This was pretty cute, I really liked the twist on the supernatural. I would have liked if it was addressed more in the beginning, but overall I really enjoyed this.

A cute and cozy paranormal romance between a vampire and an advice columnist. If you like the cozy, low stakes vibes then this is great. Cozy romance isn’t necessarily my vibe so it did feel a bit slow for me and I didn’t find Charlie likable at all which made it a little more difficult to get through. Lorenzo was barely more likable than Charlie but their relationship felt real and believable so that was nice.

It was a really good m/m romance. I enjoyed reading about Charlie and Lorenzo. I liked how their awkward friendship turned into something more. My only small complaint would be the many supernatural characters. I was a bit lost among them. I thought the ending was satisfactory. Overall, it was a cute romance. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

Thirsty is a paranormal (maybe) MM rom-com that follows a journalist and a vampire. I rate this book 4/4.25 stars because I enjoyed the supernatural building and explanations in the book. It wasn't just about Lorenzo, the vampire; we got to explore a lot of different creatures. The slow-burn romance was well-done, and you could really feel the friendship developing between Charlie and Lorenzo before things turned romantic.

Speaking of Charlie and Lorenzo, I loved them (and that first kiss scene).There however was a few moments where their relationship felt a little flat mostly because their seemed to be a lot of off scene conversations we didn’t see, but overall, I was invested in their relationship and enjoyed the dynamic with the side characters.

Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Thirsty, Lucy Lehane’s debut novel, is a queer paranormal romantic comedy.

If you liked the humor in My Roommate is a Vampire, but you’d prefer a story with a bit more spice, look no further!

Charlie, a struggling advice columnist, finds his career unexpectedly intertwined with the supernatural when his readers start asking about dating the undead. Being human, Charlie is ill-equipped to answer these peculiar inquiries, but his circumstances take a turn when he runs into an old college acquaintance, Lorenzo, a 239-year-old vampire.

Charlie sees Lorenzo as his ticket to understanding the supernatural community and revitalizing his advice column. However, Lorenzo has his own agenda: he plans to exact revenge on Charlie, whom he blames for separating him from his college girlfriend years ago.

Readers are exposed to all different types of monsters and mayhem as Charlie and Lorenzo interact with all different types of creatures.
The romantic relationship follows the archetypes of some of the most well-known and well-loved tropes in the space – enemies(ish) to lovers, grumpy sunshine, miscommunication etc. The relationship development was a bit predictable given this.

Definitely pick this one up during spooky season!

This book was semi interesting but truthfully it fell mostly flat. I thought Lorenzo’s quest for revenge was childish especially since he admitted he never loved Olivia. Also they were made at Charlie for his column but Lorenzo never addressed the revenge plot. The over all world development was interesting but there was no plot moving things forward. I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen.

This year I've been trying to dive back into paranormal romance and I love when I can find queer books within that subgenre. This book is on the cozier side thanks to the setting, and falls into the hate-to-love trope. It is a paranormal romance in a magical world so there are a lot of creatures, some magic system discussion and strong fantasy elements but it is not a deep fantasy or a drag of world-building. It's pretty easy to orient yourself to what's what.

I think this would be a good spooky season, cozy fall read.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started this book, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I ended up finishing the book in just a few sittings and really enjoyed the story and characters.

I had good expectations for this one, and the premise sounded interesting.
At the first meeting with Lorenzo, the whole interview set up to help with the column was built on a lie that Charlie made up.
That didn't sit right with me.
DNF 8%
e-arc provided by NetGalley

I honestly flew through this book, As a paranormal lover, and someone who really values the importance of queer books. this one was chefs kiss to me. it was difficult to follow and i enjoyed the journey of this book for sure. i would definitely pic up another book by this author 4/5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this copy of Thirsty! Thirsty was a super fun queer paranormal take on a Hallmark type plot line and I was all here for it.

