Brennan’s journey from barely surviving to full on vampire chaos was emotional, messy, and surprisingly heartwarming. His struggle with mental health felt real, and adding vampire drama on top of that? Bold move, and it actually works. The romance with Cole is sweet, awkward, and gave me a lot of those YA butterflies.

There’s a good balance of humor and depth, though at times the plot felt a little busy animal attacks, blood bags, ancient vampire clans, oh my but it kept the pace snappy. Some of the vampire politics got a little murky, and a few characters felt like they were just there to move things along, but it didn’t ruin the experience.

Overall, this was a queer paranormal rom-com that wasn’t afraid to get a little dark while still being tender and fun. I’d totally read the sequel, especially if Cole and Brennan get even cuter (or messier).

This has got to be one of the cutest vampire books I've ever read. I just cozied up and got to reading and it just felt good. Even with some hard hitting topics in the book, the way it was written made it much easier to read about. I felt connected to Brennan and just wanted him to value himself and have him see himself the way others due.
The slow build romance was adorable and I wouldn't have it any other way than the way it played out. The side characters were all fascinating.

Just one thing. Can we know more about Rosie?!

The Good Vampire's Guide to Blood & Boyfriends
by Jamie D'Amato
YA Fantasy Cozy
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Aug 26, 2025
St. Martin's Press
Ages: 16+

For Brennan, a depressed young man, college added to his emotional struggles, and he made an attempt the previous year. But this year, being turned into a vampire added to his emotional state, trying to still pretend everything is alright when actually he's starting to spiral. This is made worse by the rumor that a student had disappeared around the same time Brennan was turned.

Adding to his struggles is the cute librarian Cole, who everyone seems to like. But when Cole catches him drinking from a stolen blood bag, Cole is willing to keep the secret, and he starts hanging out with Brennan.

Between school work and his new friendship(s), Brennan tries to figure out which legend, if any, are true about vampires. Then, being contacted by a clan of 'good' vampires helps with his thirst and gives him a connection in understanding what being a vampire is and isn't.

But not all vampires are good, and the rise of 'animal attacks' seems as if someone is no longer being a good vampire.


The story picks up after the fact, and Brennan is 'researching' vampires, and while it's a cozy story, it also deals with the struggles of teenagers who are dealing with depression. I know it is real, I've had, and still deal with those thoughts, but mentioning an 'attempt' raised the age level. I was going to go for fourteen, but upped it to sixteen, but I still wonder if maybe it should be eighteen because of it being mentioned multiple times. And that is the only reason why I have upped the age so high. This could be a good book for mature YA readers or those who are struggling to read in a group and discuss it.

This is a romance, but it's clean, kept behind closed doors. One knows what happens, but there are no details other than kissing and the challenge of doing it with fangs. Although there is a 'consent' situation brought up by the 'mesmer' vampire spit can cause.

There is a little violence, but not graphic. A few funnies, especially with the referrals to a certain popular vampire book/movie series, along with a few others. There wasn't a lot of action until the end; this story was mostly about finding oneself and taking the chance on others.

Good story, the cover is bright and welcoming, and while the title somewhat matches the story, it made me expect it to be funnier than it is.

3 Stars

This was cute and funny and kept my interest. It definitely has Buffy vibes, and the fact that Brennan falls for Cole the cute librarian (who finds out he's a vampire and, rather than running away, immediately introduces him to Twilight), was both adorable and hilarious.

I loved the characters. Brennan is anxious and depressed and wants so badly to be good. Cole is a marshmallow brimming with teen vampire novel recommendations who fidgets constantly. I related to both of them which really helped sell the story. Their romance was blended into the story just right and fit really well while still having time to develop.

I didn't feel as close to Mari or Tony, as they were both a little standoffish, but I appreciated them as supporting characters. Sunny and Nellie were great characters as well, as were Travis and Dom.

The plot wasn't cutting-edge or anything, but it hit all the right Buffy-esque notes and the end surprised me. I didn't see it coming at all.

The writing style didn't stick out to me in either a good way or a bad way. It faded into the background of the story, which worked.

Overall, a solid read, and one I would definitely recommend to YA vampire fans and also YA queer romance fans. I can always count on Wednesday Books for solid YA standalones.

