This book had such strong potential since it had parts of being a sexy sapphic vampire story. The plot was interesting enough but it just really dragged and didn't do much. The change in POV was also so abrupt and really shifted the vibe of the whole book into a depressing path. There wasn't enough done to make the ending decision not feel out of left field.

a story told in two parts with two different main characters. we have our vampire at the beginning of the story, and we can see how she struggles through the years to survive and find a way to feed but also with the need to connect to people and find company while being considered a monster. it shows a different kind of grief, i think it kinda shows her grief for herself and for parts of her past, and the many lives she has to live and take to survive.
menawhile in the second part we have another woman grieving the lost of her mother while she's still alive, seeing how someone you love slowly dies it's a different kind of grief, slower, more intense in my opinion. the way these two characters come to cross paths felt so right for our second main character, she needed her in a way nobody else could understand.
they both had to make decisions during their lives that would alter their future based only on the feelings they were feeling at the moment.
it's a short read and easy to understand and enjoy.
3.5 stars.

The story is told in two parts, the first part focuses on the vampire with past timelines set in the 19th century in Buenos Aires. I enjoyed this part the most, I found the vampire to be mesmerizing, side note- I love that she is an unnamed character, it adds an element of mystery to her. It was very interesting entering the mind of a vampire that had to adjust to life alone and learn how to feed without being noticed and hunted. She is very calculated and violent, honestly if she were to choose me as her next victim I wouldn't stand a chance, that's how in awe I was of her lol There is beauty to her brutality. I enjoyed the pieces of history throughout and it flowed well with the life of the vampire as she is witnessing all of these events and changes, it shows how time and time again she is quick to adjust to a new normal. I did feel bad for her at times because she is living this eternal loneliness and there are moments where she has that want for companionship but the risk was always too great. I loved the ending of part one and it was a great bridge to the second part.

Part two happens in present time Buenos Aires and we follow a woman that is not handling life well, her mother has a terminal illness and she also shares custody of her son with her ex. In both parts there is a theme of grief but in this part it is strong. To grieve a parent that passes is extremely hard, but to grieve one that is still physically here and to witness the deterioration right before your eyes is indescribable. Overall our girl is just not in a good headspace to deal with life, friendships and work have taken a backseat and she is doing her best to stay present for her son. The vampire comes into play when part two FMC gets some limited information from her mother and has the key (literally) that can change the course of her life.

Dual timelines, horror, gothic vibes, history, Sapphic, blood thirsty vampire!! Yes please! If you are a fan of literary fiction or want to explore a new genre I would definitely recommend this page turner of a book!

Thank you Net Galley for the eArc! This is my honest review.

"They could never understand this insatiable thirst. Much less this extraordinary, indomitable instinct for survival, which can only be explained by the fact we are beasts."

It began as much did, children led up a mountain to a castle overseeing the land & left as suitable offerings to the beast who resided there. One woman outlasted her maker & then soon lost her sisters before fleeing from the life she had learned to live. Aboard a boat, racked with the loss of her only familial bond & stepping into a new land she soon realizes that the thirst in her will never be satisfied.

As time moves around her, she witnesses the beginning of the city & the fever that nearly took everything away. Told throughout the perspective of our beast, we see what it was really like as they piled bodies on carts & the living became shells of themselves as the sickness took everything from them. Bonds are not easy for her, we see the strain of trying to contain a thirst & keeping the beast within in check. Hundreds of years are never easy, especially when you cannot be left to rest.

Special thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!
I was first intrigued by the cover, then I found out it was vampires & that's all I needed to know before I slapped my hand on the counter ready to get it going.

This story was incredibly interesting, my knowledge of Buenos Aires before this was basically nill so getting not just a history lesson but also a chaotic hot vampire who is in turmoil over where she is supposed to fit in this world. But then to find out that there's a whole other half of the story, another woman who like our vampire, is struggling with life in all its twists & turns. Her mother is deteriorating in front of her eyes, the spark of life going dull as the disease ravages her body & strips the memories of before with her. As her mother falls further into the end, she advises her of a key & soon all of that is the catalyst for the changes in her life.

Loved this book, it was truly vibes over a very strict structure & frankly, I appreciate that. It was a book I had no issues leaving & coming back to as I had other things going on. The characters were wispy illusions of feelings I think are real & that to me is what made this book so good.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. I loved the cultural references - from when the unnamed vampire is "turned" till she goes into hiding, lots of references regarding women's roles and how she kept herself hidden.
Present day highlights the tragedy of a young single mom balancing life and her mother's slow progression to death from a terminal illness. Her mother passes onto her the family secret - a key to a crypt. Neither women posses any information - the daughter delves into the mystery.