When you read enough paranormal romance and hallmark type romance it is a little difficult to find stories that are a little bit different and add a twist, but this story met those expectation and even went beyond them. It had the typical hallmark themes – going back to a small hometown after issues with their job in the Big Apple, meeting someone who lives in the small town and loves it but also struggles to find their place in it. Paranormal in that one is a vampire and the other is looking into supernatural beings.

I really loved the cast of characters. I appreciated that we had some typical supernatural cast like a vampire, werewolves, and witches. But I loved the unique variety of magical characters. Unicorns, Poltergeists, so many others made this story so unique and interesting to read. And each of these characters actually had unique backstories and characteristics that made them interesting. They weren’t just there to add background to the main characters – they were actual real people I could come to like and root for just as much as the main characters.

One thing I did struggle with in this story though was that a lot of the intimate scenes between the main characters seemed out of place. They happened randomly or the story would suddenly time skip from a normal scene to an intimate one. It made those scenes not as interested or just straight up confusing to read. Not all of them were like that – ones nearer the end were not as strangely placed – but the first ones definitely were. I would rate this book a level 4 out of 5 for spice though.

Overall, I would rate this book 4 out of 5 star. I certainly recommend it! It had such a unique plot and cute cast of characters that I wanted to be reading it all the time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin (Publishing) for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thirsty is a MM cozy contemporary paranormal romance rife with a sense of community, miscommunication, and a choice: revenge or love. (There's also an HEA.) It's written in the third person, dual pov, and character driven. I absolutely loved the inclusion of other supernatural creatures and that 2SLGBTQIA+ relationships are being featured so prevalently in publishing.

Overall, it was an okay, sort of fluff type story. I don’t know that I’d call it a rom-com as there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of comedy in it? But definitely a paranormal cozy romance. It's also not truly enemies to lovers; more like hate to love, but even that seems to resolve relatively quickly and behind the scenes.

Although some of the action scenes should feel high stakes, the book overall has a general sense of low to no stakes. The miscommunication/third act was predictable and not my favorite, but still made sense with the general plot.

I feel as though everything was surface-level; there is so much world building in a world that involves paranormal beings, even if it resembles somewhere in our real world, and I don't think there was enough time dedicated to the paranormal aspects. There were so many beings and adventures with said beings that some details felt glossed over or rushed.

I also noticed the plot was somewhat confusingly written in some places. The intimate scenes almost seemed bashful to the point that it was hard to tell even where they were for their first time (which also was contradicted later in the book). During the scene itself, for example, they were on top of a car. Then later on the scene is recalled and they were against a tree. Also the perspectives almost seemed to change mid chapter in a couple places, but actually hadn't.

Anyway, the book was okay. Not my favorite but not terrible so it gets the middle-of-the-road 3 star rating.

Rating: 4.5

There's enough meat to the story that the romance isn't the main focus 100% of the time, which is great and allows the romance to breathe a bit. I really enjoyed the world Lehane created - I loved that there weren't just the typical supernatural creatures, there were interplanar demons, banshees, poltergeists, trolls and unicorns, not to mention more mainstream druids, werewolves and of course vampires. Using the advice column submissions to craft the scope of the world was quite clever as well. I found the takes on all the regularly depicted supernatural creatures fun too, it made even the vampires feel a tad unique to other vampire depictions, which is quite a feat especially in a light spooky romance.

The romance was fun and the conflict believable, and some moments were actually laugh out loud funny. My only criticism is that some scenes felt cut short and I wish they wouldn't have been. It would have been nice to sit in the tension a bit longer, and it would have been nice to see more of a debrief between the leads after the adventures to help build the romance and relationship. Small issue, but enough to keep it from a full 5 star rating. It will be a really easy spooky season rec!

This was an enjoyable and engaging read. The blend of romantic comedy and supernatural elements was executed well, with familiar tropes presented in a fresh and sincere way. The world-building was particularly compelling, especially the normalization of the supernatural in a dystopian setting. Unexpected layers and additional supernatural elements added depth to the story. A light, feel-good M/M romance that offers both charm and humor.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you st Martin press for the advance copy! This was so much fun I love how annoying Charlie was up against a stubborn character like Lorenzo. This was a really fun romcom supernatural book with genuine questions I personally would be asking. There wasn’t much in the way of character growth but it was more of a silly book then a deep emotional book anyways so I had fun! Highly recommend

3.5 stars

I struggled with this one in the beginning. Up until around 25%, I just really didn’t like Charlie, one of the 2 main characters. In retrospect, I wonder if this was intentional because Lorenzo also really didn’t like him. But after the 25% mark, I flew through this book in an afternoon.

