What a hilariously honest story, with a fantastical plot line that in my opinion will hit with many age groups! Brennan finds himself with vampire capabilities after a seemingly normal walk, now having to navigate this new normal and a new relationship. I love how light hearted and humorous this story is in many places, but has the ability to touch on more serious topics when needed.

I do wish the plot/storyline was flushed out more in places and the ending was a bit more thrilling but overall a really great and fun read!

A cozy vampire Young Adult book - the comp to Hearstopper is accurate, as this is a little bit about being a newly turned vampire and a lot about a budding romance between two marshmallows. Although there are some serious topics - anxiety, depression, a serial killer vampire on the loose, a bigger plot to expose vampires to the world - that is mostly background for new vampire Brennan’s first real love with cute and sweet librarian Cole. There is also plenty of cheeky humor (like one of Brennan’s mentor vampires being terrible with technology) and found family. This is a very cute read, and I especially loved the mixed media sprinkled in (Brennan’s diary entries, text messages, etc.).

I’m sorry. But this book did THE DAMN THING! I’m aching in my bones for more. Y’all really popped off with this one and I’m so glad it exists. More of this please.

This was an absolutely delightful read. All the characters felt well-fleshed out and the relationship between the main character and his love interest feels believable and sweet. Despite touching on some pretty delicate subject matter which I think was handled rather well, I found this to be a lovely, mostly lighthearted read!

The Good Vampire's Guide to Blood & Boyfriends was such a fun and quirky read that kept me laughing.

This is a really solid debit! But whoa, hold on, what does the author have against Timothée Chalamet?!? :)

The voice of the narrator is entertaining and the writing fun, silly, and charming, but I think this would have really hit more of it was first-person narrative. The flow between story and media messages/threads felt natural and was done really well. However, it might be filled with a little too much pop culture references that I can't see lasting through the years.

The romance is really sweet and cute that touches on some more serious topics. The way the author handles mental health was brilliant. All of the characters felt represented in a realistic way and there is a great cast of side characters too.

The main event at the end felt underdeveloped, felt very anticlimactic. But overall a really fun read.

Such a fun read! The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends is quirky, charming, and full of heart. The mix of humor, romance, and supernatural drama worked for me. The main character was hilarious and relatable, even while being undead. Perfect if you like your vampire stories with a bit of sass and sweetness.

Ｅｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟🌟.5
The Good Vampire's Guide to Murder & Boyfriend is a fun, cozy vampire murder mystery with M/M romance. I enjoyed the storyline, though it was a bit long or wordy. I felt it could have been a little shorter. I loved the story's layout, how it's written in a diary format for part of the story. Once I started reading, it was hard to stop.

Thank you, NetGalley, and St. Martin Press for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! The characters were likable and the plot moved nicely. If you like stories that involve the paranormal with a side of romance, this one is definitely one to check out!

