Hope your week is going well. I’m trying to get ahead on schoolwork but have already clocked a few books for this month. I’ll try to put up reviews as soon as possible. Right now I wanted to focus on a book I read in January that had a interesting premise.
Synopsis
This adorable tale of a newly turned vampire and a diabetic young man presents a sweet romance. It also addresses serious issues, including race, disability, and healthy relationships. Perley and Amandine are both starting their junior year. Yet, both of them are behind their classmates because of major life changes.
Amandine has recently been turned into a vampire after an accident and is struggling with it. Perley is having issues with his diabetes. He is struggling to pay for supplies. He is also having trouble tracking his blood sugar.
The two quickly become friends and soon realize Amadine can tell Perley’s blood sugar by tasting it. Amandine avoids human blood but realizes helping Perley gives her a little boost. The two begin a relationship and the two start to come to terms with their new life changes. They soon have to deal with the fact that they really shouldn’t be helping each other with exchanging blood.
They drift apart for a little while devloping their own interests and growing as people. However they still find themselves drifting in each others orbits. Will they find their way back to each other or are their differences too great.
Review
I enjoyed this piece because it dealt with disability, but I also thought it was a unique take on vampirism. Vampirsim was used in this context as dealing with being othered. Mostly this piece focused on being othered in terms of race. Our vampire protagonist Amandine is black. The narrative talks about her family’s history. It also discusses how information and vampirism passed through their family in spite of the slave trade.
Amandine was a strong protagonist. I enjoyed reading about her struggle as she dealt with adapting her life to the needs of her new condition. It was satisfying in the end because she overcame so much and managed to find herself despite of the changes.
Perley’s journey was similar but he had to deal with his own wrong beliefs. He also had to deal with the friendships he’d managed to mess up. I love the way this book tackled disability. It showed the realistic struggle of adapting when your body is changing in ways you don’t want it to.
Finally I loved the relationship between Amandine and Perley. And I thought they were very mature in how they dealt with finding their own lives apart from their relationship. Both of them grew as people and managed to make their relationship stronger.
I’d give this book five stars. I liked everything from the protagonist and side characters. I also particularly enjoyed t the portrayal of disability. Art wise the book was gorgeous and I loved the colors especially.
Amazon: The Sweetness Between Us
Do you have any books you like with a unique take on vampirism? Do you like the use of monsters as a way of showing people being othered? Let me know in the comments and stay tuned I might have more books on this theme soon.
Rose's Book Garden 