The title is what first caught my attention. Why exactly does Aubrey want to die? And for that matter, who even is Aubrey? I was intrigued by the description, but it was the first chapter available online that actually hooked me.
I’ve always loved a good vampire novel, and to be clear, I’m not talking about the Twilight variety. I’m talking about the heavy hitters like Anne Rice and Stephen King, the Southern gothic charm of Charlaine Harris, the chilling realism of Let the Right One In, or the grit of Poppy Z. Brite. Whether they are scandalous, fun, or flat-out terrifying, a vampire has to be interesting to work.
That is exactly what Aubrey is. She is interesting in a way that feels incredibly human. At times, she was infuriating. You know the kind of friend you’d want to shake or slap some sense into but that exasperation is what made her feel real. We’ve all been the one picking up the pieces of a friend’s broken heart, and while Aubrey’s actions were occasionally laughable and chaotic, I understood her ache even when I was thinking, “Girl, you can do better”.
Understanding Aubrey’s “why” is the engine of the novel. Writing under the pen name Pip Knight, Pip Drysdale writes with an honest mix of sarcasm and genuine pain. She may not have walked in “vampire shoes,” but she’s clearly lived through heartache. She understands that love makes us remarkably dumb at the worst possible times.
What I enjoyed most was that this novel made vampires fun again. There’s no brooding or sparkling. Aubrey is a romantic at heart, cautious about her life until she meets Jonathan. Then there’s Oscar, the one who created and then abandoned her. I found him far more mysterious than devilish and actually wished for a bit more time with him rather than watching her chase Jonathan, but I get it. That isn’t what this story is really about. It’s a raw and sarcastic look at a broken-hearted vampire just trying to get her version of true love back.
Beyond the central messy romance, the story is fleshed out by a supporting cast of humans and vampires who act as the necessary mirrors for Aubrey’s chaos. They provide the grounding reality and the much needed checks that keep the plot from becoming just another supernatural trope, and when you think you’ve got the rhythm of her heart chasing down, the novel throws in twists that force you to re-evaluate everything you thought you knew about her motives. It’s a book that reminds us that whether you have a pulse or not, facing your past and even moving on is the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do.
If you’re looking for a story that feels more like a night out with your most dramatic friend than a gothic lecture, Why Aubrey Wants to Die is the one to grab.
FROM HARPER COLLINS
Aubrey is not what she seems. She’s young, beautiful, romantic, obsessive and … a vampire. All she wants is to be human again, and failing that, she wants to die. But the problem is, she can’t. Not by stake through the heart or holy water or crucifix or garlic or fire. And she’d know, she’s tried every method. Twice.
So she’s stuck here on this earth, all alone. Even the vampire who made her has abandoned her.
But everything changes when, one fateful night, she meets Jonathan. He’s everything Aubrey’s ever dreamed of and, what’s more, he’s her soulmate. Her Bella–Edward story. For the first time in 150 years, she has a reason to hope—eternal life might be bearable after all. So when Jonathan unexpectedly breaks up with her, she’ll do anything to get him back.
But that’s the exact moment Oscar, aristocratic douchebag and her long-gone sire, swoops back into her life. And he has other plans for her. Soon, she’s thrown into a world of glamour, glitter, blood and hedonism, a world that has her questioning everything she knows to be true—about life, but also about herself.
A world where nothing is simple … and no one is safe, either.
Book Cover Image from Harper Collins
