Kat Finn and her mother can barely make ends meet living among humans. Like all vampires, they must drink Hema, an expensive synthetic blood substitute, to survive, as nearly all of humanity has been infected by a virus that’s fatal to vampires. Kat isn’t looking forward to an immortal life of barely scraping by, but when she learns she’s been accepted to the Harcote School, a prestigious prep school that’s secretly vampires-only, she knows her fortune is about to change.

Taylor Sanger has grown up in the wealthy vampire world, but she’s tired of its backward, conservative values—especially when it comes to sexuality, since she’s an out-and-proud lesbian. She only has to suffer through two more years of Harcote before she’s free. But when she discovers her new roommate is Kat Finn, she’s horrified. Because she and Kat used to be best friends, a long time ago, and it didn’t end well.

When Taylor stumbles upon the dead body of a vampire, and Kat makes a shocking discovery in the school’s archives, the two realize that there are deep secrets at Harcote—secrets that link them to the most powerful figures in Vampirdom and to the synthetic blood they all rely on.

The first thing that came to mind as soon as I began reading Youngblood is that it reminded me of Vampire Academy except what I love is that the romance does not run smoothly and it is a lesbian romance. Not only that but beyond the romance elements, this is one very well written novel with a ton of thought behind it and a great deal of intrigue. 

In “Youngblood”, one of the things the author Sasha Laurens has done really well is building the intrigue and mystery surrounding Kat and her mother. I also really like her world building, the thought put behind the concept for not only the vampire academy but the blood disease and how it impacts the vampires in this world, including the feeding on humans and how vampires are now born instead of created by their makers. 

As for the characters, all the main characters were engaging. I enjoyed that neither Kat or Taylor are perfect but they learn from each other. I also like how both get involved in the intrigue surrounding their school and society. Their romance and friendship don’t run smoothly but the romance is more powerful for doing so. I love the sexy vampire love. 

If you like sexy vampire love with a different background than the typical, I highly recommend this novel. It has tons of interesting choices in the world, how vampires are created, how humans are thought of and society in general. I found the synthetic blood and blood disease intriguing. This was a thoroughly fun read.

Rating: 4.5 humans out of 5