I really loved this book! The way it portrays both disability/illness and ageing was very compelling. The love story was beautiful and sweet and painful, as was the other relationships in Victor's life. I adore a portrayal of vampires that places them closer to humanity instead of further, though i do feel like we could dive deeper into Victor's life and state of mind between the two timelines. My only complaint would be the subject of Victor's friendship with Michael and how it seemed like a huge turning point in the story and possibly a conflict within his relationship with his loved ones, but ended up not having an honest, meaningful resolution. Still, it's a fantastic read that I will be reccommending to queer vampire fans and lovers of sweet-but-tragic romance stories!

Heartbreaking and wonderfully moving! A tale of a love that is timeless and magic and beautiful. I didn't know what I was getting into with this story, and it sunk into me more than expected. It is slow and and focuses deeping on the characters and connections, so I am not sure it is for everyone, but for some, it will be one of the best things you've ever read.

I didn't know what to expect when I first picked this up. It was such an evocative, heartbreaking, yet simple love story. I love immortal characters struggling to balance their humanity and inhumanity simultaneously. While I could predict where the story was going towards the middle, I thoroughly enjoyed Doyle's writing style and depiction of Victor and the empty life he led without the love of his life. This was the perfect autumn read. Thank you Nightsgale Books and SD Press for the ARC.

This is Not a Vampire Story is a historical/contemporary fantasy following a teenage boy who has been 17 for more than 70 years. Victor is the night porter in an Irish nursing home where he takes care of a few elderly men who used to mean so much to him as a young man. As he says his final farewell to them, he recalls the events that lead to their meeting, the boy he loves, and the tragedy that left him immortal and forced to flee.

This was so goddamn painful and both easy to read and difficult to get through without tears. Simply but beautifully written and incredibly heartfelt, it is a deeply moving, deeply painful, and deeply melancholic portrait of a the cost of immortality and a life wasted. It is not the typical romanticized portrayal of vampires and immortality. And as the title states, it is not actually a vampire story. I don’t actually know who this story is for nor what is in service of, but boy did it put me through the wringer and had me all the more thankful for it because I was the exact audience who would appreciate it.

Seen through two timelines, it showcases a young man’s tragic life and what his immortality has cost him. The past is about his troubled youth and a burgeoning forbidden love that could never truly blossom at a time when homosexuality was illegal. The present is about the enduring bonds of friendship and love and the pain of memory and age that comes along with it. Victor is a fascinating character whose circumstances are heartbreaking. You will find yourself rooting for him and fighting for him all the way to the inevitable ending you will see coming.

This is Not a Vampire Story is a beautifully heartbreaking and melancholic queer fantasy that is as moving as it is tragic.

*Thank you to SD Press for the eARC via NetGalley

This heartfelt, gentle story explores love the mysteries of love and death, and the timeless fear that come with both. The writing is straight forward but evocative, with a hint of whimsy and lyricism adorning otherwise plain prose. Calling it plain isn’t an insult, though, it doesn’t try to use language to trick you into feeling for these characters, it lets the characters do that on their own, and so it is perfect for the story. The narrative framing, with chapters alternating between the present and with youth, works well, letting the world and these characters develop at a comfortable, meaningful pace. The main character, Victor, is wonderful, we are given enough space with him to feel his weariness and the many shades of who he is. I appreciate the ancillary characters, and they are given enough character to be more than window dressing, but I do wish we spent a little more time developing them. I felt like I knew them, I understood the dynamics of a pack of young men in a small town in the mid-20th century and I saw the reflection of those dynamics in the present day, so they weren’t waifs… But the chapters were so short, and so focused on Victor’s immediate emotional experiences, that we didn’t get as much into their lives as I would have liked. We get lines of dialogue about their inner experiences but if some of the chapters, both past and present, had been a little longer than I might have been able to develop a more robust appreciation of them, which I wanted. The eventual outcome of the story is pretty expected, as soon as we see the stakes after the first chapter or two, and yet it isn’t disappointing. Yes, there is some level of cliché to it, and some of the scenes and language lean into the territory of emotional manipulation, aiming right for the easiest path to the heart strings. However, it never feels coarse or heavy-handed, even in its cliché and expectations it feels gentle and compassionate, riddled with a longing and ache that only can come from the deepest of emotional relationships.

