I LOVED this book! This was everything I could have asked for and more in a sapphic vampire book! I really enjoyed how the plot and the vampire politics made this story a bit more unique than from other vampire school books! The characters were also so well written!

Youngblood follows Kat who is a vampire living in the human world. One day she gets accepted into a vapmire boarding school. Taylor comes from a wealthy vampire and goes to the boarding school. On move in day Taylor finds Kat in her room. Taylor and Kat used to be friends a long time ago but then had falling out. One day Taylor finds a dead body and her and Kat team up to find out what happened. They leanr that the school is hiding deep secerts. While they spend time toegher there friendship mends and there might be hope for them after all.

I really did not enjoy this book that much. I really liked the beinging but then it just got so slow in the middle. And by the time the end of the book happened I really didn't care. This book sounded so good but just really ended up missing the mark for me. I really thought it was going to be alove story mytery kind of book. And it just wasn't. This book felt super young to me. Mabye it is because it is a YA book and I am adult. The writing just felt super young. I found myself board reading this one. I am sad I did not like this one because it sounded great.

When I heard about a new YA release about sapphic vampires at boarding school, I immediately knew that I had to get my hands on it. I’m not much of a paranormal reader, but I simply couldn’t resist picking up Youngblood. If I had to describe Youngblood as other media, I’d probably say it reminds me of The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith. I went in really not expecting anything, given that I didn’t have a particularly strong attachment to most vampire stories, only to find that Youngblood was everything I wanted, and more, and I’m so glad that I got the chance to read it early.

Told in dual point-of-view, Youngblood follows Kat Finn and Taylor Sanger, a pair of estranged childhood best friends, who team up to uncover a campus conspiracy and change Vampiredom forever. For as long as she can remember, Kat’s life has simply been just her and her mother, save for the few years they lived in the Sanger’s guesthouse. In this world, all vampires survive off of Hema, a ridiculously pricey blood substitute, as most of humanity has been infected with a virus that is fatal to vampires. As the cost of Hema exponentially increases, Kat and her mother have struggled to make ends meet. Between hiding her true self as a vampire, constantly masquerading amongst humans, and their financial state, it’s no surprise that Kat is overjoyed at the prospect of attending the Harcote School with all her expenses and tuition paid by a mysterious benefactor. The Harcote School is one of the most prestigious boarding schools, with a single-digit acceptance rate, but what most people don’t know is that it’s only for vampires. It isn’t until she arrives at Harcote that she realizes her new roommate is Taylor; the girl she grew up with, and the reason why her and her mother were kicked out of the Sanger home.

On the other hand, Taylor Sanger is simply counting the days until she’s done with the Harcote School, a place riddled with conservative values. As the only out lesbian on campus, and someone who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, she’s not exactly the most popular person at Harcote — and especially not in Kat’s eyes. To Taylor, she’s unsure why her childhood best friend — and lifelong crush — randomly packed her bags, moved away, and completely cut off all contact between the two of them. But when Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat has a startling realization about the school — and Vampiredom, the two of them must team up to uncover the connection between Hema, Harcote, and the two of them.

There were many things I appreciated about Youngblood, but ultimately, what I appreciate the most about it is how thoughtfully written it was. Upon reuniting for the first time in three years, tensions are high between Kat and Taylor, but they still check in and ask what each other’s pronouns are. Something that I also noticed is that Sasha Laurens consciously wrote what race or ethnicity each character was, not just when it was a character of color, but also when they were white. I think most readers just assume that white is the default, and to see that despite Harcote’s predominantly white student body (which is also addressed in the book a couple times), Laurens intentionally describes each character’s ethnicity with care. I also really appreciated that Laurens uses the word “lesbian” on page multiple times throughout the book, and encourage you to check out this thread that Theresa from libraryofsappho wrote!

When going into this book, I didn’t realize how much of a commentary it would be on our society, and I truly value it for that. Youngblood primarily delves into classism, food access, and what it means to stand up for yourself and the values you believe in, among other things, but it also does get at some other topics. I particularly appreciated how privilege was discussed, especially with the character of Galen, Harcote’s golden boy, and Kat’s boyfriend. In Youngblood, Galen is very much a foil for Kat — he’s rich, he knows who his fangmaker is, and has been sheltered into Vampiredom his entire life. Galen doesn’t need to concern himself with how humans are treated, or who has Hema. It takes his relationship with Kat to open up his eyes, and I found his journey to be interesting, albeit predictable.

“I was supposed to help him through this emotional crisis. I knew more about his privilege than he probably ever would. Wasn’t it my responsibility to teach him? To be his manic pixie emotional laborer? I didn’t want to be the thing that woke him up.”

A subplot of Youngblood is Kat questioning her sexuality, and I really appreciated the juxtaposition Laurens presents, between Kat realizing her sexuality a bit later, in comparison to her two human best friends, who have known their entire life. There isn’t a timeline to figuring out your identity, and I just really appreciated seeing that represented on page.

As our main characters, I found both Kat and Taylor to be compelling, and I found myself quite invested in the two of them. I appreciated that the story was told in dual-POV, and I firmly believe it wouldn’t have packed a punch in a similar manner if we’d only gotten Kat’s POV, or Taylor’s. Both of them grew quite a bit over the course of the book, and really came into themselves. Kat and Taylor both had to figure out what it meant to be queer, what it meant to be a vampire, and more importantly, who they were and what they stood for.

The mystery aspect of Youngblood was honestly really predictable, but I also didn’t particularly care. I felt like the plot moved at a pretty fast-pace, kept me engaged, and I was just having a fun time following Kat and Taylor on their journey! That being said, I felt like the last 20% of the book felt very rushed, and would’ve liked to see more dedication to the fall out, and the resolution. It’s not often that I say this, but I do wish that this book had been longer. I would’ve loved to see how the rest of the cast fared after the ending of Youngblood, but overall, I’d highly recommend Youngblood! I can’t wait to reread it once it comes out.

Officially 3.5!

I've never read the Vampire Academy books but this is what I imagine them to be like lol.

This YA book has:
🏳️‍🌈 Slow-burn sapphic romance
🩸 Vampire boarding schools
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 Childhood best friends to lovers
💚 Dual POV
🔎 Solving a campus mystery

If you're reading this just for the romance, believe me when I say SLOW BURN!! I had my issues with the plot pacing and other things, but it was entertaining and fun!!

Thanks Penguin Teen for this advanced e-book copy.

Sasha Laurens' YOUNGBLOOD is a fun read. That's not to say it's fluff--no, it's very clever in its spin on vampire myths and lore. The tone is very fang-in-cheek from the first image of Kat at her summer job. Then we get classroom discussions on "vampire" morality and "traditionalists" ("travs") vs. "reunionists," which give the reader something to ponder. It could be an allegory for humans in the US today--and Laurens ties it all together in a unified, satisfying way. This is a book I'll be using with my creative writing students, specifically to give them an example of how old tropes and myths can be given fresh, vibrant energy and feel grounded instead of always requiring an over-the-top satire.

Vampire Academy but modernized and with lesbians.

Overall, this was a fun sapphic read. I liked watching Kat have to come to realize she did like girls. And to see how Taylor navigated a semi toxic hookup relationship.

The story seems like it’s going to get into the plot fairly quickly, but it doesn’t. This is very much so a slow read.

The twist with Radtke was easy to see. As was the twist with Victor… ish.

This was so much fun! I really enjoyed the Vampire Academy and Carmilla aspects of the book. The friends to enemies to lovers plot was incredibly fluffy and tension filled and I enjoyed it so much! I loved how much these characters fully embodied teenagers in their flawed and emotive ways. This will be a great book for curriculum reading!!

I loved this one! It was super fun and definitely a quick read since I was so into it. It gives me hope for this whole vampire revival phase we are jumping into lately.

The romance was 100% the best part of this book. The mutual pining was just *chef’s kiss* it hurt. Childhood bffs to enemies to lovers. Need I say more? Oh, did I mention it’s gay? Because yeah, it’s gay. And they actually say the word “lesbian” many times! Hooray! My standards are so low it’s horrifying! Taylor is actually the literal love of my life. Her sarcasm, her “I hate everyone but her” vibes, her defiance of the status quo? Amazing. I loved Kat too, but no offence she was kinda… dumb. Sorry Kat, nothing personal just the truth. Also there was a love confession in the rain (kinda) (if you read it you’ll see what I mean).

The mystery plot definitely took a backseat to the romance, at least for me. The conclusion was not obvious, but if you tried you could definitely figure it out faster than the main characters did. The miscommunication, the stupidity, the not seeing what’s right in front of their faces. So frustrating.

This book claims to be dark academia, and it definitely started out that way but the vibes faded fast. I think they went to class maybe three times total? And Kat did homework once. But the setting as a whole was very dark academia.

Moving on to the representation. The queer rep did not disappoint. However, every character but one was white, but it was kind of on purpose?? The author made a point of Kat pointing out the lack of POC students at Harcote, but like, I kind of feel like, just add them? Idk, I know she was probably trying to draw attention to the lack of inclusivity in the dark academia aesthetic but this is a YA novel, not an essay. Personally, I think it would have been better to have some POC characters, but I understand what was attempted.

Some of the dialogue, especially in the beginning, was super awkward, but by the end I did not notice anymore. Overall, this was super fun to read, I was completely sucked in and the romance was A+++++++.

CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS BUT MAKE IT ABOUT LESBIANS AND MAKE IT ABOUT VAMPIRES?!?! THIS IS THE BOOK OF MY DREAMS!! i actually really liked this and really enjoyed all the political aspects of this which i found really interesting

This is a no-spoilers review.
First off thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Secondly, this novel is being marketed for fans of the vampire diaries. I have never read/watched that work, but I did watch True Blood so my vampiric frame of reference comes from that show.
If you would have asked me how I felt the first 50% of this novel I would have told you that I was absolutely engrossed in this novel and it was on its way to being a 5 star review (check my stats I don't give a ton of those out). However, while Laurens is able to set up a really interesting world, plot lines, and characters I don't feel like she knew how to sustain the intrigue/juggle all the plot lines for the length of the novel and then just wanted to wrap it up once our leads move from enemies to lovers and wrap up that trope. The back half of the novel is both boring and rushed towards the end. Like so incredibly rushed we got 5% of the total page count of the book to over throw the primary antagonist and wrap up the story with all characters attempting to have a resolution. No No give your characters a few extra pages of breathing room please!

Pros: This is teen True Blood set an elitist vampiric boarding school. Sign me up! The supporting characters were the appropriate level of "bitchy" and fun and them being sheltered lets you believe some of their actions are genuine not just "mean girl." I really loved Kat as our Main POV with Taylor being our other POV. I just didn't like Taylor as much because she came across as stubborn purposely while Kat felt genuine in her actions. The school of Harcote was well imagined and detailed. I enjoyed the descriptions and the "titled ceilings" of the girls room. It all felt so thought out and meant to "suck you in" to the world. The Hema and CFaD plot line is the beefiest ethically and the the novel does a good job of juggling big themes with the target readership being teenagers. I think Laurens never treated her readers as too dumb to understand the ethical concepts, but even if they were she has a class the students attend be an ethics class to debate the themes of the book. This was so fun! The novel is at its best when it is not taking itself WAY to seriously, but instead walks the line.
The mediocore but not bad: The mean girls of Evangaline and Lucy were interesting and more fleshed out than average supporting characters. Evangaline has a nice arc about using Taylor to discover her sexuality and how by the end she realizes how wrong she has been to use a person to do this and becomes a better person. Lucy doesn't get the same closure, but provides a good bit of the ethical dilemmas Kat must struggle with in the early half of the novel.

The Bad: There are two main gripes I have. First off is Galen throughout is the most annoying and unsympathetic character and we are forced to spend so much time with him, but in a way where he feels forced. I never liked him and Kat spends a ton of time with him and not only that she spends the time with him begrudgingly so she doesn’t want to be there and I surely don’t want to be there, but here we are spending a good chunk of the book with interactions between them and a forced relationship between the two (as though there was really enough of a build up). That is the big issue with the book that is my second issue, it has SO MUCH it is trying to do that some of the plot lines just wither and don’t have enough “meat” to justify the events of the book. The revel of the main villain was super obvious, but not because the book made it obvious, the book said almost nothing and it was like “yeah who else would it be?” we have spent the whole book with barely any development for some of these characters, but at least they were introduced so it has got to be them!

The ending is so rushed that its borderline whiplash. I have no idea why we spent hundreds of pages on a slow burn will they won’t they romance just for the whole book to wrap in like 20 pages.
Overall – I really loved this novel and want it to succeed. Sometimes when you read an ARC you just want everyone too, but the book isn’t out yet so I really hope this book finds an audience as I think it has a lot of potential. It is fine as a standalone, but this is one of those moments were I wish it was a duology as it would have allowed the book to breathe without the rushed ending.

