This book was quite entertaining for sure, but at the same time there were some things I didn't like.

What I enjoyed:
- how it's written, with a narration full of irony and funny stuff;
- the queer representation;
- the idea of an ancient married vampire couple going on a modern cruise for vacation;
- how vampires' power are represented, feeding on emotions and enchanting people around them;
- the vulgar / smutty vibes;
- Heaven, that was such a good Nemesis to Rebekah and such an interesting creature;
- the book being short (all the story is shrinked in 14 days);
- the cover's graphic and colour.

What I didn't particularly like:
- Hugh, who had a lot of potential but didn't really bloom for me;
- some things that were never totally cleared nor explained (the war? The people disappearing? Bekha's flashbacks?)
- Misha, who I thought will be an important character but in the end he only was an extra in the story;
- Rebekha constantly changing her attitude and thoughts about Hugh and Heaven, being jealous towards her husband and wanting him back but then not wanting him anymore.

I think this book could be a lot better with a little bit of adjustment here and there, but even so it is particular and good to read.

Vampires at Sea

Firstly I’m going to start off by saying this little book is exquisitely written. Its full of witty one liners that left me chuckling.

Vampires at Sea is just that. Vampire couple, Rebekah and Husband Hugh, head off on a cruise. They are not your normal vampires, we are not sucking people dry here, well not from blood anyways but from emotions. It’s an interesting concept which left me thinking about ‘what we do in the shadows’, Colin Robinson. Which in itself made me chuckle. I can’t help it, if you know the show... you will understand. Much like What we do in the shadows, I found this book hilarious.
Rebekah, who is wholly the one telling us this story is very promiscuous, i love that about her. Especially the way she tells us about the orgies and sexual advances she accepts. Her personality shines, and honestly i could see us being best friends.
Husband Hugh, is an artist. He’s shy, totally introverted into himself, and honestly, i don’t know how he would survive without Rebekah. They are very much like chalk and cheese, Rebekah is the one that shines brightly, while Hugh would gladly let her do so.

Well, that is until they meet a non-binary shape-shifter. Heaven, who instantly wants everything Rebekah has to offer, including her beloved Hugh.

I loved the mystery, I loved the summer vibes. I just wish it was a tad longer, I wanted more than anything to spend more time with these characters.

Thank you to Net galley, and creature publishing for this splendid little read. I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure

thank you to netgalley and creature publishing for the arc

this is a good bite sized novella !! i lovedd the strong narrative voice and how irritable rebekah was (genuinely i would react similarly i think,, but that’s why i couldn’t be in an open relationship i think). a lot of people were saying the ending felt rushed; I completely disagree i think it matched the pacing of the rest of the book.

there's one part that gets a bit too meta for me: "Not enough time has passed, too few scenes have gone by, we are not yet far along enough in the story for this" (pg. 50 in arc). Felt really different in the voice/tone than the rest of the book and it took me out of the story for a second.

anyways, i had fun! and i really enjoyed when the MC called Jesus an “effeminate anorexic”

I was entertained for the duration of this novella, it was campy and smutty and interesting and bold. I really enjoyed the writing style and I found Rebekah to be a compelling and unique main character. It reminded me of What We Do In The Shadows which I LOVE and overall I think it is worth a read for sure if you enjoy that show!

Where this book fell short for me was the world building and lore. A novella should leave you wanting more as in “I want more because it was so good” not wanting more as in “I want more because I don’t understand the setting of the book nor the context of the characters”. There was this unexplained and seemingly random war, bursts of memories from the past that had no tie in to the future, and missing components to the ship itself.

What I was expecting but it was not this!
There is no introduction it just jumps in to characters at first I thought they were already on the cruise ship but they weren’t the amount of swearing and sex talk is completely unnecessary it’s taking away from the book not adding to it. 20 pages in and I still don’t know what’s going on. This one I will not be finishing

devastated by how much i disliked this. i love vampires in pretty much any iteration but this was actually just bad erotica disguised as a horror/fantasy about vampires
and it was also boring so complete L to me

This was a fun little romp. The author acknowledges their inspiration from What We Do In the Shadows and it shows - not in a bad way, its fun and I appreciate they are honest.

We have queer poly emotional vampires on vacation. Having another partner is one thing, another bit of fun, but when that fun starts to turn into feelings, into something that isn't right, our MFC is forced to try and save her beloved, as well as come to terms with a lot of things she had been trying to ignore, about herself, about her relationship and about boxes she has been crafting in her mind.

I get that this is a novella, a short story, but the hints at the wider world boarder on frustrating. There is war and plague - just war, any war, except the reaction to those wars make you wonder what exactly is going on out there. I also found the writing a little much at times, there was description dripping from every line and sometimes a spade can just be a spade. But it was still fun.

An enjoyable, fast paced romp that doesn't outstay its welcome and an author to watch out for!

Married vampires Rebekah and Hugh find themselves on vacation on a cruiseship on the black sea. On this cruise they meet Heaven and Hugh is immediately sold on this mysterious new stranger. Rebekah, our narrator, however isn't and she wants to find out what Heaven's endgoal is.

Oh boy. I thought, based on the description, that this would be something I could like, but sadly the opposite was true. It took 7 pages for the narrator to reveal anything about herself. Because the book starts out with her talking about her husband, Hugh of Hugo.
The concept of vampires in this book was quite confusing as well. So they don’t live on blood and more on energy? The whole description gave me more of succubus/incubus vibes than actual vampires.
When they start to talk about a painting Hugh made, the author expects you to fill in all the blanks yourself. I didn't vibe with that either. The narrator can't or won't remember any names, be it people on the boat or a past lover, she apparently doesn't give a shit. At first it was quirky, but it got very boring very fast.
The smut is on the surface and nothing to write home about. So no redeeming quality on that part either.
The ending left me unsatisfied and more confused than before I started the story and that says a lot in my opinion.

