Kat Finn is a part of a generation called Youngbloods, vampires that are born from other vampires. While Kat was raised in a low income household, she somehow gets a full ride to Harcote, a school for the richest and most elite of the Youngblood generation. The one downside: she might have to room with her ex-friend Taylor, who she left years ago.

The only praise I'll be giving this book is in relation to the worldbuilding. I did like how this story put a twist on what we already know about vampires and how this disease that humans get can be a threat to vampires. However, I've read some reviews that the CFaD disease has some glaring resemblances to the HIV/AIDS crisis, which... yikes.

OKAY let's dive into the more problematic aspects of this story. First, the blatant homophobia that occurs is beyond disgusting. Kat deals with a lot of internalized homophobia as she starts to realize that she herself may be queer. While I get that, and it is something I know a lot of people still face, this was taken pretty far to the point where even I felt uncomfortable. Also one of her friends says that "Straight people always assume it's something you have to discover, but I was born this way." Not everyone has that experience, especially me. If you're a young reader who's reading this and is already questioning your sexuality, this might throw off their whole experience and potentially ruin how they come to terms with it.

I've also heard that there are some anti-Semitic comments but I recommend going to a Jewish reviewer that would have more information on this than me. But there's a lot more, because there's also RACISM and making COLONIZATION seem okay. Galen, one of Kat's minor love interests, is half Indian. Here is the dialogue from one of their discussions.

"My dad was involved with the British East India Company back in the day, so that's where they (his parents) met."
"You mean the British East India Company that colonized India?"
"He winced. 'It's not as messed up as it sounds. My mom doesn't talk about it much, but she's from a wealthy merchant family in Gujarat, and he spent years pursuing her until she agreed. He didn't just make off with a helpless girl from some village. Anyway, it was a long time ago."

LIKE WHAT IS THIS?! I had to take a massive second glance at this paragraph to make sure I read this right. It made it seem like that Galen was okay with it? I don't know it rubbed me wrong in so many ways.

And don't even get me started on woke white girl Kat, who is convinced that she is the "ultimate ally" who wants to push for inclusivity and diversity in all corners. It was extremely unbelievable to me that she acts as this savior that will change all of Vampirdom, and the fact that she keeps bringing up the whole "why don't you join the vampires of color club" to Galen is so messed up in so many aspects. Having a white girl savior in your story is not promoting that diversity.

Oh and there's one other POC in the story, who is Chinese, and they really make her an antagonist and give her almost no redeeming qualities. The author wants to push for this diversity and it could have been SUCH a good way to make a comment about modern society but the lack of that proper representation ruins it completely.

Kat also makes some really weird comments that come off as insensitive to groups of people, such as saying that dresses were nice, but only if "you were a depressed librarian or really obsessed with tarot cards." And this wasn't Kat that said this but at one point a teacher that oversees Vampire Ethics (yes, that's a class) says to Kat "Sometimes debates challenge us, but discomfort helps us grow." Again, don't really know how I feel about that line.

The relationships were so messy to the point that I felt almost no chemistry from these characters, especially from Taylor and Kat. I didn't care at all about these characters. Even the ending was beyond messy. For how complicated this world was, the ending was somehow wrapped up with a pretty bow when it shouldn't have been. The people you expect to be the villains are the villains, no plot twists or nothing. It ruined the ending for me.

While Youngblood had the potential to be this inclusive, queer and powerful book that brings in massive commentary on our own world. Instead, it tried too hard that it became the opposite of what it was trying to preach. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

I received a copy of this story as an ARC from NetGalley and Penguin Teen. Any and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm sad to say that this book did not hit the mark for me. It only took a few chapters for me to find the main character lacking. I didn't like anything about her or the other characters. Other problems I found in the book but I think those have been covered by other reviewers already.

Thanks to PenguinTeen for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this one. I mean, sapphic vampires at a prestigious vampire boarding school? Sign me up! But it fell flat for me. Some of the characters were annoyingly obtuse and a lot of the really interesting worldbuilding wasn't ever explored or expanded upon. Interesting premise, but that's about all I can say for it.

