This novella would have been perfect if it had 200 to 300 more pages. There was a lot being told in such a short amount of time that the plot of Vampires at Sea was a little confusing to follow. The ending would have had much more impact if we were to get a better look at their relationship and what it truly meant for it to end. But I love the idea of this world, I would read another 200 to 300 pages as I did enjoy myself a lot reading this book. I just want MORE

DNF'd at 42%

I'm a huge fan of vampires and queer books, so when I read the description I was really hopeful that I'd love this one, but I really couldn't get into it. The writing was very different, and unfortunaly not in a good way, the main character broke the fourth wall multiple times which I found annoying and the attempts to be funny fell flat most of the time. Maybe the lore gets explained further into the book regarding what type of vampires these are, but to where I read I didn't really understand them. They fed off of people's energy from what I did understand, but why, how, or what it did to the humans was not really clear to me.

One positive thing I can think off about this book is the queer representation, which was very well done, and of course as it is set in a queer cruise, there is a lot of.

I need more vampire stories like this in my life. Sparkles, begone! Ass-kicking, emotion-eating fuck beasts are where it's at.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a free eARC! :D

I was disappointed that this story about vampires barely had them being vampires in it. also the prose was repetitive and clunky.

This is a read of the ages and boasts an excellent first page to hook the reader in. The dialogue is incredibly graphic in parts that meets the tone of the story as well as the character development. Because this is a novella, it is the perfect length to delve into the social commentary and upend the vast vampire stories already published. The ending was rushed. However, it does not take away from the uniqueness of this story.

Thank you, Netgalley and Creature Publishing for providing me this digital ARC!

A fun, weird little novella. This book has a great premise - a queer, sexy vampire on a queer sexy cruise - and is a fun whirlwind of a read, but I was expecting more. It had some excellent moments and great one liners but didn't have the hook I needed to make it a truly stunning read.

I’m absolutely obsessed with this novella, it’s a hilarious, fun romp. You are 100% rooting for the protagonist the whole time.

I liked the idea of this book but I found the narrative voice and focus on solely Rebekah to be very distancing and cold, and not sexy. I suppose that it's an intentional choice for this work and the vampire motif but I found it quite distancing from the story and emotions

To be honest, I don’t know what to make of this funny little book. Talk about an unreliable narrator! Following Rebekah and all of her emotions on this cruise ship and Hugh falls for Heaven and Rebekah makes out with everyone around her was a trip. This book was unlike anything I’ve read before. The story is erratic, like the character’s emotions. It truly felt like an emotional ship rocking at sea. As odd as it was, I finished it in two sittings and was curious about where it would go.

A bite-sized (hehe, get it) novella, packed to the brim with wit and debauchery - very "What We Do In the Shadows" coded! The author creates a neat juxtaposition between inane observations and surprisingly deep moments of psychological dread in their prose, which makes for a strange but very fun read. I wasn't expecting the level of smut, and that's on me for not reading the blurb - personally, I felt a few scenes could have been traded in for more world-building and context, however, that's an incredibly hard thing to do in so little pages. At times, Rebekah's narration became a little grating - we get it babe, you're hot - but I think this lends well to her character, and we do see a sense of growth throughout the story. Altogether, Vampires at Sea was quite a fun lil romp in the sheets (of paper) ;)

Thank you kindly to Netgalley and Creature Publishing for providing me this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, thank you to Creature Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC!

This was such a deliciously fun read! The main character's narrative voice was so sardonic and witty, and I found myself laughing aloud quite a few times. I enjoyed how thoroughly self-absorbed the main character, Rebekah, is; She may not be the most likable vampire, but by the end, you can't help but completely root for her. I was absolutely engrossed the second I sat down, and read the whole thing in one sitting. An absolutely entertaining time, definitely recommend!

Vampires at Sea was a propulsive, engaging, and comedic tale of two deliciously self absorbed vampires on a cruise ship who become entwined with a tricky third. This was perfectly witty, and read like velvet. I enjoyed this original take on emotional vampirism, as well as how it leaned a little further into the sexually explicit hedonistic nihilism which we all know and love. I love Creature Publishing so much. Vampires at Sea is one that I’ll revisit for a little nautical gothic delight.

Vampires at Sea has an interesting premise—immortal, moody lovers on a pleasure cruise in the Black Sea, throwing caution (and moral inhibitions) to the wind. It promises a blend of smutty horror and comedy, but unfortunately, it never quite delivers on either front. The jokes often feel forced, and the gore and tension come off as more silly than scary.

