The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst

From Goodreads: It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassable dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she's going to have to figure out just what she's missing - and what she's running from - before she can leave. So now Lauren's on a new search for a purpose and a destiny. And maybe, just maybe, she'll be found ...

My Rating: 3.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: When I picked up Sarah Beth Durst’s The Lost, I thought it was a YA novel. So, I was totally unprepared for the protagonist to be in her late twenties. Once I realized this and adjusted my expectations, The Lost turned out to be a pretty solid read.

I absolutely loved the premise of The Lost! The idea of a town where people and things end up if they’re lost – literally or figuratively – was really original, and the way the town was depicted … you can just feel yourself despairing of the hope of ever leaving.

While I wasn’t as in love with the characters, I did like them; and found myself relating to Lauren quite a bit. When we’re kids, I think we think that life will work out perfectly for us, but as we get older, we realize that may not be the case. Lauren, for example, tried for years to make a living as an artist before deciding to find a job that pays the bills; I myself had to go back to graduate school to find a job in my respective field and know many people who either still can’t find jobs or have found jobs that aren’t personally fulfilling.

The romance was pretty good too. Although it got annoying how often Lauren mentioned how hot Peter was, there was no insta-love. As well, even though there was an opportunity for a possible love triangle to develop, I liked that Lauren stayed true to her feelings.

The Lost was released by Harlequin MIRA in May 2014. 

Comments About the Cover: I’m not really sure why the word “Lost” isn’t written on one line, but I don’t like it.

Review: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

From Goodreads: Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. She will dance and summon her tribe's deity, who will inhabit Liyana's body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But when the dance ends, Liyana is still there. Her tribe is furious--and sure that it is Liyana's fault. Abandoned by her tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her. Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. The desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale. The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice - she must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate - or a human girl can muster some magic of her own.

My Rating: 3.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst is a slow fantasy that explores themes like sacrifice, destiny, faith and independence using an interesting premise. In Vessel, the people of the desert have a dreamwalk where their destiny is revealed to them. Those who are to become vessels have their lives irrevocably changed as their bodies no longer belong to them but to the deity associated with their nomad tribe. While their family and friends have normal responsibilities, vessels instead prepare for a day when their souls will be released from their body in a ritual that allows their deity to be summoned from the dreaming and inhabit the vessel’s body. The vessel’s sacrifice ensures their tribe’s survival for the next century as the god or goddess in a physical form can perform magic capable of bringing rain to the desert and increasing the tribe’s herds.

What I loved most about Vessel was the worldbuilding because Durst made it really easy to imagine the desert. Through Liyana’s eyes, the reader can see both the beauty of the desert as well as its dangers, real (e.g. scarcity of water, snakes, etc.) and fictional (e.g. sand wolves and salt worms). I also liked Durst’s incorporation of fables and creation myths since it added an extra layer to the story and solidified the worldbuilding.

Another thing that I liked was how the different vessels perceived their fate. At first, Liyana is accepting of her fate, but when Bayla doesn’t come and Liyana realizes that she can have a life, she becomes more hesitant at the thought of giving up her body. At the same time, Liyana knows that without her sacrifice, her tribe won’t survive. It was nice to see that struggle between individualism and altruism and contrast Liyana’s reactions with that of Pia, a blind singer completely dedicated to her deity, and Raan, who questions why she should have to die for her goddess. 

Vessel is by no means a flawless read, however. My main complaint about the novel is that the journey of Liyana and Korbyn as they go from tribe to tribe to collect the other vessels soon feels repetitive because it makes up quite a huge portion of the book. Also, I found the romance to be very weak – fortunately, it’s not a major component of the novel – and thought that the character of the emperor was a bit underdeveloped.

Vessel was released in 2012 by Margaret K. McElderry Books. 

Comments About the Cover: I think the cover is gorgeous and eye-catching. I also love that there’s no whitewashing.

Review: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

From Goodreads: Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire ...  fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil ... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops. Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast - as the entrees. The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends - especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache - to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

My Rating: 4 hearts  

Thoughts on the Novel: What happens when a heartless teenage vampire girl gets stabbed by a unicorn and ends up developing a conscience? Well, you get Sarah Beth Durst’s Drink, Slay, Love: a book with a fun plot and one that manages to be original despite revolving around the theme of vampires.

The main character, Pearl, is snarky and perfectly capable of kicking anyone’s butt, human or vampire. Looking at things through her perspective was really interesting and entertaining. For example, on her first day of school, Pearl tells her teacher that she’s not afraid to speak up in class because she’s superior to him. Her change from viewing her classmates as potential prey to friends was gradual and believable.

The other characters in Drink, Slay, Love were also enjoyable. Evan’s hero complex was sweet and even though I guessed his mysterious secret early on, it was still fun waiting for Pearl to try and figure it out. Matt and Zeke were amusing every time they showed up, and the popular girls in Drink, Slay, Love turned out to be as human as everyone else, which I really liked. As for Pearl’s family, in spite of how violent they were – hey, they are vampires! – there were incidents when they made me laugh too. Cousin Antoinette, for instance, teaches Pearl about school using Molly Ringwald movies as examples.

The thing that I found really great about Drink, Slay, Love was the way Durst set up all the different relationships. Pearl’s eventual romance with one of her classmates took time to develop and began only once the two got to know each other sufficiently well. Likewise, there were people Pearl hung out with at school that she doesn’t consider friends until much later. In real life, you can click with some people right away but establishing an actual friendship takes time and effort.

There is also a nice contrast between Pearl’s biological family and Evan’s adopted family. Just because you’re born into a family doesn’t mean that being around those people is healthy, and sometimes you need to move away or create a new family in order to get the freedom to be able to make your own choices.

A novel that’s guaranteed to make you giggle, but one that still has some serious undertones, Drink, Slay, Love will be released on September 13, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry Books.  

Comments About the Cover: I love the cover! It clearly shows off that it’s about vampires but does so in a fantastically creative and cute way. The cover is a little misleading however because the vampires in Drink, Slay, Love don’t like drinking blood out of bottles or bags. 

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Simon and Schuster) for free via Galley Grab.