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Thicker Than Water
By Elvie Grace
A will-they-or-won’t-they love story, a well crafted world of human/monster politics, and well written neurodivergent representation all intersect in Thicker Than Water.
The story opens in a modern day city and timeline, with one major difference: Humans now are aware of and living amongst vampires, witches, and werewolves. Humans are skeptical of Vamps, some downright hating or targeting them.
Our main protagonist, Delilah, is second to a powerful vampire politician. He has tasked her with the important job of poring over literature written about vampires (by humans) to discover popular opinion and, through lots of marketing and collaboration with her human colleague, improve public relations.
She is assigned to work with a mysterious young Doctor Maxine, and the two annoy each other almost immediately. Max’s sunshiney demeanor confuses our vampire friend, as do her chaotic organization system and powerful human emotions.
The stakes get higher as the public opinion of Vamps becomes more negative, and Max becomes a target.
Through hours of reading, awkward lunch dates, and a shared apartment (!), Max and Delilah become closer, as Max wrestles with her feelings and her desire to protect the human doctor.
I won’t spoil anything else, but there is **definitely** some open door spice and – well, if blood makes you squeamish you probably aren’t the right target for vampire novels 😅
The genuine representation of an Autistic doctor was refreshing. Max was by far my favorite character, not stuck into an “Autistics don’t understand feelings” box or stereotyped, but real and happy and human.
I would have loved to learn more about Magnus (the politician,) and Calliope, Delilah’s best friend (who happens to be a non-practicing witch.) While Max and Delilah were fleshed out quite well, I found myself wondering about the other characters’ motivations and lives.
Delilah’s lack of memories of being a human, centuries before, made me giggle, as did her frequent annoyed references to Twilight.
Also, cats named Renfield and Purrsival.
If you like vampires, sapphic love stories, and cats, this is a must-read.
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Thank you Elvie Grace for the Advance Readers Copy.
Thicker Than Water is available on Kindle Unlimited or to purchase here
The Midnight Review 