Formulaic Vampire Romance
Jamie D’Amato, The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends: A Novel (New York: Wednesday Books, August 26, 2025). Hardcover: $20; Young Adult Fantasy. 336pp. ISBN: 979-8-212708-30-2.
**
“…Queer paranormal rom-com where a college sophomore must navigate suddenly becoming a vampire, the underground society he’s now part of, and the cute boy who discovers his secret.” The “discovery” tends to be a requirement element in fantasies: it is too forced here, as this “boy” just walks in on Brennan doing research on the floor of the college’s library, and happens to guess he is probably a vampire on the first page, before a more obvious revelation later when Cole also sees Brennan drinking blood. “It’s only natural nineteen-year-old Brennan’s life would be upended by something as ridiculous and unexpected as turning into a vampire. But if there’s one thing Brennan can do, it’s pretend everything’s fine when he’s close to losing his mind. Brennan has just clawed his way back to Sturbridge University after recovering from a suicide attempt, and this is not the new life he was hoping for. Brennan’s newly bloodthirsty existence gets way more complicated when Cole, the super cute librarian and everyone’s campus crush, stumbles on Brennan drinking from a stolen blood bag. Luckily, adorable Cole is happy to keep Brennan’s secret, and even seems to maybe like him? Navigating a new relationship is hard enough without the added struggles of vampire puberty, an eclectic clan of self-proclaimed ‘good’ vampires, and growing feelings for the one person who makes Brennan feel normal. With swirling rumors of a missing student and a rise in strange ‘animal attacks’ near campus, Brennan must uncover the secrets of the clan and figure out how to balance vampirism and humanity, or risk losing the first real friends he’s ever had… A gentle bite.”
This novel opens with a relatively humorous exploration of who this amnesiac patient is, as he is ruffling through a pile of books trying to figure out the nature of vampires, and himself. He notes that he is testing if vampires need sleep or a shower by refraining from either: a pretty funny intro. Brennan begins the narrative by asking questions about his vampiric nature that he is trying to discover through library research. These questions lead readers directly into speculating about potential answers. They include: “Who turned me?” If he should drink “animal” or “human” blood? If he, as a vampire sleeps, or is immortal. The point regarding “sleep” is immediately addressed, as Brennan notes he has been avoiding sleep to test if he can go without it, and seemingly he is. Before Brennan progresses any further, he is distracted by the entry of a beautiful boy, who redirects him towards the “boyfriends” theme in this story. The light attempt for this amnesiac to address some questions about just what magic is, and what its rules are is thus interrupted by formulaic romance. The rest of the plot can then progress without research, or philosophy, as general love struggles replace such ponderings.
The conclusion at least indicates that Brennan regained his memory and now recalls who he is. Apparently, the surprise of the plot is that he might have killed his sister, or the like. References are too unclear. The main tension left is that Brennan now knows he will live forever, and he wonders what it would be like for Cole and him to try a relationship that will either end when Brennan dumps Cole, or when Cole dies as a human from old age, while Brennan remains immortal. The tension between long-living vampires, and short-living humans in relationship is a common trope that seems to appear in most formulaic vampire stories. The first few times I saw it, it did give me room to fantasize, as I added content missing from such stories. But this is one time too many: the author is taking an easy way out in this resolution by using this age-tension, instead of saying something more meaningful regarding vampirism beyond: “Forever is a long time.”
The homosexual-passion theme is a bit dully handled here. Brennan is struggling, as usual, between viewing Cole as food, or a sex-object as he smells him when near-by.
The use of the suicide theme is also poorly handled, as it seems to be inserted to solicit sympathy for the central vampire. But he does not really explain just what prompted him to want to kill himself, as he notes he has not “processed his own feelings about” it, and so seemingly does not know why he did it, or how he feels about this attempt. He is “good”: is his one conclusion. Though psychology is at fault for leaving no clear explanation regarding why those who are suicidal need to share “how” they “feel” about their attempts. This really shouldn’t be the question that needs to be answered, but rather what drove them to wanting to die. The answer is probably not a feeling, but rather specific tragic events, or circumstances that made life unbearable. Just inserting these references without exploring the “feelings” is deeply depressing because of the lack of effort invested in researching a most consequential topic.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

This was a super cute MxM romance featuring gen z references, vampires, and a murder mystery plot!

The book follows Brennan, a newly turned vampire, who attends a college in the Boston area. As he learns more about how to live as a vampire, he gets caught up in a mystery surrounding one of his fellow students on campus. It had a found family type cast of characters, and the romance was closed door. I give it a 1 for spicy rating.

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING. Depression, anxiety, and suicide are talked about HEAVILY in this book, so if that is something you don't want to read in your romance book, don't pick this up.

The book was a relatively quick read for me, and I really enjoyed it. The references were funny, and at times there would be text messages or reddit forums that helps break up the traditional paragraphs of text. I loved that every character seemed to have distinct personalities, although I wish we could have learned more about the different vampire colonies.

The vampire lore seemed like it was pretty thought out, and it wasn't as stereotypical. The book mentions Twilight multiple times throughout the book, which I found super funny! The romance was adorable; the nerdy vampire and the charming librarian - perfect for each other! It had a mildly predictable ending, but sometimes you just need a read a cozy book about a vampire and his boyfriend.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this book was great! I've been a big fan of vampires since Buffy, and, although vampire stories are not exactly lacking in YA, I thought that this was a fresh take. Brennan, a shy, depressed, gay teenager has been having some issues adjusting to college in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, which are only compounded when he gets turned into a vampire. He runs into Sunny and Nellie, the vampires who run the Sturbridge urban clan, and could not be more surprised to learn that Sunny is an influencer and Nellie has a penchant for pamphlets. They try to teach him the basics of this form of vampirism, along with Dom, another girl who was turned in the same "accident." Brennan's coming of age journey is interesting to see, because he's dealing with a lot of the "regular" struggles teens feel in college - crushes, homework, roommates, depression, etc., but also the vampire coming of age - getting/drinking blood, how his life has changed because of the vampirism, etc. There is also a sweet romance plotline and larger "evil vampire" plotline, so this book delivers on its promise. I would very much recommend to fans of vampires and YA!

Fun NA fiction! Love the characters and the fun play on typical vampire lore/reads. Slow burn for sure. A bit wordy in general, but an easy read that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

4*

An excellent new take on the vampire trope, brought together with a cast of delightful queer characters and a helpful vampire committee.

