Told in two parts, this is a novel obsessed by desire and need, life and death. In the first part, we meet a vampire who has traveled from Europe to Buenos Aires, Argentina, watching it grow from a small port city to a bustling symbol of the New World. Her story is entrancing as is her sway over her victims. In part two, we meet a young mother in present day Buenos Aires, struggling with her mother's impending death. When her mother gives her a mysterious key, her life changes forever. Sensuous and lyrical prose capture the intricacies of living in the face of death. Definitely erotic, but this one is more literary than romantic.

I really enjoyed this book. It was creepy, gothic, and entertaining. I love a slow burn with vampires and this certainly fit the bill!

this immediately went on my recommended shelf and on displays at the shop. i cannot express how much i enjoyed this story about grief and queer love that i just ---omg i can't even give it a proper review. thank you penguin for sending it my way.

Queer with literary aspirations, Thirst manages to achieve its queer goals while dropping the ball on the literary ones. Having read it in English, this may be something lost in translation, and I hesitate to consider this my final review as a result and fully intend on reading the original.

Wow, this book surprised me in many ways!

I want to start by talking about the genre of this book because it being marketed as a Sapphic romance is completely incorrect. I would describe this book as a mix of gothic horror and literary fiction, with paranornal elements (yes, thirst is referring to a vampire). Romance is not a part of this book at all. Seduction? Sure. But not of the romantic variety.

The book focuses on 2 time periods, one in the past with an unnamed vampire and one in the future with a human, Alba. It is set, primarily, in Buenos Aires. The first part of the book follows a vampire escaping Europe (I think?) and arriving in Buenos Aires during the plague. As suggested by the name, her insatiable thirst drives her recklessness. At the same time, this creature filled with bloodlust often comes across as utterly human. An old, immortal creature still stuck in the traumas of her childhood. A being desperate to belong while often murdering those that could give her that sense of belonging. The first part is dark, grisly, gruesome, yet intrancing.

Then, we see abruptly pulled into the present. Alba is a very normal person, going through normal suffering. She's newly divorced, has a toddler, is on a leave of absence from work, and her mother is dying. These are normal things that many adults will go through, and yet, anyone who has gone through just one of these knows that you are not the same person on the other side of them. Personally, Alba's relationship with her dying mother was excruciating for me to read. I don't say that in a negative sense. Rather, it was so similar to my own lived experience that I found myself highlighting entire paragraphs, sobbing, and having to read so slowly. While I've seen other reviewers say they found this section slow, I found it quite the opposite. I was so engrossed and frequently returned to those passages. Rather than a fast death that so many of our vampire's victims experience, Alba's mother is dying a slow, debilitating, and painful death.

And finally, the ending. Without spoiling anything, I will say Alba's decision resonated deeply with me. Her decision is born of loss and grief so great in a world that expects mothers to cope and cope and cope, and always put our children first. I understand the darkness she is in. I understand not wanting to move forward with life as you know it, when your life has completely shattered. I actually found her decision true to get character and compelling.

I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me with a copy to read!

While I do enjoy vampires and books about them, I find that I gravitate towards a specific type of book and storytelling. I’m very pleased that this book fit that specific type!

I will say that I enjoyed the first half the most. I adore reading about immortal characters and how they live through centuries, watching as the world changes. I eat it up every time! There many times when I thought I knew what was gonna happen, only for the story to take a different direction and it kept me on my toes the whole time! Also, the scenery and descriptions of 19th century Buenos Aires were incredible!

As for the second part, while I did empathize with the human character and I was interested in everything that was going on with her mother, I wasn’t as connected to her story. Her character wasn’t very likable to me, and I didn’t understand her motives sometimes.

The ending definitely surprised me but again, I didn’t feel like I understood the motive behind it.

But definitely enjoyed it and recommend if you’re looking for a good vampire story that’s a little more gritty!

When I heard “sapphic gothic vampires” I ran to request the arc but unfortunately the concept was better than the execution and it just fell flat. I know a lot of people loved it but it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks Penguin Random House - Dutton for the review copy!

Loved the idea of this book. Who can resist queer vampires?! Not me! Loved the combo of real and imagined, so humanizing.

I had a goal this year to read more books in translation, so I started this even though I am a little burnt out on vampire stories. That said, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! The story weaves between the past and present, which can be hard to balance, but neither storyline is neglected.

The premise of this book was promising; however, the writing and prose itself were underwhelming. For any author approaching a period piece, the writing should fit the period that they are going for otherwise, the story will fall flat as Thirst did for me, unfortunately,

The pros for me would be the writing / translation. Well written and well translated. It painted a picture of Argentina's past and present. The translator made sure the story was smooth.

I liked the first half of the book, and I liked the f/f vibes of the vampire and our female lead in the present. Then, when the vampire sealed herself away for years and we caught up to the present. The book went downhill. I was expecting a female Lestat. You didn't want to root entirely for the female vampire, but you wanted her to cause some trouble, have some sex / get into a relationship, adapt to the new world.

