Review: The Afterlife of the Party by Marlene Perez

BOOK STATS

Rating: ☆
Title: The Afterlife of the Party
Author: Marlene Perez
Series: Afterlife #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Audience: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: February 2, 2021
Source: Personal collection
Content Warnings: sexual assault

SYNOPSIS

The bestselling author of the Dead Is… series is back with a snarky, hilarious take on the vampire romance novel.

When my best friend Skyler told me about this party in the Hollywood Hills, I was less than enthused. As it turned out, my feelings were more than justified. That party ruined my life.

Tansy didn’t even want to go to the party. It’s hard enough living in one of your best friend’s shadows and secretly in love with your other best friend.

And now she’s leaving it a vampire.

Now her best friend Skyler is stuck on the road trip from hell, on tour as a groupie with a literal band of vamps. Tansy sets out with Vaughn, her other BFF turned maybe more, to save Skylar’s life and take down the band. But when they find themselves in the middle of a vampire war, will Tansy be able to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her friends?

MY THOUGHTS

I thought this would be a fun and cheesy paranormal romance featuring vampires and witches (along the lines of Crave), but it was just not good. The writing was not good. Tansy’s internal monologue was cringey. The romance was very immature. The world and supernatural lore were underdeveloped and confusing. All of the characters were very flat and illogical; they always either overreacted or underreacted to everything. It was quick read, but it just didn’t make sense to me. I almost DNF at about 100 pages, and I probably should have.