Charlie is an advice columnist with no inspiration. His writing has gone stale and his numbers - and income- reflect it. Lorenzo is a lonely vampire from Charlie’s past with a grudge when Charlie offers to perform favors for him in exchange for insight into the supernatural community.

This ended up being a fun read. Lighthearted but with a strong message about making your own community.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Thank you to St.Martin’s Press, Lucy Lehane, and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When I read “paranormal romantic comedy with enemies to lovers and scorching chemistry”, yall know I’m jumping on that immediately. Add in a super cute vampire/human queer relationship and honestly I don’t see where anything could go wrong.
Charlie is our advice columnist, down on his luck, struggling to get the attention his column, Wise Old Crone, needs in order to make a name for himself. A chance meeting with a vampire from his past offers Charlie a way into the supernatural world (aka what everyone wants his column to be about). He jumps at the chance to ask Lorenzo all his questions, not realizing that Lorenzo has plans to exact his revenge on Charlie for his role in the love of his life leaving him. As the story goes one, circumstances bring Charlie and Lorenzo closer than ever, but with secrets still hanging between them, betrayal is on the horizon.

I absolutely adored every second of this book. We’ve got our grumpy vampire who’s tired of the same old, same old. In comes our sunshine advice columnist, who even when things aren’t going his way, his enthusiasm to learn more about Lorenzo is addictive. Seeing how Charlie would get Lorenzo to smile even in the beginning was so sweet.
Definitely some fantastic tension, especially after the succubi art show (the way they saw two different scenes omg). I also just really loved the dynamic between the two of them. Even if things were purely sexual from the beginning, they both had a way of sensing that one of them needed or wanted more.
If only that connection had allowed them to communicate fully (ahem talking about you Charlie). The whole avoidance of talking about his column was frustrating. Especially because his “lie” about the thesis was pretty much just the column in a different format. Therefore when things came to a head and Lorenzo got upset, it was like ummm but he literally said this was what he was writing.
Anyways, besides that, this book was phenomenal. I loved learning about the different supernaturals, the wolf wedding was a hoot (are we thinking that the blowup was because of Wise Old Crone??) and I just loved these characters so much.
Def recommend if you’re into supernatural queer romance with some great combination of humour and sweetness!

4 stars

Lorenzo and Charlie's story is a fun and quirky paranormal romp. This book takes place in a universe where paranormal creatures are very much real and live out in the open. Not just werewolves, witches, and vampires, but fae, succubi, unicorns, poltergeists, and much more. The concept was super interesting to me, and I mostly enjoyed myself 98% of the time while reading. My one issue was the pacing and timeline. It felt a little jumpy at times. When I had the impression it had only been a day or two, we are told it had been two weeks. Sometimes, the author seemed to just skip over a bunch of time and gloss over what happened during that. It was mildly confusing. All that said, this is a great read! I had a lot of fun with its quirks and dry humor. In the acknowledgments, the author states that this was inspired by What We Do In The Shadows, and oh do I see it, and I love that. Overall, this is a good and worthwhile read. I will check out this author again in the future for sure.

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

This was a fun paranormal rom com with lots of magical creatures and shenanigans. I loved Lorenzo as a character and the friend group as a whole. The reason why this was not rated higher for me was the fact that Charlie as a character drove me crazy. I was anxiously begging him to communicate for most of the book. However, I can't deny the fact that this was addicting and the ending wrapped up nicely.

This is a fun male-male romance that is perfect for spooky season. I recommend checking this out when it is released.

Very excited for the publication of this novel. I am a big fan of anything that goes bump in the night, so I have been excited for this one!