get to the meat of the story.  To be fair this isn’t something that really bothers me, I appreciate backstories and setting the scene, but, I felt like the ending was quite rushed by comparison.

Overall, I enjoyed this, I had some issues, I think I would have liked a little more from the vampires (just to be clear, I mentioned that they fall into the bored, beautiful variety, – this isn’t because being ‘turned’ creates some strange sort of beauty, yes, they are immortal and seem to remain ageless at the point they were turned, but they’re beautiful because they choose other attractive people to hang with and, in some respects, they’re bored because – ‘seen it, done it, been there’ is real for them.  The lore follows some already fairly established lines.  Thankfully, the author doesn’t try to elaborate on certain things – such as why vampires have no reflection – although this did give me a moment of pause, if they can’t cast a reflection, can they be caught on camera – please, somebody tell me the answer because I am literally not smart enough to figure this out.

Anyway, apart from a slightly peeved feeling about the rushed nature of the ending this was an entertaining read and one that I enjoyed.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 sink-your-teeth-into-this-one stars