📝 Thirsty 📝

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Finished: 05/21/25

"Because Lorenzo was a stealthy creature of the night, he only jumped a little. 'Jesus.'”

Paranormal hate to love romcom, perfect for readers who enjoy a little bit of everything when it comes to characters. Charlie is a column writer who has been struggling with the new questions his readers are requesting help with. So when a chance encounter with an old acquaintance comes along, Charlie is determined to learn some much needed information for his column.

Some things I think could have been improved is the pacing of the plot. It felt kind of clunky in the beginning and middle from Charlie and Lorenzo in the "hate" phase and Charlie pushing him to take him to events. To them being together and each chapter was mostly Lorenzo taking him places, it just didn't have enough diversity to the story. I also thought the hate to love or enemies to lovers is a bit overly saturated in books at the moment so it did take me a bit to be invested in the story and characters.

Things I enjoyed in this book are the excerpts from Charlie's articles. It's always disappointing when some books don't let the readers see things about the main characters job when it is integral to the plot, so that was nice to see. The diversity of characters I really liked, it wasn't just a Vampire book it included a numerous cast of Paranormal figures such as werewolves, witches, wraiths, unicorns, and more. I also loved how the ending of the book played out and the way they incorporated his column into something new and helpful.

Thirsty was a sweet MM romance that I did truly enjoy by the end, and the growth you can see Charlie and Lorenzo go through was nice to see and read about.

If you loved My Roommate is a Vampire, you'll love this book!

When Charlie returns to his hometown to try to get back on track with his writing column, which has become a supernatural advice column, but unfortunately Charlie is human. But he thinks his luck has turned around when he runs into Lorenzo, his friend's ex, who happens to be a vampire. However Lorenzo hates Charlie since he blames him for his relationship ending 5 years ago. And Lorenzo has plans to get revenge.

Failed attempts at revenge, quirky roommates, and sexual tension through the roof... What could go wrong?

I loved this book. I was giggling and kicking my feet! So cute but also sexy. Fingers crossed for more books in this world.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press | St. Martin’s Griffin and author Lucy Lehane for providing me with the eARC of “Thirsty”, in exchange for my honest review!
Publication date: October 14th, 2025
Reviewed on Goodreads: June 27th, 2025

Is it possible to give this book 6 stars?
I wish it was, because it definitely deserves it.

“Thirsty” is an adult, paranormal, MM romance, following the relationship between Lorenzo: a vampire, and Charlie: a human.
Charlie is a struggling writer for an advice column. Most of the questions he gets are about paranormal relationships and challenges, but as a human, he doesn’t know how to answer them.
This is, until he meets Lorenzo. A vampire that could be Charlie’s key to solving his dilemma.
The problem? They have met before. Charlie has wronged Lorenzo in the past, and Lorenzo hates him for it.
He agrees to work with Charlie, with the secret intent of getting back at him for his past wrong doings.
However, the two get closer and closer as they work together. Things heat up and tensions rise, but Charlie is keeping a secret that could ruin everything.

This story was EVERYTHING.
I freaking love Charlie and Lorenzo together. They work so well.
Their romance is cute, steamy and just incredible. I spent the whole time itching for them to be together.

Lorenzo is such a well-developed character. A slightly awkward and socially anxious vampire from the 1800’s who tries so hard (and sometimes fails) to connect with people in modern times? Stop. He seriously deserved a hug.
Charlie keeping secrets from him made me want to cry very real tears.

I also need to mention the sheer variety of paranormal characters and species that are in this book.
Vampires, werewolves, witches, trolls, druids, poltergeists and the list go on. This really was paranormal, but not in a scary, horror novel kind of way.
It was in a “paranormal support group where various species support and help each other” way.
So. Entertaining. I ate it up.

Note: An in-book reference to Chappell Roan? You have my heart.

Overall, fantastic!!
Fabulous work Lucy Lehane. I can really tell how much effort when into creating this.

This was very interesting. I love that one of the main characters was a journalist/blogger type but like also a vampire. I think that it was an interesting story and I really liked it. At times there were moments that were really corny and cringey but overall I thought it was a read worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley for the early copy.

