The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends is the debut novel of Jamie D’Amato. With a title like that, I had to pick it up, and then I couldn’t put it down.

College student Brennan Brooks is still recovering from his recent suicide attempt. The last thing he needs or expects is getting turned into a vampire. Now he has to navigate vampire puberty and coven politics on top of coursework, mental health issues, and his crush on the cute library student worker.

I admire how this book draws parallels between vampirism, queerness, and mental health issues, without romanticizing or diminishing the struggles anyone faces. Covens are where people can find support and community, but not every group is a good fit for everyone and sometimes efforts fail. All of the characters have their own trauma they’re coping with, and several hurt each other without meaning to. There are antagonists, but every character is a flawed, fleshed-out person, and that’s really well done.

The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends is a little heavy as it addresses grief, suicide, parental neglect, and accidental homicide. But it’s also an extremely hopeful story about healing, friendship, and community. About learning to trust other people enough to share your full self with them. About rebuilding your life after everything falls apart. I fell absolutely in love with this story, and I think it’s a really good book for Pride Month.

“Maybe this thing he and Cole had was bigger than all those obstacles. Vampires, venomous saliva, depression, angst—they didn’t seem so insurmountable with the brightness of Cole’s smile. With the fact that Cole seemed to trust and believe in him when Brennan himself didn’t, just like he’d somehow found Brennan’s venting the night they’d first met to be kind and thoughtful instead of unhinged and lost.” – Brennan Brooks, The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood & Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato