Oh, my gosh, this debut is so. much. fun.

Deke Moulton has written the middle grade vampire book of my dreams, voicey and adventurous and sincere. It tactfully deconstructs harmful tropes about vampires, marginalization, and othering, all the while boasting an A+ dual-POV sibling dynamic --- and a tense murder subplot to boot.

Victor and Adam have my whole heart. This book is a high recommend to any paranormal fiction lovers, and I cannot WAIT to get my hands on whatever Moulton writes next.

Such a fun, adventurous story with so much heart. A unique twist on vampires that’s filled with the beauties of Jewish lore, found family, and celebrating differences.

As much as I enjoyed this book, this version of the arc was unreadable. I was very disappointed in the quality of formatting this manuscript was sent out in and I wish the publisher had done a better job ensuring they weren’t doing such a disservice to this author. The story and writing were great, but I fear this will be a deterrent for early readers. I understand that this is an uncorrected proof, but the paragraphs were scrambled, there were many occasions where I couldn’t tell who was speaking because of multiple paragraphs being combined into one, several words without any spaces in between, etc. This was especially confusing because this is a multi POV book both in first person. It made for a very disruptive, confusing, and frustrating reading experience and it took me twice as long to read this book than it would normally would have because I had to keep stopping to figure out what was happening.

I have been looking forward to this book since I first saw it announced on Twitter about a year ago. It did not disappoint. Adam and Victor are an amazing duo (also nice Frankenstein reference ;-) though the creature never actually wanted to go by Adam). I love the mom vampires and college-age sibling. The cupboard full of mugs made my heart melt and Adam's friendships with kids in town was adorable. As a Jewish person and a big horror fan, it's nice to see myself in a horror novel and not be the victim or the monster. I can't wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you to the publisher for sharing the ARC through NetGalley. I absolutely loved this book and can't wait for it to be released so others will have the opportunity to read it too. The storyline itself is so engaging and the characters and relationships are so strong. It's so much more than a vampire story. The representation in the book: Jewish, Muslim, LQBTQ+, Korean feels natural. The history of anti-semitism and the creation of the vampire/monster to demonize Jews and other marginalized people is woven in perfectly. The book is thought provoking in its examination of who is a monster and the back matter alone left me wanting to read more. I highly recommend this book..

So good! A compelling middle grade paranormal mystery with a close-knit family and a fresh take on vampires

"Don't Want to Be Your Monster" is a Jewish vampire book that packs a hefty emotional punch mixed with a strong flavor of brotherhood and family, a loveable queer vampire found family, a fun dash of adventure, and some very cool takes on vampire lore. The way that themes of oppression and othering weave into the story are super powerful--and that author's note, wow.

I am an absolute sucker for all things vampires, so of course, there was zero chance I was going to miss this one. DON'T WANT TO BE YOUR MONSTER follows two vampire brothers whose town has suddenly become the hunting ground of a serial killer. Adam just wants to make friends and be part of the world beyond his house, Victor is striving to understand what it is to be a vampire. When Adam makes friends with mortals trying to catch the murderer, he starts keeping secrets from everyone, even Victor. I would have loved to gone a little deeper into Victor's point of view as he searches for his place in his family and who he is. And I'd love some more about the vampire hunter turned serial killer, because let's face it, killing people as bait is pretty messed up. Who is this guy?! But I love the brotherly bond between Adam and Victor, and Victor's protective instincts. This is a fun read for vampire loving kids with a twist on the typical vampire lore with Jewish and queer representation, and I certainly hope there is more of these brothers coming!

this was such a good concept in the vampire genre, I loved the use of mystery and thought it had a great story going on. I enjoyed the characters and had what I was looking for in this type of book. The plot does exactly what I was looking for. Deke Moulton has a great writing style and I'm excited to read more from them.

"Stopping the vampire hunter is a win-win-win. So why do I feel so nervous? I get to the edge of the cemetery. I wrap my scarf tightly around my mouth before I run up to meet Shoshana and Luis, and that’s the proof right there of why I’m so nervous. Even if everything I’m doing is right, I still have to hide who I am from my two mortal friends."

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for my highest review! I really enjoyed this book. Way more than I thought. Middle grade/children’s books have never been my thing but this was actually interesting.

Deke did an amazing job at discussion and helping to dismantle some harmful tropes. I hadn’t even realized how a lot of vampire tropes boil down to antisemitism I wasn’t even aware of. I also learned a lot about being Jewish and some practices I hadn’t ever heard of. I love books where I learn new things! And I really hope kids get these same lessons as well.

This book is about 2 brothers who have to learn to tolerate each other as well as learn to be vampires. Adam is 10 and Victor is 14. I really appreciated the sibling dynamic they had and how real it felt. Both Victor and Adam crave more from their lives than drinking blood from patients at the hospital and doing schoolwork. Adam wants friends who are mortals and Victor wants to learn to do cool vampire tricks.

The Lost Boys were referenced so much in this book and it’s been like a million years since I’ve seen it so I guess I have to revisit. This has sparked a new curiosity in me.

This was a really well done debut and I’m looking forward to what Deke has next. Plus now I don’t feel bad about my stickers when I’ve read the book! Thanks again!