The audiobook was well done, and the narrator breathed life into the characters with their accents and inflections. It was fun to listen to.

*Thanks to Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

I couldn't find the plot.

I don't know if it's just the way the ARC on my kindle was formatted or what but I felt so lost and jumbled reading this book. It felt like the first 2/3 was just the main character poking around and trying to figure his life out but like mentions of some bad things happening. then we would go on for so many different pinning and side bits then bringing up the bad things. I just couldn't follow it well.

If you are looking for a vibes book with kinda low stakes and just college romance drama great book but I felt it was a bit disjointed.

This was stellar.
It is giving me major twilight flashbacks but make it MM romance. What’s not to love?
5 stars!

Brennan is a college student who has recently become a vampire. He is now forced to figure out what that means for him, and how he can survive without hurting humans.
Enter Cole, another student at the same school, who accidently discovers Brennan’s secret, and quickly becomes dedicated to helping him adapt to his new immortal life.
The two boys must learn how to successfully have a vampire x human relationship… and figure out how to potentially save the world from a massive vampire uprising.

Really, this kind of story is my jam.
I eat up a good vampire romance, and I have to say-THIS is a good vampire romance.

Brennan and Cole’s relationship? Talk about adorable.
The pressing desire to take care of each other? To support each other? Dreamy.
I love that at no point in this story was Cole afraid of Brennan. Instant trust and connection, I love.
Just good vibes all around.

The amount of twilight mentions here, I was so into it.
This story also notes queer authors like Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. I love to see authors supporting other authors!

I also have to talk about the fact that there are different vampire societies/clubs/clans in this story.
Basically vampires get to decide what “kind” of vampire they want to be, and join the group that best fits them.
I thought this was such a fun idea. Very high school clique vibes.

Important mention:
This story discusses mental health/suicide attempts.
I did not personally think it was too heavy, and it was balanced out very well by the light-heartedness of the rest of the book, but I know some readers may be a bit more sensitive toward these topics.
Just something to know before you start reading!

Overall, very lovely read! I think a ton of people would love reading this as much as I did!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s press | Wednesday Books and author Jamie D’Amato for providing me with the eARC of “The Good Vampires Guide to Blood and Boyfriends”, in exchange for my honest review!
Publication date: August 26th, 2025
Reviewed on Goodreads: July 28th, 2025

Thank you @wednesdaybooks for the advanced copy to review!

The amount of time I spent trying to narrow down quotes to share… I had to skip so many of my favorites. Tony’s text messages are special mentions along with Mari’s sass, Sunny and Nellie’s advice, and Cole and Brennan’s entire cute relationships. (The groveling!???? The kissing!??? The sweetness?? The coffee!?? The LIBRARY!?) I love them.

This debut from @jimjomjamie is great. This book made me belly laugh out loud nearly the entire time I read it. It also made me tear up. Brennan is SO incredibly relatable to me it’s actually kind of scary??? Minus the whole vampire thing. But his anxiety and panic attacks and depression and his past suicidal thoughts he reconciles with after becoming immortal - wow. A lot to unpack here.

Brennan and Cole’s banter was hysterical and I’d read so many more books of them getting into shenanigans with Tony and Mari.
I really appreciated the friendships in this book and how strong they were. The group chat was amazing.

The climax of this book was just so good and funny yet incredibly heartfelt and lovely??? It’s too much y’all. I hear the audio is fantastic so I’ll probably have to reread that….

In conclusion, Cole and Brennan forever.

*Full disclosure there was a passing reference for a certain series (didn’t call out the series by name) that Jamie has addressed and apologized for.*

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity!

I've been excited for this book for a while, so when I was approved the morning of the day I had 5 hours to kill then a 3 hour train ride (sidenote, after seeing Dimension20 live, feat. *Brennan* Lee Mulligan as DM), it certainly felt like fate.