Rebekah and Hugh’s dynamic could have been fun if their narcissism and over-the-top vampy personas had more depth. Instead, the characters feel one-note, and the addition of Heaven, the intriguing nonbinary influencer, doesn’t really shake things up enough to keep the story engaging. Ultimately, the plot wanders, leaving you wanting more substance beneath all the campy antics. While it might offer a few chuckles for die-hard fans of offbeat vampire tales, Vampires at Sea fell short of the wild, thrilling ride it could’ve been.

Have you ever thought about what would happen if two married vampires went on a queer cruise in the middle of a war? No, neither had I, but this author certainly did!

Perfect for fans of What We Do In The Shadows, this is the story of Rebekah and Hugo's (Hugh) vacation around war-torn Europe. The whole time I just invisioned Nadja but with a more timid version of Laslo.

Filled with orgys, debauchery, jealousy, and whit, this book is wild.


Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC via Netgalley.

I don't even know what to say about this book, I was so confused the whole time reading. I went into this book expecting something hilarious and maybe even a bit ridiculous and over the top. It sounded cool and interesting at first glance. Actually reading it was a major let down. Somehow it felt like every reading assignment I hated in my creative writing classes in undergrad. It also felt way more like literary fiction (which often prioritizes sentence craft/wording over plot) than the genre fiction it claimed to be. It claimed to be some sort of horror, but I felt it lacked any of that? The only thing I can think of is the ever mentioned “war” that's never actually explained because the narrator doesn't care to. At that point, was there really even a need to mention it?

This book was also written in a stream of consciousness style which really requires a very delicate and skilled hand to pull off. I felt like this book did not accomplish that. It felt like just a bunch of word vomit. There was very little to retain from it. I wasn't grounded. It needed way more context than it gave.

There were also some parts which featured sort of one off comments that somewhat felt like a hate crime/speech coming from the narrator. Somehow this book was intended to celebrate queerness, but it felt homophobic at the same time. There was one comment about the ship’s workers that felt racist and it was never brought up again because the narrator is so self absorbed. What was that even about? “But the narrator is a narcissist so she wouldn't care.” Not an excuse. The comments made me feel icky.

The characters were pretty deplorable and narcissistic, which it was claimed to have, so it at least has that going for it.

Needless to say, I did not like this book. I only read it all to properly review it and I almost wish I hadn't.

What did I just read? I want to hate this, but it’s so campy and weird that I can’t. It’s also not really all that great. At times it was incredibly confusing or pointless, but I was also drawn into the absolute chaos and complete insanity of the world of Rebekah on this cruise ship. There is not really much plot, and I honestly thought this book was going to be something much different than what it turned out to be, but if you like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this has notes of a somewhat similar nature.

Firstly, it seemed it was written by a drunk poet? Idk how else to expound on that, but it all is just ramblings of the cruise rooms, or anything you can find inside it. These details could be removed as it seemed the story could go on even without them.

And man, this screams narcissistic main character Rebekah, like all she babbles on is how great she looks, "we're on vacation!" how horny she is so on. It only gotten a heart in the story at about 60% in it when she is quite jealous of Heaven but doesn't want to admit it, and when 80% into it when she knows they will never love and care for Hugh like her. but other than that, this is just pure ramblings, no heart, no plot, not even spice. their vampire-ism is like a second thought, the feeding more of feelings rather than blood: pain, fear, lust.

This was described as horror comedy and spicy, man, no it is not? There was no comedy and how the story told is like an old comedy but there is no HEA on the story, only tragedy. there was no horror, well apart from the the feeding, the fight and the kills, the shape shifting? gosh no, it does not tell a horror to me. The only Horror is that I picked it up as an ARC, I hoped there were some preview first, bec by the way it was written, I was checking out and dozing off, I might not pick it up at all had I had a glimpse inside the story. The cover deceived me well.

I’d like to give this book the benefit of the doubt that I’m just dumb, as I found the writing very confusing at first. It got better but I lost interest halfway through. I just didn’t like the characters that much. The ending was good, I think it could have used an epilogue. It’s not bad overall, a quirky little novella.

I really enjoyed this book. It was silly and sexy with some horror aspects. Overall I really enjoyed this book. The length made it feel more like an AO3 fanfic than anything else but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I enjoyed the satirical nature of the characters and the setting- I mean queer vampires on a cruise!

The horror aspects could have been more pronounced really and I felt the ending was rushed, but I stoll enjoyed the bulk of the story.

Oh and don't read this on a train like I did - you might get some strange looks!

With thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

This was such a fun read! Two married vampires are going on holiday and nothing happens as one might expect. I loved their distinct personalities and the diversity of characters and the setting of a queer cruise ship. But for me, the novella had one little flaw, and it‘s such a specific issue I personally had that I think it would spoiler the plot. Nevertheless, it‘s witty and spellbinding!