I was so, so excited about this book. Unfortunately, after encountering some really unsettling approaches to/attitudes about colonialism, race, and power imbalances, I was unable to finish it. The premise was so strong! The cover was so good! I wish I'd been able to enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped to, but I couldn't look past passages that really could have used another sensitivity reader and some more critical thought. Maybe next time?

I will not be reviewing this one. I am aware that there was offensive language found in it and I did not want to read this one because of it. Thank you for giving me the chance, but I'd rather not.

I was having fun with this romance and was super excited about the comparison to Vampire Academy. When I started reading it I could see this comparison and how it would focus on class dynamics. I thought okay this is great! However, as I kept reading I felt exceedingly more and more uncomfortable with the events of the book. I could not pinpoint why and found myself putting the book down and reading something else. After a few days, I came to the conclusion that I was not satisfied with the main character. Kat comes from a poor family and attends this prestigious and elitist private vampire school. She is constantly reminding the reader of her economic background, which got annoying pretty fast. I guess it made sense because she was obsessed with status. Another thing that disliked about Kat was how performative she was. It felt as if she was checking off boxes to get “woke” points. She would ask questions about the diversity in school, but wouldn’t actually do something. She was more interested in how to learn to use her privilege to get her ahead. Also, I just found her POV insufferable because ALL she cared about was status. It was all she talked about and constantly complained. Any characters of color in this narrative are painted as villains or erased from the narrative. There is one particular instance of a colonizer being excused, which was horrible. This book was a massive disappointment and would not recommend it.

Review posted on Goodreads (March 31, 2022)
Review linked.

I am personally taking down my review because, due to my white privilege, I did not see the issues that this book had within it. I recommend looking at own-voice reviews that discuss the issues within the book and I apologize for my part in promoting it and not seeing the issues.

Personally I really enjoyed this one. I think the point of this book was to show Kat battling through the prejudiced stereotypes that many are surrounded by. Showing her battling within herself of standing up for what she knows is right and her need to appease an authoritative figure she looked up to.

In my honest opinion, Kat was developed greatly as a character in her situation/surroundings. Was it as thorough as it could’ve been? No. Was there a distinct line between what was wrong and what wasn’t? No. But I think that’s the point. Showing, instead of telling in a sense.

For the age group it’s geared towards I think it’s written really well with the topics/concepts it wanted to portray- HOWEVER I am neither Jewish nor a sensitivity reader so I don’t think my opinion counts in this case. If other readers are saying this book is problematic and promoting racist stereotypes then I am 100% going to say trust what they’re saying.

DNF for the glorification of colonialism and a performative white savior/ally plotline that just was not it

I read this book prior to being made aware of the problematic issues other reviewers have rightly pointed out. At the beginning I was very excited because the MC is from Sacramento and works in EDH and I am in the Sacramento area. And while I thought the description of the country club in El Dorado Hills was probably pretty accurate, I found myself wondering what school Kat went to in Sac that was as woke as she made it sound. In my experience, Sacramento is not nearly as progressive as the book describes. But that's the least of the issues here.

Kat, as I mentioned is super woke. But it comes across as white saviorism rather than allyship. She bemoans the lack of diversity at her new school's campus, but does nothing to try to change the status quo or, indeed, to befriend the students of color who are there. She asks for the pronouns of the only openly gay character at the school, but doesn't ask for pronouns for anyone else.

I was listening to the audiobook on 2x speed while multitasking, so I somehow missed the reference to the British East India Company being "not as bad as it sounds." But when I read about it in another review... Ick. I'll let other own voices reviewers speak to the problems that raises, as well as the anti-Semitism and internalized homophobia that run rampant in this book.

The mystery surrounding the disease and search for the cure were fine I guess.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Net Galley for the complimentary review copy of this book, but I'm afraid I won't be promoting it on my social media.

