The idea of the book series was a fun one, however I couldn’t connect well with the female main character. And the writing style didn’t mesh with me well. Dnf

Marlene Perez’s "The Afterlife of the Party" is a thrilling and exciting story with some unexpected twists and turns that make it truly captivating. The characters are engaging and complex and the suspense is palpable throughout. The story follows Marlene and her best friend, Skyler, as they embark on a journey of discovery, with some potentially dangerous consequences. While there’s plenty of danger and excitement along the way, Marlene and Vaughn’s budding romance and Marlene’s coming of age story help ground the narrative. Overall, "The Afterlife of the Party" is a wonderful tale that readers won’t want to miss.

The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez, 352 pages. Entangled Publishing, 2021. $10.
Language: R (71 swears, 4 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Best friends stick together, even when only one of them wants to go to a party for the lead singer of a band – who isn’t even that good. But after getting bitten by a vampire, Tansy (17yo) knows going to that party was the worst decision they have ever made. Skyler doesn’t feel the same way. Skyler is still determined to chase after the vampire lead singer, and Tansy will do anything to get her back.
Important details were repeated several times throughout the book, as if the characters forgot they already knew information or that they had a goal. This also made the storyline take redundant loops where nothing was accomplished. Then contradictory information offered in one scene would all be accepted, and I was left wondering why none of the characters were suspicious about what was being said. On top of that, there are two characters who randomly pop up three times in the whole book, and I still don’t know what they were trying to accomplish in the story. All of this confusion was annoying and made the read choppy. The only parts of the book that make any sense are the scenes that focus on Tansy’s love story subplot.
Tansy, her family, Skyler, Vaughn, and all the vampires are White or “pale.” The mature content rating is for mentions of drugs and alcohol, underage drinking, innuendo, mentions of condoms and sex, partial nudity, and kidnapping and other illegal activity. The violence rating is for corpses, vampire bites, bleeding, gun use, and murder and attempted murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book, but I just couldn't get into it. It's super YA and just didn't hold my interest at all. DNFed at 30%.

This book really took me by surprise honestly.
It had a really good amount of tongue in cheek, great friendships, and a great friends to maybe lovers plot line. The main plot focuses on the friendship between two girls and the romance, though important, is secondary to the importance the friends mean to each other even when they hurt each other. Deliberately or not.
I enjoyed the fact that they had actual adults they could turn to when they had to and they got practical help and most characters had some level of fight in them. All the characters have strong personalities and were memorable but also I loved how kind of pathetic the vampires are even though they’re killers. A little pick me in some ways but I’m glad the point of it isn’t to embrace this change but to want to just have a mortal life. Really fun read!

I was absolutely bored with this book overall. It was pretty juvenile and I couldn't read it. It was thrown together like it was rushed, even the beginning that I tried to read. Something about it, I just DNF.

This book dragged on forever. Seriously, it just kept going and it was so slow and nothing happened and I was legit bored and had a hard time continuing to read, which is sad since this had the potential to be a cool fun modern vampire twist.

The synopsis said this was snarky and hilarious, which I was instantly sold on, but the story itself had nothing hilarious in it and the snark was pretty minimal (so much so that I can't even remember it happening to be honest). The story was pretty much angst, crush longing, random vampire attacks that made no sense, and a girl pretending to be a groupie to a terrible vamp band (that never ended, seriously, so boring and monotonous).

I loved the idea of this story, I loved the random tidbits that were exciting and dangerous and cool, but overall this was not for me. And while this ends on a cliffhanger with no real resolution, I will not be continuing the series because I am not invested enough to care what happens next. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and based on reviews I saw other people really liked the book so if it sounds like your kind of thing give it a whirl.

I loved this book and have already ordered book two! It was such a fresh take on the supernatural world. The author does a fantastic job of painting the locations, in California, that the characters are moving through. There is a cave scene that gave me total Lost Boys vibes and I’m here for it! Also, any book that has strong female main characters is a plus for me! The relationship between Tansy and her Granny is just ✨chef’s kiss✨. Strong women raising strong women!

It was a nice change to see a young woman who didn’t just sneak off to handle something on her own; but had the support of her family telling her that she could handle anything that she came across and that her family would stand by her side. In this case that family was a coven- but still, fantastic representation of boss level ladies!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Vaughn- let’s hope our daughters meet a Vaughn and our sons become one. A+ book boyfriend!