For me, the book left me wondering which is the life of horror - watching your mother whither and in pain from terminal illness? A vampire wandering the burgeoning city of Buenos Aires?
A very intriguing read.

THIRST is the feminist gothic vampire novel I didn’t know I needed. I loved how Yuszczuk brings together these two women, one who has witnessed centuries and another dealing with her mother’s impending death. The writing has impeccable vibes and uses the vampire story in a way that feels new. I love a complex female character, and this novel gives us two.. As these two characters move closer together, I found myself needing to read to the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for access to THIRST.

This first part of this book kept me guessing. The main character led us through her beginnings to her unhinged present. I had no idea what she would do or what would be next, but I was thoroughly entertained throughout! Thank you for the ARC!

Thirst is captivating and atmospheric. The prose were lush and the first half of the book felt almost intoxicating and addicting to read but then when we switched to current time, it was harder to get through and felt much slower and a bit weighted down. I will add that slugging through the slow part was worth it in the end!

This was a very interesting and confusing story. Its broken up into two different time periods about two different women who end up meeting in the future. I was confused for most of the second part because i wasnt sure where the storyline was headed but around the 75% mark it started to fall into place. The book and storyline was enjoyable and entertaining but i found myself not really interested in it as much as i thought i would be.

Thirst is an addictive literary fiction read ultimately about the desire to find connection. I loved the elements of mystique, subtle horror, and sapphic romance throughout—even if I was left thirsty for even more.

The first half of the book is written from the perspective of an unnamed vampire, who after fleeing Europe, begins a new life in Buenos Aires and must walk the fine line between satisfying her need for blood and having her identity discovered. This character had such an intriguing backstory, and I was immediately hooked on her half of the novel. I would honestly read an entire prequel devoted to her life with her Master, diving further into detail those first moments of being a vampire which sounds like a fascinating point of view.

The book enters the present day with narration from Alma, a single mother who is afflicted by grief, loneliness, and the weight of her own mother’s declining health. Though overall a compelling read with an accurate representation of grief, the second half of the novel lulls in comparison to the former. It certainly takes time to discover how exactly these two women are intertwined, but it’s rewarding in those moments when they are at the end of the novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the book’s publisher for an advanced copy - so glad I was able to finally get to reading this!

the idea of this book was so fun, but i feel like for a book with a premise this wild, i need to feel grounded in something — whether that be the writing, the characters, or the world. all of those things felt silly or distant, so i had a hard time getting into this book.

Thirst is one of the most phenomenal novels I have read in the past year. The vampiric element of the novel is neither center nor dismissed but rather a beautiful way to discuss femininity, grief, and love in the same vein of Anne Rice and Bram Stoker the Vampire here is much more than just a simple monster or an allegory for sexuality but rather an incredible tool in which we can find ourselves moving through history and through time to discover the essence of what it means to be lonely and human.

I would highly recommend this for both Vampire genre fans, who are looking for a book with great substance and writing, as well as to most literary fiction and horror fans. As not only is what Yuszczuk achieves here comparable to some of the masters of the vampire genre but also to some of her wonderful fellow contemporaries, with similar themes to Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro and Is Mother Dead by Vigdis Hjorth, other two five star reads for me this year. I can't wait to look up more of Yuszczuk's writing and hope that she will have more titles translated to English soon.

Cruel Sapphic Vampires for the win.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

This is my first ever NetGalley* review and I feel like this was a great book to start with due to its fast paced nature. The first part of this book is a stunning historical exhibition that I fell in love with and couldn’t put down. The unnamed narrator is a true morally gray vampire that kept killing people no matter how often I wished she wouldn’t (justice for poor Justina). Her story is told quickly, dramatically, and somewhat emotionlessly due to her inhuman nature, and I loved her all the more for it. I loved Yuszczuk’s storytelling because she breathed life into this history, but I wish that the poetry and nail-biting experience had carried over better to the second, modern-day half of the novel. Here we meet Alma, who is introduced earlier on with her young son Santiago; in this portion I feel like we learn little about Alma besides the connections she has to the people around her, and it makes it hard to connect with her. Both stories connect deeply to death, which seems obvious in a vampire book that primarily takes place in a frightening Buenos Aires cemetery. Our unnamed vampire’s connection to death is reminiscent of obsession, yet as (human) readers we hopefully shouldn’t be able to relate to her. Later on, Alma’s story confronts us with death in a brutally relatable fashion, the death of a parent. Alma witnesses the slow and painful death of her mother, and it makes me wonder if she herself felt like a vampire during that time, as a vampire would also witness the slow death of their loved one over time.

*Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC!

One of my favorite books of the year so far!! And a top contender to be number one. I love the story and the characters and felt like I really was submerged into this world.

Thank you Net Galley for the early copy!

"Thirst" by Marina Yuszczuk (translated by Heather Cleary) weaves together two different stories in different time periods. This explores numerous human emotions: fear of mortality, loneliness, and desire. This is a work of feminist Gothic horror and provides a thought-provoking meditation on the human condition.

In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives in Buenos Aires, with some trauma - witnessing the growth of humanity while they grapple with the ravages of yellow fever. And she's generally pretty monstrous as she lives among them, though she is the product of her circumstances.

Meanwhile, in present-day Buenos Aires, a woman faces her own existential crisis as she confronts her mother's terminal illness and struggles with the challenges of single motherhood. When she encounters the vampire in a cemetery, a profound connection is forged between them, leading to a journey of self-discovery and transformation.

This is the story that most resonated with me. Her journey mirrors the universal experience of grappling with mortality and the complexities of familial relationships, making her character both relatable and compelling.

Overall, this is an atmospheric novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy literary fiction and gothic horror. This begs to be a book club book.

I haven't read a vampire novel since twilight and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It had lesbian representation which was unexpected. Nothing too crazy happened and it felt pretty predictable but it was still enjoyable.

I knew I wanted to read this as soon as I’d heard of it. If the book description sounds interesting to you, I’d highly recommend you read the book before reading reviews. I had a great time discovering things for myself (I personally prefer to go into a book knowing as little as possible). The short version of my review: It’s a great vampire novel that explores grief and loneliness. The writing is beautiful and atmospheric. Much like a vampire, it’s alluring and will pull you into it’s embrace.

We follow two women in two different time periods. The story is told in two parts. First we have an unnamed female narrator recounting the strange events of her life as a vampire. The second part follows Alma who is a divorced mother having to cope with losing her mother to a degenerative disease. Both parts were well written and interesting but I do have to say that I enjoyed the first part a bit more. Without saying too much, I love the way the two stories came together in the end.

For those of us that really love our vampire books, this is for you. This book gets dark, violent, and bloody. It reminded me a bit of Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. This book isn’t afraid to delve into bleak subjects, like how hard it is to lose someone slowly. Alma’s story with her mother was painful to read, as was the vampire’s attempts at connecting with others.

The only criticism that I have is that in the second part of the book slowed down in pace considerably. I also felt that the second part could have been a bit longer as the ending felt a tad abrupt. Otherwise, I’d say this was a perfect book.

I’d recommend this to anyone especially if you’re looking for sapphic vampires, enjoyed Interview with the Vampire, and like books about grief and death. Also, definitely read this if you’re into walks in the cemetery.

I loved this book and I really want to read from this author again. Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and the author for providing me with an ARC for review.

Thank you for the chance to read this book.

I always enjoy a good vampire novel, especially one with an interesting and dark take such as this. First, I love reading books that take place in Argentina and Buenos Aires, and this was a dark, twisted way to view the history and growth of the city. The book itself is split in two: Part 1 focusing on our vampire and Part 2 on Alma, a mother and daughter to an ailing mother herself, coming to terms with the role she has been forced into. I think what I enjoyed most about this was how bestial and feral the vampire is made into, while parts alluded to that sensualness of a predator and the allure of violence and danger, in the end the vampire was a beast fueled by its thirst. Alma longed for something to remove her from the grief and struggle of her life, as a child she had dreamed of something new and grander, but then life with its struggles and disappointments snuck up on her. While she loves her son, she feels she has lost all control especially as she watches her mother deteriorate from a paralyzing disease. How the pair: vampire and woman meet creates a propelling and dangerous ending to this book. Very good, a quick read, and at times very poignant.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great sapphic vampire story. I really enjoyed following both point of views but the first POV was definitely my favorite.

This wasn’t what I thought it would be, and honestly didn’t connect for me. The first 1/3-ish of this novel intrigued me but the back half dragged and left a lot to be desired. I really wanted to like this, but I don’t think this really came together by the end and unfortunately it was not for me.