And, as someone who doesn't believe in fate, it still feels like it was fate. Brennan is so easily relatable. He'd describe his day-to-day with ease, but would include thoughts and feelings I feel but have always been too scared or embarrassed to voice. It felt painfully real, despite him being an actual vampire. He was hilarious, It felt real and one of the few books I've read that wrote early-20s realistically and well. It really felt like reading a conversation I'd have with my friends on many occasions. It felt like such a familiar read in that way, making all of the characters so much more real and multi-faceted. I felt connected to all of them more than other books I've read with similar settings. D'amato did a fantastic job of making each and every character filled with dimension. It didn't feel as if anyone was just written as a plot device, every friend of Brennan and Cole held depth.

The moment "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull was mentioned was a shock to my system. Sitting on a train while a little girl was turned in her seat, staring me down while she (really badly) chewed Ritz crackers, leaving my sweats covering in crumbs, and hearing the name of my favorite childhood series. It already felt a bit personal, with Cole's personality and Brennan's thoughts and, just, all of it, really, but this was the nail in the (metaphorical) coffin. That series was what got me into reading as a child, and to follow it up with two of the first queer books I'd ever read? A true punch to the gut, down to the note Cole left Brennan about the coming out scene in one of the books. My exact thoughts as I had sat in the theater of that movie. I had to pause to take a moment because jesus christ it was startlingly relatable.


I don't often reread books, my TBR is so long with mainly books to review, but this will be one of the very few that I do. A bit on the older side of young adult, for sure, but not in a bad way. More in a realistic way, without the addition of explicit scenes. Every one of my friends say the "f-word," and it's rare to see it used so freely in YA like it should be. This is an incredible book about mental health, queer love, self-discovery, self-acceptance, and self-love. I'd recommend to anyone looking for a good queer, vampire story with a sweet and adorable romance, especially if they're worried about starting college. Filled with brilliant pop-culture references as well, Buffy, What We Do in the Shadows being the main ones I can remember off the top of my head.

The book opens with the dedication “to the sad gay kids” and includes content warnings that I respect and appreciate as some of the contents could be triggering. Exactly two pages in, we get a Twilight Saga name drop. And then it continues on for multiple paragraphs.

Our two protagonists meet within seconds of starting the book, and attraction is already established both through aesthetic and paranormal means.

And then 13% of the way in, on top of the already excessive pop-culture references, the author drops a Harry Potter reference in the form of the love interest Cole referencing media from his childhood as his reason for finding magic and the supernatural to be fascinating.

As a book that seems to really want to connect and heal the queer community, I wish the author would have thought this through. I can excuse a contemporary novel referencing relevant media, but I cannot excuse the ignorance of adding a quirky reference to one of the loudest and most harmful anti-Trans voices of the current day into your book that wants to help young queer kids.

Aside from that obvious upset, the book read very young despite taking place in a college setting, and the dialogue and overall tone of the story just was not for me.

This was a cute vampire m/m romance. It was sort of a slow burn and I did enjoy it but I am definitely not the intended audience. It was well-written and overall I really liked the characters.

Sigh. I'm gonna start needing authors to compensate me, a trans person, for every time I have to read a Harry Potter reference that they've put in their book publishing in the year of 2025. Let it go, people. And by the way, even though you don't name the series, doesn't mean you still haven't referenced it.

Thank you NetGalley for this e-Arc!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It’s a cute coming of age/ newly turned vampire novel that covers not only vampirism but also new college students. Navigating vampirism, parent expectations, relationships, and end of society kind of challenges kept me eager to keep reading!

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martins Press for a complimentary early release copy of The Good Vampires Guide to Blood & Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato.

This has to be one of my favorite reads of 2025! I loved The Good Vampires Guide to Blood & Boyfriends. I fell in love with these characters immediately, Brennan and Cole are the cutest, I was routing for them since page one! It did take me a little to come around to Mari and Tony but once I did I equally loved them just as much as our main couple. This story is a slow burn romance but the tension and flirty teasing between Brennan and Cole is well worth it. They have so many cute and funny scenes together!

The plot of the story kind of comes off as low stakes/cozy to me but I throughly enjoyed it. I found the vampire stuff interesting and loved learning more about how the vampires operated in this world! The story isn’t just about vampires, friendships, or romance though it’s about self acceptance, that it’s okay to be vulnerable, and that you need to do what’s right for you. I enjoyed the messaging, I thought it was written in a nice thoughtful way. I could definitely sympathize with these characters and it was heart warming to see them all come together.