This story is camp, funny, dark and emotional, perfect for fans of Buffy and Heartstopper.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. Super cute! Brennan just started a new year at College. This year was supposed to be better. He wasn’t sure how but he’d promised his mom it would be. But then he died. Somehow he didn’t stay dead but became a vampire. That’s all he needs to add to his depression and anxiety. Is he a monster now? The thing is he doesn’t know how he turned so he’s trying to find any information he can. Enter Cole, a hot librarian, who spends time helping other students have difficulty. Does he remember Brennan from last year? It gets worse when Cole stumbles across him drinking stolen blood bags. Now someone knows. Then comes the cryptic text and Brennan’s brought into the world of Vampire Clans. They claim to be good and not hurt humans. But them seem somewhat callous about murder. Can he trust them? As he navigates being a new vampire, he’ll also navigate his growing crush on Cole, who should absolutely not get involved with him. And when people start disappearing or dying, he’ll find that things in the vampire clan aren’t so clear. Things are about to get dangerous for vampires and humans. Can Brennan stop it all? Will he be able to make things work with Cole? This story is sweet, funny, and intriguing! But it has its difficult parts too, and Jamie D’Amato depicts mental illness really well. Being in Brennan’s inner thoughts was like living in my own head. I also enjoyed the paranormal world and the depiction of vampires! A queer paranormal romance that is charming and delightful!

When you go for a walk in the woods and get hit by a car... that is it right? Game Over. But what if instead you wake up starving but not for food? Well it is time to hit the library and see if you can research your way out of thinking you may just be a vampire. At least that is what you do if you are Brennan of The Good Vampire's Guide to Blood & Boyfriends by Jamie D'Amato, a YA romantasy that is equal parts paranormal fantasy and cute queer romance. While Brennan is furiously looking up Transylvanian history, the cute librarian Cole stops by to suggest Twilight is an essential component of through vampire research. Brennan and Cole start up a sweet college romance full of reality tv watch parties, library study sessions, and a college party with drunk poetry recitation from a countertop stage. The author makes fun use of modern epistolary materials in the form of text messages, social media posts, and Vampire informational pamphlets.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I was personally more invested in the romance than any of the Vampire society shenanigans and that made some parts of the book drag a little when I wanted to see the couple interact instead of finding out how they save the day. On the other hand, I really appreciated Brennan's own emotional journey from being ~6 months post suicide attempt to now dealing with the possibility of living millennia which was essentially tied to the vampire narrative. Things get a little hokey at times - intense garlic aversion - but that adds to the charm and keeps the book feeling YA even as it deals with issues like mortality.

Realistically, I've probably give this a 4.5 but since I enjoyed the overwhelming majority of it I'm gonna go ahead and round up to a 5.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm a sucker for vampires. Gay vampires are even better! You can pry them out of my cold dead gay hands.

This was a fun read. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it's fun, and the romance is cute. It's a bit mushy, but not in the super sickly uwu way that annoys me so it didn't bother me at all. My biggest complaint in the pacing, and that I definitely think it was a bit overly long in spots. There comes a point in the book where it basically retreads an entire plot device for a second time after having already just done the whole miscommunication/main character is miserable during a temporary breakup thing about 90 pages prior, and it would have worked better if the first time had been handled a bit differently.

The actual big overarching story is kinda just there for a majority of the book, and the finale is pretty rushed but I wasn't exactly expecting a From Dusk Til Dawn showdown bloodbath or anything so it didn't bother me too much. This is a book where you're there for the characters and their development, and when it comes to Brennan and Cole they grow together in a cute and endearing way so it's all good to me.

The only word for this was charming, it was just genuinely such a lovely read. It handled some darker themes in a way that felt both real and also very well done, the relationships of every sort be they romantic or platonic were so fun to read about it. The entire cast of characters really set up shop and do some heavy lifting. The plot was well done and I had a good time but mostly, I smiled and kicked my feet because love is fun.

After a tough semester where Brennan debated whether life was worth living he is suddenly stuck with the knowledge that he is now going to live forever. After a car hits him, he wakes up a vampire. Suddenly, this lifelong vegetarian has to learn how to drink blood, pass his college classes, and deal with his pre-existing depression. Brennan is now faced with a whole bunch of existential questions about his life and how he is supposed to survive. While studying all he can about Vampires, cute Librarian Cole stumbles upon him with some cute banter and a copy of twilight. Cole ends up becoming the only person that knows Brennan is a vampire and watching their relationship develop was oh so cute.

Brennan has to learn to navigate vampire society, new friendships, his confusing sire, his own thoughts about being a vampire, and possibly being in a relationship. What we get is an exploration on what it means to live and grow into yourself and build friendships that become like family.

This book was a very enjoyable read! I loved the flow between story, text, reddit posts, and through this story flowed so well! If you are in the mood for a fun Vampire RomCom with salient themes, I would pick this one! Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced readers copy via Netgalley in Exchange for an honest review

I love a good vampire rom-com and this book didn't disappoint. Brennan’s life turns upside down when he unexpectedly turns into a paranormal creature but to keep his secret he has to pretend everything is normal. This gets tougher when a cute boy discovers his secret. Comedy and passion collide to deliver this fun and exciting read. Thank you Wednesday Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.