If you enjoyed The Ex Hex style of ferocious family mixed with a smattering of comedy- then you’ll likely really enjoy The Afterlife of the Party. It is YA, so it is a quick read but super enjoyable.

📌 Pub Date: February 2, 2021

I was given an ARC of this story to read; but thoughts and opinions are all my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Entangled Publishing, and Entangled Publishing Teen for the chance to read this book!

This read was really fun. The author does a great job of creating a realistic world and engaging characters that are easy to love. Imagine becoming a vampire after going to a party? Perfet for those who love Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3.5 Rounded to 3

I have been wanting to read more vampire type stories so when I saw this come up for request, I jumped at the chance.

This is a perfect Fall/Spooktober read. It's quick. It's fun. It has blood-sucking vamps and witches and of course the big boss showdown. Throw in the hot band of vamps, and we have some serious Lost Boys vibes leaking through the pages.

I really enjoyed the humor, romance, and the banter between Tansy and Vaughn. Oh to be young and in love again. 😂 Tansy shows great character in how she chooses to go after and rescue her best friend, Skylar. Their friendship was my favorite part of the story.

Even though this was an enjoyable read overall, I did feel parts were repetitive and the dialogue felt very young at times and had more of a Middle Grade feel vs. YA. That's really the only reason for a 3.5 instead of 4.

I would still recommend this one though for those who love these types of stories and want a quick and fun Spooktober read. I sincerely appreciate Entangled Teen for providing me with a review copy. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone.

I love vampire books. I love how Tansy doesn’t take any crap from the vampires! It was such a great read!

This book was provided by Netgally and Entangled Teen for an honest review. All of the thought and opinions are my own.

This book was a little confusing to me until I realized that it is in fact a YA book.

I liked that the main plot line is what we would do for our friends and how far that is. I had trouble with the pacing and too many subplots thrown in but it pulled me in the story and kept me reading. Tho not my favorite book of this genre I enjoyed reading it and will definitely keep my eye up on sequels in the future.

Vaughn is a hunky love muffin and I was interested in basically everything going on. I got confused at some plot points but understood everything by the end. Transitions between chapters were a bit funky but the tone was likable and I like Tansy as well.

I really like YA high school thriller/murder mystery books for when I want a refresh from more adult content. I found this one to work in the same way! I’ve already read the second one and will be finishing the series!

'The Afterlife of the Party" by Marlene Perez is the type of paranormal and urban fantasy book that I would read in my young adult days, and rightly so. This is a book that dabbles in vampires and witches, with rescue mission, vampire war, and romance in between. 
Three friends- Skylar, Tansy, and Vaughn go to a gig/party, and all their life changes even before stepping out of the said party. Skylar gets kidnapped by vampires as their personal blood bank and Tansy along with Vaughn takes it upon themselves to rescue their best friend. They go through a lot and are entrapped into some vampire war along the way. Basically, a lot happens, and it is ridiculously entertaining. 
I like reading it. It took my mind to a whole different world where I imagined myself making a lot of weird choices.

Super cute, I love Marlene Perez so I will read whatever she writes forever. Cant wait to see how she goes on with this series.

"What was a group of vampires called? A gang? A bite? A bite of vampires. I liked it. Fear was making me silly."

I have always been a huge fan of vampires since my Twilight Saga phase, so I'm really happy that these undead creatures are slowly making a fresh and modern comeback. It's also been a while since I read a YA urban fantasy novel that was just a smash full of craziness that I somewhat found myself enjoying it and flying through it.

The Afterlife of the Party is a very quirky tale of a young witch named Tansy and her two best friends, her adorable yet feisty grandmother, and a very horrid and disgusting group of vampire rock stars that don't even know how to carry a tune. Everything was just so absurd and weird about it, but it was sort of slightly appealing. Hence, I'm listing down things I liked and didn't like about this book.

Things I liked
1. This was a very stereotypical vampire book, but had some modern twists into it. It still kept the famous vampire myths and stories, but it also incorporated new ones that were really entertaining. No sparkling vampires here, that's for sure.

2. It was very quick and easy to get to. What I love about urban fantasy novels is that you can immediately put yourself into the story without any difficulty because a lot of concepts are already familiar - and this was what happened in this book. It was also very engaging from the very start, and even though it's a young adult book intended for a younger age group, it didn't dumb down or overcomplicated things.

