This book is a wild, genre-bending voyage that blends queer horror, satire, and emotional vampirism aboard a decadent Black Sea cruise. Rebekah and Hugh—centuries-old vampires—set sail for pleasure and escape, but their open relationship is tested when a seductive influencer named Heaven stirs up desire and chaos.

Told through Rebekah’s biting, introspective narration, the novella explores identity, longing, and the absurdity of modern hedonism. With lush prose and campy flair, Merbaum delivers a story that’s equal parts erotic, eerie, and existential. It’s not your typical vampire tale—a fever dream of lust, loneliness, and self-discovery.

Perfect for fans of Interview with the Vampire meets White Lotus, this novella is a bold, unapologetically queer cruise into the dark heart of desire.


Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for this ARC!

I don't really know what I was expecting from this book, but it was certainly surprising. It was kind of a fun read, in that I've never really read anything like it. It's queer and a little sext and very weird (in a good way), but I'm not sure if I would have kept reading it if it wasn't so short. I wanted to know where it was going and I knew it wouldn't take that long to get there. It was certainly memorable.

[3.5 stars] I enjoyed this novella. It was funny; it was horny. Rebekah is the perfect amount dramatic to keep me intrigued because “We’re on vacation!”

I love the concept of vampires being on a queer cruise, but I found both of those ideas to be lacking a little bit. There are talks about feeding and a little bit of persuasion. Merbaum doesn’t go into much more detail other than a mention here and there. The same applies to the cruise being queer. There are orgies and rainbow drinks, the antagonist, Heaven, is non-binary (if I remember correctly), but, overall, it felt as though it could be a regular cruise.

This book is not for the easily offended, but being centuries old, Rebekah has many humorous quips - some of them being religion based such as “Fucking masochist. He's always harbored Catholic tendencies.” (Pg 52) I’ve included more of my favorite lines below.

Thank you to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for the ARC of this book.

“I like sex with someone you don't trust. It's thrilling, not just the hate fucking, but the rush from the risk: you might get fucked and stabbed. I'm immediately wet.” Pg 49

“How embarrassing, to get caught out caring so fucking much, debasing myself.” Pg 69

I wanted to DNF this very early on, but I figured it was short so I thought I'd stick it out…yeah no I can't do it. It feels very shallow and I did not like the main character. I only got 37% in, but there were several moments where she felt homophobic (including casually using the f word as a negative descriptor, which initially made me consider DNFing 12% in) and her POV in general was just incredibly obnoxious to me. It didn't do anything to make me invested in her and Hugh’s relationship in the first place, so I don't particularly care enough to see how it seemingly falls apart. I genuinely think I might've spent more time writing this review than it took me to read that 37%, so I'm gonna finish here so I can stop thinking about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Creature Publishing for a digital ARC, all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Creature Publishing for this ARC

Vampires at Sea, by Lindsay Merbaum, is a smutty, horror novella about immortals Rebekah and Hugh (or Hugo), a couple who embark on a queer cruise through Europe. First things first, I feel very lukewarm about this one; on one hand we had a deliciously original premise, on the other, we have a main character who, to me, is a bit unlikeable. I totally get that Rebekah is a flawed character, that was what made her more real, bu she was flawed in a way that I disliked a bit, if that makes sense?

Overall, it is a novella that’s worth your time.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ebook copy.

I love vampire stories, always have, always will, but I found myself uninterested in the MCs of the story. You can read in the afterword that What We Do in the Shadows was of inspiration to the author and I could notice immediately in which ways, but I was not really a fan of how they were executed. I liked the idea, but I think the fact that they were in an enclosed space could've been more explored. The male main lead was not appealing, and the female lead was interesting at the start but fell flat as the mystery unveiled. It was funny, though, but in a strange way, and the prose is pretty unconventional. This worked well and badly: I could get on the mc's perspective, but I also found myself lost for paragraphs when she entered her paranoic cycles, which may be more to other readers' liking.

I am willing to give the author another chance with the next book published, since I get that this sound more like a "me" problem more than anything else.

This was a fun book, I enjoyed the characters, and the writing style was really good. The premise was well delivered, and I enjoyed reading about Rebekah and Hugh. I did feel like it leaned more to the comedy than the horror aspects, but it was a really fun read.

What a wild little book. I love the cover art; it was what initially drew me in. Vampire stories are fun but this one is completely different from others I've read over the years. I liked reading the story of emotional vampires and it was fun to see them in such a normal setting. The antagonist wasn't my favorite part and I thought that was tied up very quickly and neatly, but overall, the story was fun and I liked the ending.

I must admit I am someone to judge a book by the cover. I assumed this was going to be set long ago, on a pirate style boat with secret vampires. Boy I couldn’t have been more wrong! Vampires At Sea is set modern day, aboard an all inclusive LGBTQ+ cruise as we follow a vampire couple looking for their next meal (in more way than one). From the first few pages I was hooked, what a unique concept. I loved this until about halfway when it started to feel a bit repetitive and I could guess what was coming. Nevertheless this is a very niche concept that will fill a spot in the market.

This is a book I desperately wanted to be for me but it’s so NOT for me. Big disappointment.

It was a confusing mess and the whole time I was wondering where the vampires were until I realised it’s “vampires” in the abstract sense. Our two vampires barely did any vampiring. It was just vague sex and other meandering plot points I didn’t really care about. Everyone was unlikeable and the sort of interesting backdrop of war and chaos of the outside world was just hinted at instead of explored.

In hindsight, I should have known based on the abstract but I saw vampires and had to read it and ignored the description. It could have been something I would be interested in, but it needs to go back into the oven and be reworked. The soul is missing in my opinion.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Creature Publishing for the Arc.