This is a quick story that doesn’t hide its heart, wearing it boldly on its sleeve. It uses a supernatural framing device to navigate the incredibly human experiences and emotions of love and loss, and it does that to great effect. There aren’t any surprises, you get exactly what is promised on the tin, but that isn’t a flaw. The deepest sadness in this story is not for the inevitable end, for last breaths and whispered goodbyes, but for all the moments wasted. The times when fear, shame, or ignorance force us to tie ourselves in knots and refuse to acknowledge what is in front of us. You can try to make up for lost time, and even have some modicum of peaceful success in that, but it is best not to lose that time in the first place. This story is a sweet reminder that, while there are many circumstances far outside of our control, obstacles and difficulties we will inevitably need to overcome or work around, we need to trust in ourselves and in the love we have for others in order to live a life, now, this moment, that won’t become deathbed regrets.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Nightsgale Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A beautiful yet heartbreaking story. This is not a vampire story, although you are asking the question throughout. Is it or isn’t it?. It is about so much more: love, joy, loss, grief, friendship, life… I don't want to give too much away. The chapters alternate cleverly between the past and the present as seen through the eyes of Victor. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. The writing and story gripped me from the start. I’d definitely recommend it.

I received an ARC via Netgalley/the author in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to netgalley for an earc of this story. Unfortunately I'm dnfing at 18%. This story sounded intriguing but ultimately fell too flat for me. The writing style is way too plain and nothing was hooking me to continue reading. I don't really feel like reading it anymore so I'm gonna set it free. A shame cuz it sounded like a really cool premise, I just don't think it's getting told in the way I'd want to read it.

mysterious and shadowed tale about heartbreak and emotion. truly not a vampire story, as it says, despite featuring vampires. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I absolutely loved this. The story is told in two timelines, present day and 1949. We follow Victor as he works in a rural Irish nursing home as a night porter. We learn about Victor's life story through the flashbacks to 1949, discovering what led him to where he is now. It's a story of the downsides immortality brings and the grief of watching everything and everyone around you change while you cannot.
There's just the right amount of horror and gore, and a heartbreaking love story that lasts throughout the decades.

First of all thank you for the opportunity to read this eARC

This is not a vampire story, it’s really not a vampire story, it’s a story about friendship, love, belonging, loss and grief, it just happens that it has vampires.

Through this book we accompany Victor who starts working as a night porter at Lakeshore Manor, a nursing home where he will share time with its residents and something else. Victor’s points of view helps us travel with him through years of the past starting in 1949 and the present.
There are many questions that come within reading, some get answered as we continue with the story, but other ones, as the book itself lets you know, don’t need an answer and maybe we will never get an answer.

The prose is marvelous, it's catching and romantic in its essence, it takes you in a way that’s appropriate to fully grasp and understand the story; the structure helps you jump from one chapter to another and through the time jumps to ensemble together the pieces of the story to ease the comprehension of the journey that Victor has had.

I feel this is a story that any person could enjoy and can find a reflection of experiences that are part of human nature, seeing the desire to self discovery, belonging and companionship, the doubt when facing life and how life takes you through different losses that make you grow.

The book currently will be available only in English, as much as I know of, however the writing could be on a good level for someone that is starting to read in English to forward language acquisition and practice.

Content Warning: Bloodlust, Death, violence and homofobia.


Will add a review on tiktok in the following days, as for now it's available on Goodreads in both English and Spanish

This book is a masterpiece. Vampire books are top tier for me and I've read a lot of them but this one... its one of the best. The storyline is amazing and I think it's such a great perspective on vampirism.
The dual timeline chapters between 1949 and present day are written so well and really draw you in to Victor and his life. The way that Simon has written about love, grief and friendship is spot on and in a way it made me constantly think of my own experiences of love and grief.
Thank you Netgalley for the copy of this book. I truly enjoyed it so much!

Thank you to NetGalley, Nightsgale Books, and SD Press for the eARC. This is Not a Vampire Story follows Victor Callahan, a seventeen-year-old working as a night porter in a nursing home along the Irish coast. The narrative alternates between two timelines: Present Tense Victor and Past Victor, starting in 1949. Through these alternating chapters, the story gradually unveils the truth about Victor’s past, centering on a close-knit group of teenage friends.

True to its title, This is Not a Vampire Story is instead a profound exploration of grief, loss, and the toll an unwanted eternity takes on the human psyche. At its heart, it’s a deeply moving portrayal of forbidden and illegal love, shedding light on the hidden generational experiences of queer love. Simon Doyle’s writing is poignant and intimate, building the story slowly as layers of Victor’s past are revealed. The book reads almost like a mystery, as each revelation about Victor’s life kept me intrigued and eager to piece together the circumstances that brought him to his present. This narrative style maintained a strong sense of suspense and emotional depth throughout.

One minor critique lies in the depiction of the setting and period-specific dialogue. While the novel is firmly rooted in a rural Irish coastal town and spends a significant portion in 1949, the characters’ voices didn’t always feel fully grounded in their respective time periods. At times, the language used in the 1949 chapters felt too contemporary, which occasionally blurred the distinction between the past and present timelines. While this didn’t detract significantly from the story, more attention to period-authentic dialogue could have added an extra layer of immersion.
Overall, This is Not a Vampire Story is a beautifully written and emotionally resonant novel that artfully balances elements of mystery with a heartfelt exploration of identity, memory, and the enduring impact of love. I highly recommend it to readers who appreciate stories centered on queer experiences and the enduring power of love across time.