All in all I was surprised at the shortness of the story in the beginning, but at the end I'm glad it wasn't any longer.

And to end I want to say that I got this book as an eARC to give my honest review about. I want to thank Netgalley, Creature Publishing and the author for this opportunity. I hope this book can find its intended audience, because it clearly wasn't for me.

this one could have benefitted from more time in the drafts. i know it's a novella and is meant to be short, but it felt unfinished and under explored. queer cruises sound cool as heck though

Not for me, unfortunately. 2.5 stars.

For the most part, a quick and easy read, but the writing and characters are kinda shallow and underdeveloped. It felt like there was an interesting premise somewhere in there, but the straggling plotlines and relationships buried it.

The style of prose was too casual, too online, for my liking, but I'm sure it would work for some people.

3.5*

We‘re on vacation!

This was a fun little novella filled with weirdness, lust and beautiful writing.

The characters were mostly well fleshed out, i just feel like it could’ve been more. Heaven and Rebekah are well written. You could really feel inside Rebekahs mind and feelings. However, Hughs character should’ve been more thought out. The plot could’ve also been a bit more. There were some parts left unexplored that could’ve still been written without erasing the mysterious feel that i think we were supposed to be left with.

This is my first read and review for NetGalley, I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this, but I absolutely devoured this book. It was queer, vampires and smut? I found it be something very unique. Although, I predicted a couple of things, the details and the way it all turned out did surprise me! I will definitely be recommending this book to people when it gets published!

This book was too fast paced for me to really enjoy, and the smutty parts were almost too fade to black. Could definitely use more fleshing out as a story.

Rating 1.5 rounded up.

When I first read the premise I was excited about this read. I do enjoy a good vampire story. But right out of the gate I realized that this was just not for me. The story is well written its just not what I thought it would be. If you are more into contemporary versions of vampire stories then you may enjoy this. I never really feel any attachment to our married couple Rebekah and Hugh. There is nothing about them that I can become emotionally attached to so I found myself loosing interest. Overall the story just gave me a party club kind of vibe and that is not what I am looking for in a vampire story.

1.5🌟

An utter disappointment, which is such a shame because I was so excited for it. It wasnt horror and it wasn't funny. All the characters were thoroughly dislikeable and where was the lore behind any of the creatures? By the time anything of interest actually happened, I didn't care. The only positive thing was the queer representation. Disliking a vampire novel hurts me to my core.

Please just call this what it was: smut with a tiny bit of plot.

This book was decidedly not for me.

As a reader, we all have preferences. Mine is and has always been third person narration—but some of my favorite books are first person, and I have liked discovering them as much as I have loved re-reading them at times.
What poses a recurring problem to me with first person narration is typically what happens with this novel. I feel like the narration is overly simplified, the thoughts of the main character a little too intrusive at times because of the style that’s been chosen for a novel that would in any other circumstances have much a deeper tone than the one that’s used there. This is, however, a personal preference, and i do recognize that.

When it comes to the story itself, I found it a little.. clinical, if that makes sense? The writing made it very factual; but there was little for me as a reader to work with when it comes to beginning to like a character. We barely learn about our main couple before we’re thrown into their relationship and are supposed to care about them drifting apart. “I don’t have to show him what i’m wearing, he already knows” (p. 18) is a good example of that.
The reader is supposed to know and care about those two’s relationship because it is described as such, not because we know anything much about them—and throughout the pages, we’re not given much more to play with.

The story itself is confusing at times (what’s with the war? What war? Where?) and many scenes felt like they were not finished before we moved on to another one, making it hard to follow those characters around on the ship. The very title of the book is about the only explanation we will get about them being vampires—it does not really weight into the story itself, and I couldn’t really find it in myself to find a reasoning behind them being inhuman save for the recognition of another magical being.

I did not connect with the story, neither did I connect with the characters. Maybe this story simply wasn’t for me!

2 ⭐️

The copy I read seemed very unfinished. At first, I thought the writing was not my cup of tea, but I fear that the writing is just not where it needs to be for someone to read it. The first section spits out information at you for the sake of spitting out information, and some attempts are very clumsy. The narrator's thinking is alllll over the place in a way that is not intentional, even though it's clear that the author is trying to create one of those unhinged female characters that work well for other authors. The narrator talks to the general "you" but then immediately jumps into talking about characters in the story as if they were the same person. The husband speaks entirely in Spanish the first two times he talks to the narrator, and then only when he calls her pet names. Both the story and the writing need more development.

So were they vampires? I still don’t know after 200 pages. What I do know is that Rebekah and Heaven were both insufferable- “I’M hOT sO nOtICE MEEeee!”

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley
for the eARC.

Vampires at Sea invites readers to join Rebekah and Hugh aboard a queer cruise ship.

Told through the hilarious perspective of Rebekah, we follow her and her husband Hugh on their 14 day vacation.

The only thing is, they are vampires.

They felt reminiscent of Nadja and Laszlo from What We Do in the Shadows, Rebekah’s witty comments specifically. She is narcissistic and I loved her.

A couple of days into the cruise they meet Heaven, a non-binary influencer, Rebekah is both fascinated and wary of them as Rebekah suspects that Heaven may be something otherworldly.

If smut, comedy and vampires is your thing, Vampires at Sea is the perfect combination.

I was promised a messy, sexy romp and I got exactly what I wanted! Rebekah was a horrible, excellent, supremely fun character to get into the head of. Probably not for people who don't enjoy reading about terrible people doing terrible things and experiencing terrible things being done to them in turn, but I certainly enjoyed it! A lot of fun and a bit more heart than I was expecting.

Thank you to Netgalley and Creature Publishing for this advance copy!