Nah. It just kind of ends and unfortunately you have no idea based on the ending how thing will go for the female lead of the present and her son.

3.5 stars

When I spotted this queer, vampiric, gothic horror on the netgalley shelves I just absolutely had to snatch it up. Unfortunately the description of the book and the lack of depth let me down a bit.
I'd say go in knowing it is more like two short stories that are woven together at the end of the book and the vampire-ness is only really in the first part ("short story') of the novel.

Firstly, the gothic vibes are on point here, and the idea behind the book is brilliant! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Yuszczuk's next release.

I found a lot of the descriptions to be good, but the overall writing and length of the book could've been turned up a notch. I felt a lack of depth in the characters and a rush to get through the plot, so by the ending I still wasn't drawn to the characters or impacted by the final scenes. I think there could've been more emphasis and exploration around love, yearning and obsession, or grieving a loved one as they're coming to the end of their life. These literary themes mixed into a gothic literary horror spanning two points in time, with another 50-100 pages would've just been *chefs kiss*.

I will say, I did thoroughly enjoy the first story/part, following our vampire as she is trying to find her place in a constantly evolving and threatening time. It was gruesome, a little weird, eerie, sensual, intriguing and fast-paced. Probably a 4.5 for me, it's a shame the second half was so jarringly different.

Still, I enjoyed my time here and I wouldn't not recommend it if it sounds interesting to any readers!!

Queer vampires? Yes please. Story through time? YES PLEASE. Everything else about this book? Meh. I think maybe I just wanted more. It did not deliver.

I think it is safe to classify this as a certified ~weird girl~ book. More of a stream of consciousness situation.

Although the word is never used, this book is about a vampire. We follow her life as she tries to survive across many countries and centuries battling her thirst. There is sex, murder, plagues - what more could you want??

In seriousness this was a pretty good book. I admit it took me a long time to get through it because it wasn’t very exciting and I didn’t yearn to come back to it after putting it down. It was INTERESTING, but not ENTERTAINING if that makes sense? Glad I read it, it was a cool story, will probably never pick it up again.

Anyway if you are in your sad/weird girl era definitely add this to your list. I can’t say much about the plot but the vibes were great. 3.5 stars.

Centuries pass in the first half, while only a few short months elapse in the second half. Thus are the differences in the scale of time available to the undead and the mortal. Motherhood is explored in both directions-having one and being one- along with the various crises that impact one life ending, one in its middle, and one that is just beginning. If you want to read about those that feed on blood but want to stay somewhat removed from the viscera, this is a good choice. The prose feels quite cold and remote throughout, reflecting the worldview of a primal killer with the capability of feeling or expressing affection only in short bursts before succumbing to their nature.

atmospheric and gothic, with a lot of gorgeous imagery. i thought that the dual structure made for a really complex tale of bodily autonomy and womanhood. plus, who doesn't love lesbian vampires?

This wasn’t quite what I had expected but it was still an interesting story. It felt birth rushed and too slow at some parts and I did skim through some longer sections.

This was an excellent read. I loved the writing and the depth explored with each character. I would read this author again

This book caught my attention because of the cover (stunning!) and the premise. A Gothic sapphic story with a vampire and a human? Count me in! However, the execution left much to be desired.
In Thirst, we have two timelines and distinct points of view: first, we follow a vampire who flees Europe at the dawn of World War II and takes refuge in Buenos Aires. The descriptions of the city, its development throughout the decades, and the scenes set in Cementerio del Norte (nowadays called Recoleta), were definitely highlights of this book. However, the city seems more real, well-described, and with greater depth than the characters themselves.
I was very happy to read a book by an Argentine female author, but unfortunately, the writing did not stand out to me, and neither did the voices of the two protagonists, which were virtually identical. In the present, we follow a single mother dealing with her mother's degenerative disease. This part was the most engaging for me because I could clearly feel her pain and put myself in her shoes. However, I believe it was a marketing mistake to promote this novel as a queer romance, given that the characters only interact after 80% of the book, and a completely unbelievable instalove develops between them, which means the resolution at the end did not please me at all.
Having said that, the background of the book (a historical and then modern Buenos Aires), the gothic descriptions, and some specific moments (the plague that falls upon the city in the 20th century; Alma's human conflicts) made this book a 3-star read for me. I enjoyed reading it, I just expected more, and I'd recommend it to certain audiences.

A lush, gorgeous, engrossing story for anyone who isn't put off by the gruesome "reality" of the mind of a vampire. We follow a wife of Dracula (implied) as she continues her life on into into the modern world after her creator is killed. She discovers mortals that fascinate her, disgust her, and love her all while trying to navigate the changes that come to someone's mind after being alive for centuries. What are the limits of curiosity and cruelty? Then the story makes a huge shift and we are with a young mother navigating the grief of losing her mother to a debilitating illness and losing a bit of herself as she explores her inheritance and the temptation it offers. Did I like the way these women's stories ended - not really. But I loved the ride along the way and can appreciate that, while it wasn't the ending I would have chosen, it was an ending worth reading.

**Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for the eARC**