Might be a super fun, low stakes Halloween-time read. But I was expecting SO much more. I grew tired of some of the repetitive and unhelpful behavior of Charlie. I was waiting for a little growth? A little something smarter? And nothing. This should have been cute, funny, smart, MM, What We Do In the Shadows but it was really hard to love these characters.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to try and finish the book, but I just couldn't get behind Charlie, one of the MCs. He was just so annoying and with every chapter I disliked him more and more and him using Lorenzo. Don't get me wrong, the characters were super well written, and I loved that Charlie was getting to know more about this new world. That alone is worth 3 stars. I just couldn't stop disliking Charlie, and it got to the point that I just couldn't continue and decided to DNF this.

This book isn't for me, but I'm sure someone else may like it and really be invested in Charlie and his point of view.

Charlie is a human writing for an advice column- but he is in a slump. When he runs into an old friend's ex, Lorenzo, who happens to be a vampire, he gets the idea to start incorporating the supernatural into his column. After cajoling Lorenzo into being his guide to the supernatural under the pretense of being a grad student working on his thesis, sparks begin to fly. But both of them have secrets, and secrets usually come back to bite.

I enjoyed the story and the characters, but I felt like I was halfway through and still didn't have a good grasp on either of their personalities. They were both likeable enough, but felt pretty bland; I didn't get the feeling ever that they were real flushed out people. I enjoyed specific scenes, but it felt like a bit of a slog to get through to them, when most of the time not much was happening. The conflict was a little annoying, and predictable, but I did enjoy the end and how everything came together.
A fun, fluffy, fall, low-stakes romance for fans of the supernatural.

I rated it 3.25/5 stars rounded down to 3.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I could definitely tell this was heavily inspired by What We Do in the Shadows, as it is one of my favorite shows. The beginning of the book definitely captured that silly spooky vibe but sort of petered out 3/4 of the way through. I did however like the ending, despite struggling to get there. I think if a little more adventures and humor were thrown into the romance portion of the novel it would have really soared.

I didn’t realize supernatural creatures were “out” (like Sookie Stachouse’s proverbial, “out of the coffin”). I always love to see this, where authors take our actual world and throw in a supernatural element. It made the world building a lot easier because you learn about various supernatural communities with the one MC.

I thought this was fresh take on vampire romance (unless I’m just not reading enough gay vampire romance? I should fix that).

The characters felt realistic even though most of them were supernatural. Overall it had a cozy vibe. The 3rd act breakup was predictable, which to be fair at least helps you brace for it. I just kind of wish there was more groveling. The “grand gesture” felt a bit weird to me.

DNFing at ~40%. I really wanted to like this book, but I just can’t really get into it. Lorenzo feels like he can’t decide if he wants to be good or bad and Charlie feels like he’s very selfish and exploitative.

I can’t really root for either of them, and that makes me feel like what’s the point, if that makes sense.

I enjoyed the broader world of supernaturals, and the premise had a lot of potential. I also found the writing style to be enjoyable and easy to read.

Rating: 🦇🦇🦇.75
Spice: 🌶️🌶️.5 (mild explicit language during scenes but little details & over quickly)

Content/Tropes:
-HEA
-Grumpy/Sunshine
-Hate to Love
-M/M
-Vampire/Human
-Age gap
-Miscommunication
-Flawed Characters
-Found Family
-Secrets/Betrayal

I’d describe this as a cozy, contemporary paranormal M/M romance (3rd person, dual POV)—cute and very low stakes. I wouldn’t necessarily call it enemies-to-lovers; it’s more of a hate-to-awkward-friendship-to-love kind of story. The main couple definitely falls into the grumpy/sunshine dynamic. That said, the “hate” aspect resolves rather quickly and is mostly forgotten as the story progresses.

I really enjoyed all the supernatural creatures featured throughout the book and appreciated the worldbuilding, though some parts felt a bit rushed. The spicy scenes, in particular, were over quickly—I would’ve liked to see more development there, though that might just be a personal preference. I felt like there was very little character growth.

The ending was somewhat predictable, but it delivers a decent HEA. Overall, I thought it was a cute read, and I mostly enjoyed the characters. I also really enjoyed the supernatural advice column - Wise Old Crone.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and the Author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF

I was SO hyped for this—vampires? MM romance? Say less, I’m in. But unfortunately… I had to tap out.

Right from the jump, the writing gave me a headache—clunky, awkward, and honestly kind of painful to get through. The initial setup? Charlie lying about an interview to get close to Lorenzo for his column?? That didn’t sit right with me... Ethics, hello??

