What's your blood type? Vampire reads to suit every taste
After a bit of post-Twilight cultural fatigue, it's safe to say that vampires are now back with a vengance. In movies, TV and books, the number of vampires have been steadily growing; but if you're not sure where to start, or need help separating the romantic from the gory, I am here to help! Whether you prefer your vampires to be murderous, plotting for power, or secretly kind of sweet, I've got a book recommendation that will hit the spot.
Literary horror 🩸
Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary
In the nineteenth century, a vampire arrives from Europe to the coast of Buenos Aires, on the run from the Church. She must adapt, intermingle with humans, and, most importantly, be discreet.
In present-day Buenos Aires, a woman finds herself at an impasse as she grapples with her mother's terminal illness and her own relationship with motherhood. When she first encounters the vampire in a cemetery, something ignites within the two women – and they cross a threshold from which there's no turning back.
Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda
Lydia is hungry. She’s always wanted to try sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside – the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But Lydia can’t eat any of this. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs’ blood in London – where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time – is much more difficult than she’d anticipated.
Then there are the humans: the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men who follow her after dark, and Ben, a goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but can she bring herself to feed on them?
Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta
There is a monster inside of Angelina Sicco. All she wants is to walk her mongrel dog, hold court with her brother in their local dive bar, and bait hot queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown, Cadenze. The problem is, so does the monster. It wants what Angelina has done, it wants what she's going to do. It wants to eat her whole life, and every version of every future she might have with it.
Until it possessed her, the famous monster of Cadenze lived deep in a pit inside the mountain. But on the night when Angelina runs into her brother's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, the creature rises hungry and ready to eat.
Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville
Rebecca Carter and her daughter Monica, nicknamed Moonflower, travel the American West alone and isolated. Wherever they go, bodies are left behind.
Special Agent Marc Donner of the FBI has been tracking a serial killer for the best part of two years. A murderer who kills only men. All of them with their throats opened, their bodies bled out and their spinal cords severed. The killer leaves no trace, no clues – only a trail of corpses.
And so begins a cat-and-mouse game between Donner and his prey, Rebecca and Moonflower. But who is the actual hunter – and who is the actual prey? Perhaps Moonflower isn’t the child that her mother claims she is. Perhaps she’s something else – and as Donner puts everything on the line to capture them, perhaps he isn’t prepared to face what is really out there . . .
Dark fantasy 🦇
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.
Gabriel de Leon is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.
Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
Human or vampire, the rules of survival are the same: never trust, never yield, and always – always – guard your heart.
The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.
But winning won't be easy, pitting Oraya against the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, she will be forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival.
Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
Orphan Kidan Adane is the heiress to a fallen House of humans bound to vampiric creatures known as draniacs. As a human, it is her responsibility to study and nurture the relationships between draniacs and humans at Uxlay University.
But when her sister is kidnapped and Kidan suspects that her own house draniac, the enigmatic Susenyos, is to blame, she heads down a violent path towards vengeance, willing to hurt anyone who stands in her way.
Something sweeter 🖤
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Simon Snow just wants to relax and savour his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his room-mate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savour anything.
The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle
Summer holidays are over. Perley and Amandine should be busy with their school's knitting club and hockey, but instead they're struggling with major life changes.
Perley has been diagnosed with diabetes and is trying to get his head around sugar levels and insulin shots. Amandine, part of a respected vampire family, has been turned much younger than she expected after a near-fatal car accident. Bonding over hospital trips and new diets, the two teens form a fast friendship. And Amandine's ability to taste blood sugar levels is a helpful perk for Perley that also provides her an ethical source of sustenance (essential for a vegan-turned-vampire).
But as the year passes, Perley and Amandine begin to realise that their coping strategies – and their blood-sipping-turned-romance – may not be as healthy as they first thought.
Garlic and the Vampire by Bree Paulsen
Garlic feels as though she’s always doing something wrong. At least with her friend Carrot by her side and the kindly Witch Agnes encouraging her, Garlic is happy to just tend her garden, where it’s nice and safe.
But when her village of vegetable folk learns that a bloodthirsty vampire has moved into the nearby castle, they all agree that, in spite of her fear and self-doubt, Garlic is the obvious choice to confront him. And with everyone counting on her, Garlic reluctantly agrees to face the mysterious vampire, hoping she has what it takes.