Content Warnings for: Nursing Homes, End of Life Care, Death, Suicide Description

'This is Not a Vampire story' is a vampire story, which, as the title suggests, is not one either. It is a story about many things- love, regret, grief, which is assured to let the reader feel these emotions one by one. The writing is gripping, yet gentle as it guides you through the years of Vincent.

This book tells it story following two times- the past, which started around 1949, and the present, where the group of friends has reunited. This way of telling the story gives it a chance to lightly explore what being gay meant in 1949. It nicely juxstaposes the present and the past, as the chapters play into one another over and over again.

In the end, this book is filled with yearning, love (platonic and romantic) but also with letting go, avoiding and preparing to lose what is left. One thing I always love about stories with 'immortals' is when they get faced with the mortality of that which is around them- and the story beautifully starts with a reminder how mortal we truly are. Simon Doyle manages to make you care about every character in the story- only to make you sad to see them go.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and author for letting me have an arc via netgalley. I must say i enjoyed this book really quite a lot!

3.5 stars:
Tinavs is, in fact, a vampire story - but not your conventional blood-sucking tale of woe. Set largely in Ireland, we follow the protagonist back and forth through time gradually getting to know him and why he is the way he is. The dual narrative that provides is like being slowly let in on a secret just in time to understand the gravity of the context what follows it.
I'm inclined more to call this a love story, than anything supernatural as, despite those key elements, the story is far less fantastical than vampire stories typically come.

In all honesty, i can't quote tell if 'vampire' here is a metaphor for imposter syndrome, or if the maker vs creation is an allegory for self-acceptance, or if the vampire is used to highlight the beauty of life and youth and age.
It could be all of the above, it could be none. You read the book and make up your own mind.

I've written in my notes: some of the book is so beautifully written and gentle, while other parts are unhinged and funny. Thoughtful and slow but in the way watching rain fall outside your window as you sit inside in the warmth.

I spent a large portion of the book unsure how i felt about it because it is a slow burner, and maybe it could've been shorter, but it all pays off. The writing, i think, is clearly catered towards gen z which is a good or bad thing depending on what floats your boat - personally it was minimal enough for me to look past.

I only have a few major qualms, starting with the noticeable lack of female characters. There is Gloria, and put some respect on her name, mind, but aside from the mum there's not really anyone else. I have to mention chapter 14 and the murky con/non-con moment there. I understand its purpose but it just made me slightly uncomfortable and i don't really know how to feel about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and SD Press for this ARC.

In “This is not a Vampire Story” we follow eternally 17 year old Victor as he returns to Ireland to work as a night porter in a rural Irish retirement home, where we quickly learn that there are three residents he feels especially close to and responsible for. The book switches between the present day, when the three residents are in their nineties, and the past, more specifically 1949 and 1950, when they were still teenagers.

This is an equally heartwarming and heartbreaking story. It deals a lot with the common issues that arise when you grow old, which, as someone who is terrified of growing old, really struck me. It is a story of friendship and forbidden love, and while the romance aspect is very central to the story and could even be called the motor behind all actions taken by Victor, I think the aspect of the individual relationships between the five central characters is even more interesting to me. Friendship and brotherhood play a very important role as well, and made me quite nostalgic for my own days and nights of fucking around in my teenage years.

Heartbreak comes in the form of familial issues, a love frowned upon in its own time and of course the inevitability of what comes for us all in old age.

This book was a great read for I think any age group, because although the language and writing style are rather young, I think everyone can find pieces of themselves, their pasts and futures, in these characters. Especially a younger LGBT+ audience can definitely benefit from reading a book discussing queer past and many issues likely relatable to them and their own experiences of love and desire today.

This Is Not a Vampire Story. It's a romance; a tragedy; a horror; but yes, there are vampires in it. (And also personifications of Death. And also ice cream, and beers at the beach, and an apple orchard. Games of bridge in a nursing home rec room. Velvet tracksuits and heart monitors. A shipwreck. Heartbreak; and love, so very much love.)

From the very first chapter, this book had a lovely start. Moody and weary, and then moments of absolute tenderness. It didn't take long for the emotion in Victor's voice to start affecting me. Almost every scene described hit home for me in some way--at times a coming of age movie, at others reminiscent of other films I've seen and loved depicting friendship and love through the ages. Doyle draws distinctions between care and love--and then subsequently blurs the line between them--with absolute mastery. The book flows gently, an ebb and flow of sweetness and tragedy like a tide, with only a handful of harsh exceptions.

