In a beautiful, allegorical story that features plenty of bite, So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison takes life by the throat as her main character learns the true meaning of being a monster. In this riveting tale, Harrison gives us vampires like you’ve never seen them before, with wonderful, relatable main characters and the ever-important distinction between being human and being inhumane.

I have no illusions. I know I’m not saving you, but I’m giving you all the time in the world to save yourself.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. This post contains affiliate links. That means we receive a small commission at no cost to you from any purchases you make through these links.

To exist is to participate in destruction.

Sloane thought her birthday couldn’t get any worse than her husband sending her and her best friend on a trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York, without him, all so he could cheat on her while she was gone. But then the vampires showed up. 

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison was such a compelling read. Vampires are my favorite paranormal creature to read about, but usually it’s in a romantic context. Harrison blew me away with her introspective take on what it means to be a vampire, and what it means to lose your humanity. 

I fell in love with these characters almost immediately. Even through all the foreshadowing in the early chapters of So Thirsty, Sloane just felt so relatable. I was definitely anxious to get to all the paranormal stuff, but in hindsight, all the mundane happenings at the beginning perfectly set up Sloane’s morality issues later on in the story. 

Maybe loneliness makes monsters of us all.

It was really this clash between her old life and new that truly made this book hard to put down for me. As a human, Sloane avoided conflict and kept to herself; she spent years with a cheating husband because it was easier to look the other way than to fight for her own happiness. But as a vampire, Sloane could no longer sit back and be passive. Denying herself, and her thirst, could easily lead to harm for both herself and for anyone around her. 

Harrison truly explored vampires in a new way with this story. We do get some romance, or at least the beginning stages of one, between Sloane and Henry, the vampire who turned her. And while they do develop a physical relationship in between Sloane’s existential crises, the explicit parts are all fade-to-black, keeping the main focus on Sloane and what she is willing to do, and what she is willing to give up, in order to survive. Most of the vampire stories I read really play up the seductive, impossible-to-resist vampire persona, but Harrison turned common vamire myths on their head and created creatures who are multifaceted, sometimes lonely, and have dreams and desires – people who have to fight for their survival just like humans, albeit with a slightly different appetite. 

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison was so much more than a vampire story. Harrison dove deep into the morality of wants and needs, and the effects deprivation can have on your body and soul. Sloane might not be the perfect little suburban wife she once was, but she knows what a monster looks like now – and it’s not always the vampire. 

See you in another life.

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