I'm honestly really disappointed because I wanted to like this one sooo much, but it came up short for me. There were definitely a handful of moments I enjoyed, but for the most part it was quite meh..

I'm of two minds on this one. I liked it but also I did not? I can't really decide one way or another. I liked the atmospheric writing and some of the takes on vampires/vampirism, but in the end wasn't feeling the characters as deeply I was expecting to or really even cared much for the drama. I kinda smiled a few times, but I didn't find anything overly comedic.

I dunno. It's what I was expecting based on the blurb but in a really shallow way. I'm undecided.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The author said in her afterword that she was inspired by What We Do in the Shadows and this is very obvious. Unfortunately, this novella carries none of the horror comedy and spunky charm that I love about the show.

Our main characters, Rebeka and Hugh, do not seem in love in the slightest. They just have sex and get jealous of each others' flings even though they're supposedly poly. Hugh has an affair <spoiler> with a fucking shapeshifter that ends up destroying their centuries long relationship </spoiler> and then that's literally it.

The promise of a campy queer horror novel is severely let down by the fact that there is no horror because they're all energy vampires instead of actual vampires, there is little campiness and queer joy because the plot is mostly Rebekah sneaking around being jealous about Hugh's lover.

A punchy feverdream of a novella. Compelling, but not quite pleasant. A queer, gothic edged romp through the eyes of a narrator both hilarious and horrifying. This reminded me both of Soft Core, a fairly recent publication, and Money, a much older one, perhaps because there is such a sameness in how Vampires at Sea presents the un-ameliorated, uncensored, starkly honest grossness and awfulness and wonderfulness of humans.

Short, Unique, Close. 4 stars.

wasn’t a fan, until i was.

though this is advertised as a smutty horror-comedy, the smut wasn’t as detailed as i expected, and i didn’t laugh once. i’m not saying the jokes fell flat, i could recognize that jokes were there, it just wasn’t enough to get even a chuckle. the promo falls short.

i didn’t see the horror aspect of the book, either. yes, it had sex, horror, and comedy, but it wasn’t as present as i was made to believe, or brushed over. only there as background noise. now granted i do think if it had been crammed with all that it wouldn’t have been as good. the story would’ve been lost.

something i liked? um. the pace. it was quick and easy. the question of who or what heaven was enough to keep me curious.

i liked it, but i didn’t love it. there’s a difference between those two things. it was good to where i finished it but not brilliant enough that i would recommend it. it’s an excellent palate cleanser, something to restart or ease your brain before jumping into another book.

rebekah had a tendency to close her eyes when the looks of certain things started to overwhelm her. she’d get anxious and angry about hugh and heaven, but as soon as he came back to her, all her worries got pushed aside and she would think it’d all be okay. it was strange and felt like a carousel, that mind game, i believe, was the most horror there was.

the end was a surprise to me, but not out of character. i actually believe the ending to be super fitting for rebekah’s character and the continuation of her story.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. I went into it with certain expectations, and it ended up being something completely different, in a way that left me feeling disconnected from the story.

I struggled to find any real meaning or direction in the plot. I kept wondering where it was all going. The characters didn’t help either, I found them hard to relate to. As a result, I wasn’t invested in what happened to them.

That said, one thing I did appreciate was the representation, and that’s something I always value in literature.

Overall, this wasn’t the book for me.

This book was a trip. Literally, a trip on a ship. And I had fun reading it! I thought Rebekah was an intriguing protagonist and her journey from secure in her partnership with Hugh to concerned to jealous to frighteningly possessive was a riot to read.

The social commentary abounded and truthfully I think the book is worth a second read for me to appreciate the nuances. The way that all of the supernatural creatures fed on different emotions and manipulated their fellow cruisers was fascinating to me. This was a truly enjoyable, odd, lusty read!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

This was an odd story and I don't think I particularly liked it. I didn't feel like rooting for any of the characters. They were all selfish and self-centered and annoying honestly. (Although I did like Misha when he first appeared. He was the most intriguing of the bunch.) The atmosphere of the whole novel was interesting but it can't endear someone to the characters. I've always enjoyed vampires but these guys didn't seem ot feed like normal vampires. Rebekka did at first but Hugh seemed to fee off of misery which was interesting.

Finished reading:
Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum
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⭐⭐⭐⭐,5/5
Pages: 168
Format: e-book
Genre: LGBTQIA+, Fantasy, Horror
Publication date: 7 October 2025
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First and foremost, thank you @netgalley and @pickyourpotions for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Here goes nothing!

I truly enjoyed this book. The moment I knew this was gonna come out somewhere this year, and I read the blurb, I knew I was going to love this one.

We follow a married couple of vampires, that decided to make a journey on a cruise ship for queer people. These Vampires are not your usual vampires though. They don't drink your blood, but feed on your emotions, which I absolutely loved too!

We have Rebekah, who feeds on the lust and desire and arousal people feel for her. She always puts on a show, and feeds off the people that watch her. She is the one that usually engages in any sexual activities, while Hugh watches.
And then, we have Hugo (Rebekah calls him Hugh), who feeds on people's pain, misery, sadness and all those kinds of feelings. Hugh is an artist, who paints and takes photographs, and 1 of his art pieces has made him famous (Lilitu). The picture shows such a depressing and painful image, that the people who see it, immediately feel overwhelmed with their own pain and sadness, which Hugh uses to his advantage.

They got onto the cruise, because Rebekah wanted to and they thought it was going to be a good time for both of them, but the 14 days on the cruise would not go as planned...

This book is fast-paced, riddled with dark humour, a lot of sexy scenes and intriguing characters and here and there some horror elements mixed into it all.

The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because I still had some lingering unsolved questions on my mind, but that did not keep me from enjoying the book and the ending 🥰

This was such a fun take on modern vampires, and the relationships are key, as they should be. THank you for sharing with us.