This Is Not a Vampire Story is, after all, a vampire story, and the vampiric parts of the story are portrayed in a singular way. Vampires have come to occupy a place more romantic than monstrous in the past few decades of pop culture media. We tend to romanticize vampirism, the bite, the turning, the transformation. Doyle subverts that in many ways--this is, above all else, a story of romance, but the vampire aspect is the least romantic of any part of this book. It's a harsh juxtaposition that works super well. The descriptions of both the vampiric characters and the turning are horrific; dark and eerie in a way that still pays homage to the gothic romance of it all, but also extremely off-putting. All the familiar bears of modern vampire literature are here, but they've been twisted and stood on end to be something that read to me as fairly new. It made me feel uncomfortable--intimate, but unkind, almost assault but also not at all. It's overtly sexual, and yet seems so utterly divorced from sexuality in a way that was really hard to put my finger on. (I made a note to myself on this: "I wonder what is meant to be pure fantasy, and what is meant to be metaphor (if anything).")

The language was accessible, although sometimes vague and distant. For the most part, it didn't bother me; it felt at for a narrator who is both very old an also very young. There are some attempts at metaphor, or to establish atmosphere, that come off a little confused or clumsy and make it hard to tell precisely what is happening or being described. It seemed like it was intentional, but not always executed well, so it was more confusing than effective at times.

Overall, This Is Not a Vampire Story took me on an absolute rollercoaster of an emotional journey. The beats of the story are expected and yet not. It treads familiar romantic ground but does so in a way completely unexpected. Despite the horror aspects--which take up relatively little ground compared to how much time I spent in this review talking about it--the persistence of Victor's love, and the reciprocity of it, is the pinnacle of romance. The entire story was heartbreakingly beautiful. The pages absolutely bleed with the love between the cast; it brought me to the brink of tears multiple times, and the ending did in fact leave me crying silently in bed next to my sleeping wife.

(I was provided an Advanced Reader Copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

...Holy shit.

To be honest, I didn't really read the description before starting. The actual story is not what I expected at all, but I am very surprised and impressed. The title is right - this is NOT a vampire story.

This is a story about love, death, immortality, and friendship, told in two timelines. Victor's vampirism is a device to tell the story, but it's not just that. The blend between Victor's story as a vampire and his story of his love and friendship is perfectly balanced to create something beautiful and engaging. And he is entertainingly witty (as is the rest of the crew). They are lovable characters, and you can feel their love for each other, which makes it that much more heartbreaking.

Also, as a transgender man, I found many correlations between Victor's "transformation" and transitioning, particularly on testosterone. The author isn't trans and I know these weren't intentional- the nods to transness probably would not be recognizable to just anyone. But someone else going through their own "transformation" might feel a special kind of kinship to Victor. Just... without the thirst for human blood.

Get ready for the most beautiful knife to the heart, and to be grateful for the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nightsgale Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It did take me a couple chapters to really get into this story, but when I did I found myself really caring about the characters in both time periods that we follow them through. The relationships between the characters are incredibly wholesome and sweet. It deals very well with facing death both your own and that of those you love as well as the process of grief. It absolutely ripped my heart out but I deeply enjoyed this story.

I cannot in good conscience give a rating to this book because it is severely mismarketed.

This is the saddest book I have read. Structured in two timelines, past and present, the present has the most depressive atmosphere you can imagine, and the past which is the rosy part is not enjoyable because you know the future.

Literary and emotionally, it might be a great book. I couldn't tell you because I would not have the requested the ARC had I gotten a hint about what this book is about.

Sorry Simon, I can try one of your fluffier books because the writing style and the chemistry is stellar, but this wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and SD Press for the ARC!

The writing in this was so lovely. I particularly enjoyed the flashback scenes to 1949 while Victor was with his friends. It was such a nice little friend group, their closeness and love for each other just jumped off the pages. I wish Victor could have stayed in that bubble for longer. The romance felt sweet and genuine, I was rooting for them so bad.

The scenes in the nursing home were equally interesting, with the older personalities of the characters shining. It was so unsettling when death approached and Victor could feel it.

As for the vampire elements (although, like it says on the tin that isn't the focus for this book!), the turning scene in was one of the creepiest I have ever read. <spoiler> I am terrified of the ocean , this hit all my spooky buttons! THE GALLEON CRACKED OPEN AND HE FELL BETWEEN INTO THE ICY DEPTHS BELOW? AND THERE WAS A WATERY VAMPIRE THERE?! ARGH! And right before the forbidden romance kiss? </spoiler>

As I think the author intended, I didn't care much in regards to Amaral. It was cool to see these vampire powers/visuals - black veins, stealing pain etc and I loved the classic references like needing to be invited in, and the sun actually being deadly.

In terms of the final message, I think it would have held more punch if I had spent longer with Victor when he wasn't with his beloved friend group and James. Overall though this was sweet and easy to read and I would read more by Simon Doyle in a heartbeat.

Thank you to Netgalley and Nightsgale books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.