Well this one was a lot of fun! Kat Transfers to an elite academy (for vampires) where she ends up sharing a room with former friend Taylor. The pair put aside their differences to solve some mysteries and things the higher-ups are covering up. This was fun and I'm so glad it was diverse and fun!

Fun and adventurous - Youngblood takes off running, setting you immediately inside of a different world where vampire teens can attempt to hide in plain sight. This is a good recommendation for queer teens searching for something more drama-filled than romantic.

My book club picked this as our August read and I was so excited to finally have a book handy to get a jump start on reading. Vampires? Check. Boarding schools? Check. I stayed up late reading this and got about 25% in before I started falling asleep, NOT because of the book, but because it was 2am. I was loving this one.

Until I wasn't.

I think the author tried to be so inclusive of everyone that she missed quality and went for quantity. And not only did she miss the quality of the remarks but she made some pretty messed up microaggressive comments with racism thrown in. In the end it was Kate, the MC, being the white girl with the savior complex. Don't do that. Don't ever do that.

Makes me wonder who edited this book and didn't catch onto the NUMEROUS issues this book has.

I will read anything with vampires and boarding schools because those are two of my favorite things. I overall enjoyed this one but have a few gripes. 1- Kat is almost overly good to the point of annoyance. 2- All the action is in the last 25% and I feel like the pacing could have been better. 3- There is some problematic aspects with the queer rep which I would recommend looking at OV reviews before reading this one.

there is actually too many problematic aspects of this book to unpack oml. the woke white main character made me mad the entire novel and i just could not get through it after i heard about everything else included in this.

thank you to Netgalley and Penguin teen for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

DNF @25%

I saw some 1 star reviews before I started this book and based on the information in them, I didn't think this novel would be for me. I still wanted to give it a fair shot, and I want to give it the props that the idea is good. However, when your novel focuses on racist and homophobic statements to cause "conflict" or just show how "cool" your MC is, you need to reevaluate that. There would have been plenty of "issues" for the MC to focus on without those comments. And also the MC isn't likable. As a reader, it's hard for me to connect with an MC who doesn't have any flaws.

It's a pass from me.

This was quite juvenile and I could not just follow along especially in the beginning. It did not hold my attention unfortunately.

Youngblood by Sasha Laurens; Razorbill, 416 pages ($19.99). Ages 14 to 17.

Sasha Laurens, author of YA fantasy "A Wicked Magic," offers political intrigue, a murder mystery and pointed commentary on class privilege and homophobia in this engaging queer romance set in an elite boarding school for vampires.

Her vampires inhabit a world ravaged for the past 20 years by a new virus known as CFaD, "clotting factor disorder" that has infected more than half the human population. Vampires who feed on infected humans die instantly; only the creation of an expensive commercial blood substitute known as Hema has saved vampires from extinction.

High school junior Katherine "Kat" Finn is a Youngblood, one of a generation of vampires who were born, not turned. She and her vampire mother have always lived among humans, scraping by financially and barely able to afford the Hema they need to stay alive. Kat has always hidden her vampire nature – and her Hema diet – from her human friends at public school but, against her mother's wishes, applies for and wins admission to the exclusive Harcote School for vampires. Tired of being poor, Kat sees Harcote as a way to achieve "safety, stability, a life where I'd never worry about accidentally committing a murder-suicide if my bank account ran too low."

The scheming of a wealthy classmate makes Kat roommates with Taylor Granger, the "gay weirdo" at Harcote and Kat's former closest friend. The brilliant, funny narrative voice alternates between Kat and Taylor, as the two navigate old betrayals amid boarding school intrigue as a forbidden reunionist movement promotes the revolutionary idea that vampires and humans can coexist.

Will not be reading or reviewing due to racist and pro-colonization content as mentioned by many reviewers. But thank you to the publishing company for the ARC!

We all love a badass teenage vampire story, and Youngblood was amazing! We don't really see enough queer vampire books. so when I had the chance to read this before its release date, I was thanking my lucky stars! Please give this book a chance!