Thank you Jamie D'Amato and St. Martin's Press. I was given this book as an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.

This was such a cute YA vampire M/M romance! From start to finish, it’s pure fun. The story puts a quirky spin on vampire life, dating mishaps, and the universal search for connection (and okay, maybe a little blood).

I loved following Brennan, a college freshman who suddenly finds himself turned into a vampire. As he tries to wrap his head around the whole “undead” thing, he ends up navigating a strange underground vampire society, while also falling for Cole, the cute boy from the library.

The Twilight jokes and snide commentary were hilarious, especially for someone like me who grew up during the height of the vampire craze. The author does a fantastic job blending nostalgic references with sharp humor, all while playfully poking fun at classic vampire tropes. But what really stood out to me was how the book also tackles real-life topics like sexuality and mental health. It’s thoughtful and genuine, but never feels too heavy or out of place.

Honestly, I didn’t want this book to end. I would’ve loved a glimpse into Brennan and Cole’s life a few years down the road, but the ending still felt sweet and satisfying.

Happy reading friends,
~ Maebae 💚

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to have to DNF about 27% in. Unfortunately, this is just not holding my attention. I do not believe I'm the targeted audience for this. I thought the premise sounded good, but it's a little too heavy in today's commentary than I would like. Especially with it being compared to Buffy, I was hoping to go a little more in that direction. Definitely give it a try if you find the premise interesting, it just isn't for me.

For anyone who wants a lighter, more modern take on becoming a vampire, this is for you. Brennan coming to terms with being a vampire and trying to find something to live for when he's already had such a hard time living with his brain is the emotional core of this, alongside Cole's unwavering support (and not-at-all-secret vampire fetish). I love the different feel of this from many other vampire books, refreshing and modern, while still giving the sense that of course as immortal beings, they would shift and change their communities with the times (though Nellie's attempts at working a smart phone and her pamphlets were some of the funniest parts). I also love the feeling that there are so many more vampires out there than we can imagine, with how easily so many of them have adapted and adjusted to living among humans (though I would have loved just a little more of a glimpse as to how they navigate creating new identities and lives when they age out of one). Overall, very fun.

This is the most fun I’ve had reading a vampire book since Never Bite a Boy on the First Date by Tamara Summers—and I read a LOT of vampire books. The voice and humor are just *chef’s kiss*. Very TJ Klunish (in the best possible way). All the Twilight jokes and snide remarks? Fantastic! And centuries old Nellie trying to navigate using her new smart phone was hands down the funniest thing I’ve read this year.

Brennan was so relatable and Cole was super dreamy, and they had fantastic chemistry together.
There also was a fabulous cast of found family. I loved Sunny and Nellie’s not quite up with the times mentorship and disorganized pamphlets and Mari’s overprotectiveness and skepticism. And I thought Tony was a hoot. Plus, there’s an adorable vampire dog!

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

This one was a slow burn for me. As a librarian I did take issue with references to shelving books using Dewey at a college since academic libraries use the Library of Congress system. I would try other titles by this author.

I needed a book to fit a reading challenge category, and when I read the description of this one, I decided to give it a go! And I'm so glad I did!

This is such a cute paranormal/contemporary romance about a college student, Brennan, who gets hit by a car and turned into a vampire. Brennan was already struggling with mental health and relationships, and now he has to add navigating what it means to be a vampire on top of that (no - he doesn't sparkle!). When Brennan meets Cole at the library when trying to research what it means to be a vampire and then again after stealing blood from a blood drive, they become friends which slowly grows to something more. Then comes the strong, bad vampire who wants to out vampires to the human world, and Brennan, Cole, and their friends have to figure out how to stop him.

This was such a fun book that explored what it means to be vulnerable and open to people in your life in order to grow trust and relationships.

Thank you #NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is not Twilight! But there are plenty of callbacks to the Stephanie Meyer series, which I loved. This had everything you want in a YA paranormal romance! A little teen (twenty-something?) angst, a little library hookup, and some larger evil plot! I thought that this concept for fun, relatable vamps was right up my alley: cute and charming!