Their first few interactions were… baffling. I felt secondhand embarrassment when Charlie just shouted Lorenzo’s name across a coffee shop (why??), and Lorenzo’s behavior—this centuries-old vampire holding a juvenile grudge—was giving middle school drama. His POV chapter made it worse. He came off like a cartoon villain with a painfully cringey plan fueled by a breakup with someone he apparently didn’t even like that much?? Make it make sense.

And don’t get me started on that flashback—why was everyone so unnecessarily rude to Lorenzo when that girl (Emilia? Amelia?) left him alone with her friends? Like, have basic human decency, maybe?

Also, Charlie profiting off supernatural beings and letting readers think he’s part of that world? Cringe at best, borderline exploitative at worst.

I really wanted to love this. I wanted the drama, the bite, the slow burn. Instead, I got secondhand embarrassment and a lot of eye rolls. Hard pass.

Though the cover may have you thinking extra spicy, this felt so paranormally cozy. Very modern, and an interesting take on how Vampires out in the open would be like. Plus we love a LGBTQ paranormal read!

🩸 Bookish Thoughts
I loved the concept and was really excited for this one! The queer rep and paranormal setup were great. And the Dear Crone advice column responses were honestly hilarious.

That said, I had a hard time staying engaged. I loved the concept, but the execution didn’t quite work for me, and the pacing felt extra slow.

❤️ Read if you love:
• Queer vampire romance
• Enemies to lovers
• Found family
• Advice columns

📅 Pub Date: October 14, 2025
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

I had so much fun reading this book. I decided to start it one night in bed, thinking I’d just give it a few chapters to see if I wanted to pick it up next, and I found that I didn’t want to put it down. I spent the next few nights falling asleep with my Kindle in hand.
The advice column submissions were fun, and the supernatural descriptions were so vivid. I loved Lorenzos roommates, especially Rachel.
I really enjoyed the slow building tensions between Charlie and Lorenzo; I thought they made a great pair. I am surprised some topics didn’t go deeper, though, such as Lorenzos past life with his wife and children.

4 stars. Thank you to @youhadmeathea for the chance to read and review Thirsty by Lucy Lehane. Available October 14– just in time to add this paranormal romance to your Halloween tbr!🧛🏻‍♂️

So glad I added this one to by Pride Month TBR. It was witty and romantic. While the worldbuilding of supernatural characters in a human world (with humans knowing the supernatural existed) read as a little corny, it was still a delight to read. Would definitely recommend.

Coming out in October is a fun, fantasy-filled, queer romance and it is so good! Charlie and Lorenzo were so good together and all the background characters are so fun! I hope Lehane plans on writing more stories in this world, maybe about Maggie please!? So good! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

Thirsty is a great slow burn mm romance. I enjoyed the the banter between Charlie and Lorenzo. I liked the the supernatural aspect, normally I'm that into supernatural/fantasy but this book really held my attention.

This is exactly what I was looking for. This was a cute and cozy MM rom com, grumpy/sunshine. Charlie was the cutest human with such an eager personality, very golden retriever-esque. And Lorenza was a perfectly grumpy vamp that wanted nothing to do with Charlie's shenanigans. This was very low stakes and light hearted with a bit of spice. I loved all the different creatures featured in this story and how Charlie and Lorenzo interacted with them. My biggest gripe was any time there were any "stakes", they were over very quickly with little to no repercussions. The ending was also quite predictable, but from a cozy story, what was I really expecting. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would pick up more books by this author.

**Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for providing this ebook. All opinions are my own.**

I wanted to love this book so much. The premise was so freaking cute. I also really loved all of the characters. The problem I had with this book was that the third act break up was obvious from the first time this couple met. And I don't blame Lorenzo at all for being upset that Charlie lied to him for their whole relationship. I am begging romance writers to find another plot device besides the third act break up. OR at least not make it so obvious!

Other issues I had: the column write in from various supernatural creatures were unnecessary filler. It felt like "how many supernatural creatures can I mention" and did not advance the plot. I also did not love how she handled the first time they had sex. It was an incredibly awkward time in the book and was kind of brushed over afterwards. If you're going to write a spicy scene you should be able to handle how the couple handles it after. We want romance books to show healthy relationships!! Or at least be upfront about it not being healthy.

Things I liked about the book: The side characters! I actually wish she had delved even deeper with them. I thought their stories were great. I also loved the supernatural community aspect. Found family is my favorite trope!

Although this one wasn't a huge hit for me, I would read this author in the future. I think she has a nice writing style. Just a few tweaks and her stories could be great!