3. The characters were so exaggerated yet I really liked them. I didn't love them as I thought I would have, but there were just so engaging and entertaining that it wasn't hard for any to like them. Everyone was just very stereotypical - even the villains - but there was a slight bit depth to them that offsetted it.


Things I didn't like
1. While it had a general plot to follow along, I had the feeling as I was reading that things were getting a bit mixed up or jumbled together. A lot of details were being added into the story which, in my opinion, seemed unnecessary but could have added some bit of extra flair. I probably would have liked the book better if things were laid out well, rather than going through a lot of extra theatrics.

2. I was looking for the lore of this story, and I felt like I didn't get it. While the supernatural world has definitely its own very popular lore, this book didn't really gave much nuisance to it. I especially wanted to know more about the witch side of Tansy and her grandmother, but there wasn't really anything to go on to apart from what was just said in their conversations. The witch part of the story seemed really important for this, but it didn't really got to be fleshed out, and it just left me confused.

2. There was a lot of chasing going on. While I understand "why" it was there, it just consisted a really huge chunk of the book that was basically the same thing over and over again, and there wasn't really anything new to stem off from it.

3. The comedic scenes and comebacks were a hit or miss. This book was obviously channeling that inner snarky teenage vibe, and almost having a bit of a feel of True Blood, and while there were pure golden moments that I found myself laughing loudly at, there were also a lot of misses and even felt like forced or unnecessary for the current situation.

Nevertheless, I still pretty much enjoyed this book, even though I didn't love it as I thought I would. I would still read the succeeding books because it left enough curiosity in me to see it through.

Not a bad book but I found it hard to get into. It feels a bit too rushed which made it hard for me to want to continue to read but I did get through it. I love the cover.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I picked this book up on Thursday night and finished it Saturday morning - and the only reason it took that long was because I had to stop reading due to sleep and work. This book is FUN. It has everything I love: magic, vampires, musicians, and sassy female leads being snarky to stupid boys. Plus its just fun when books take place in my hometown & I know where all of the landmarks are. I can fully believe there are vampire covens in Huntington Beach.

Tansy is a great best friend, even if she was sometimes misguided in her attempts at help. Vaughn is both best friend goals and boyfriend goals. Granny & her book club are just the most supportive people to have in your corner and I would also go to bat for them any day. All of the characters in this book really have distinct characteristics which is great, considering that it would be very easy to have each vampire underling be identical in personality.

The hardest thing about this book for me was that sometimes the timeline was a bit hard to follow - did a day go by? Was it a week? Hard to tell. But in the grand scheme of the book that isn't a huge deal, it just pulled me out of the book periodically when I had to reorient myself. This book was very easy to read, but not because it was an "easy" book but because it was written in such a clear manner. Marlene clearly loves what she does and it comes out in her words.

I am so excited to read the sequel - this one ended on a cliffhanger, but not such a cliffhanger that I have a physical pain from not being able to read the next one immediately. If you haven't had a chance to read this yet and you are missing some vampire teen drama in your life, pick this up! 5/5

I absolutely enjoyed this book!

I loved Tansy and Vaughns relationship. Immediately from the beginning, when Vaughn is getting jealous about the Christians asking Tansy out I just knew he liked her. I felt like Skyler knew it too but just had not said anything.
Throughout this whole book Vaughn is dropping hints like crazy that he likes Tansy and she's just oblivious lol. I loved it.
- No offense but several times during the book, I really wanted Tansy to just leave Skyler because she was making this very difficult like at least try to understand why your best friend is not going to leave you while you are weak and under compulsion.
- I just knew Billy Jean was up to no good. Im glad that she had a reason behind everything but like girl you could've just been honest and Tansy would've helped you.
- love me a good paranormal book that features a badass female characters; Rose and Thorn Assassin = love it!!!
- really enjoyed this authors writing style!

At first glance, the cover of the book is intriguing and unique enough to interest anyone. So, when I was approved to be sent a copy of The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez, I was so excited, and the description really sold me on it more. But, unfortunately, my standards were not met with this paranormal book. It felt pretty juvenile, and the pacing was a bit weird. But, even though I shouldn’t have really enjoyed it, the plot and the characters really made me finish the book. I have pretty mixed feelings about this book, like a “love-hate” relationship- though I definitely didn’t hate it. I think this book would appeal to readers who have just started reading. Thank you Entangled Teen for sending me the book!