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

(14-March edit: Author has confirmed the reference will be removed! Am very excited!)
I really enjoyed this one, but the HP reference at 93% was really unnecessary. WHY!? Especially in a queer book. WHY!?

Youngblood follows estranged best friends Kat Finn and Taylor Sanger. As vampires, both of them are dependent on Hema, a blood substitute. But their access to Hema is very different. Kat and her mother live in poverty and can barely afford Hema and their rent. When Kat is offered a full ride scholarship and all other expenses paid to Harcote School, a private academy, for young vampires, she jumps at the chance to lift a burden from her mother.

When Kat and Taylor become roommates, they decide to be civil with each other. When Taylor finds the body of her vampire teacher and Kat unearths secrets in the school archive, the two realize much more is happening at Harcote than any of the other students realize. Taylor has always been an out and proud lesbian, and Kat has always thought she was straight, but she comes to think that she might have feelings for her roommate after all.

I really enjoyed this one. I love boarding school stories. I was so excited to see one about queer vampires finally. Gave me so many Vampire Academy vibes, but even better! I loved both Kat and Taylor as characters. The chemistry between these two was almost unbearable. I swear I spent most of this book going "Kiss Already!". It was such a great slow burn, and I really appreciated seeing Kat's questioning journey on page, I think a lot of sapphic queer people will relate.

One thing that did bug me was that Kat is all for social justice activism, but refers to multiple people as "guys". She disparages the Headmaster for using "ladies and gentleman" as a non-inclusive phrase (and she's right), but she also doesn't use gender neutral language. Guys is not a gender neutral term, but some that are: y'all, people, everyone, friends, cowards etc. Making an inherently masculine term the default is the opposite of being gender neutral. It really bugs me that she seemed to be so progressive on similar issues, but not this one? Made me sad.

Rep: white questioning-sapphic female MC, white lesbian female MC, white queer nonbinary side character, Salvadorian gay male side character, Chinese female side character, biracial white-Indian male side character, Black side character (briefly mentioned).

CWs: Lesbophobia/lesbomisia, blood, murder, violence, panic attack. Moderate: general queerphobia/queermisia, racism, ableist language, biological warfare, death, medical content.

Youngblood is good for fans of Vampire Diaries and Dark Academia books. I’m a fan of both which is why I requested to review this. There’s a lot of drama and I wish there was more romance. Overall, it’s a compelling story!

Holy moly!!! My queer heart has never wanted to live out vampiric/dark academia so hard. I absolutely loved Taylor and I have a soft spot in my heart for Kat. This book was a whirlwind in the best possible way. And I NEED EVERYONE TO GO READ IT! There’s love, there’s drama, there’s vampires, there’s mystery…ugh. Just so freaking good!

(As someone who is lowkey OBSESSED with vampires, this book has to be my favorite take on them yet.)

It's been decades since CFaD, a blood-borne disease in humans that is fatal to vampires, has ravaged vampire populations and made it near impossible for vampires to feed on humans. But thanks to Hema, a blood substitute created by CasTech, vampires have managed to stay alive (or well... undead). Until the Black Foundation can find a cure for CFaD, vampires are reliant on Hema.

Katherine Finn, or Kat, is a Youngblood, meaning she is a vampire born from vampires, no human turning necessary. When she is given the opportunity to attend Harcote Academy, a school specifically for Youngbloods, she is elated. By contrast, Taylor Sanger, who has attended Harcote Academy for three years, is less than joyful at Kat's arrival. The two quickly become entangled in a decades old conspiracy that threatens all of Vampiredom.

Although that seems like a lot of lore and new terms, this book does an amazing job at explaining the current state of vampires in a natural way. The world-building is spectacularly well done, and made me wish, as I often do, that vampires were real. The plot of this book was also amazingly developed, with Kat and Taylor having clear voices and motivations for their actions, and of course, having beautiful chemistry and a sweeter romance. Kat's journey of self-discovery was really refreshing to see, and I related to her in more ways than one (cough the comphet relationship cough). The main "mystery" of the book was also really engaging, and I read through several of my classes because of how interested I was in the story.

In short, if you like vampires, sapphic enemies-to-lovers romances, neat mysteries, and moving characters, I *highly* recommend this book. This book ties with the Shadowhunter series for my favorite representation of vampires in modern media.