ARC Review: Stake Sauce, Arc 1 by RoAnna Sylver

Stake Sauce by RoAnna Sylver
Series: Stake Sauce #1
Genre: Paranormal | LGBT | Vampires
Length: 193 pages
Published on 31st October 2017 by The Kraken Collective
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
RoAnna Sylver: Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Purchased for myself from Waterstones

Synopsis:
ARC 1, IN WHICH: A cute punk-rock vampire and a disabled firefighter-turned-mall-cop with a dark past join forces to battle the forces of evil.Jude used to leap out of helicopters to rescue/protect people from terrifying infernos. Now, by day, he protects the local mall from rowdy teenagers who ride their skateboards inside. By night, he protects the the parking lot, and the rest of Portland, from undead, bloodsucking creatures of the darkness. Or would if he could find them.But he’s just about ready to give it up (living with PTSD and pain from the traumatic event that cost him a leg, a friend, and a lot more is hard enough), when something crashes into his life. And his window.It’s one of these creatures of the darkness – and he’s a lot less scary than expected. More cuddly, with dark fuzzy wings, and neon-bright hair.

His name is Pixie, and he refuses to bite anyone. Assault/murder/draining fluids isn’t punk, even if being a vampire really kind of is. He’s very hungry by now, and the much bigger, meaner, deadlier vamps kick him around on the nightly. Jude would love to find and fight some actual undead bullies. And Pixie could use some help staying… ‘alive.’ Time to make a deal.

Together they fight crime. And maybe even heal.

Of course, life still sucks when you’re a vampire who refuses to suck blood. Fortunately, there’s a really interesting new barbecue restaurant in the mall, with an intriguing new recipe. (We hear that the secret ingredient is… love. No, really.)

Browsing twitter turns out to be a good thing sometimes. In October I saw RoAnna tweet about wanting people to do a cover reveal for Stake Sauce and offered review copies too. Vampires? Sign me tf up!

And boy I am so glad I did.

It’s been a long while since I read a vampire story even though I love them and Stake Sauce was a perfect book back into this world.

Stake Sauce follows Jude who is struggling with the death of a close friend, given the unusual details surrounding the night and that his friends won’t believe him or wont talk about it.

Jude’s grief leaves him obsessed with vampires and wanting revenge.

But after an alteration with his cute pink haired neighbor – Pixie – who y’know, happens to be a vampire, Jude’s perception of the world changes slightly.

I think this is great that his view of the world opens up and he gets to find out that Vampires aren’t all the villainous monstrosities that tore up his life and best friend.

I also really liked the fact that even though one of his friends was doubtful about the whole “vampires exist” thing she was still there for him when he needed her.

There are other elements of magic that really interested me too and I’d love to read more about the character its relevant too as I believe she has a lot of history and stories to tell.

Added to this the fact that Jude gets to confront the villain vamp was great because it provided great action scenes but also that he gets some closure of a bad part of his life. A little surprise too. He has two main alterations with said vampire, one alone and one with his friends. I think its great though that the time he’s able to get a better outcome he has his friends there surrounding and supporting him.

Other amazing elements on page:
– trans rep
– poly rep
– queer rep
– disability rep
– mental health rep

All of these are vital to the story, not there as bait, but there as 100% fully fleshed out character traits that are worthy and important to the story. Basically I love it and you gotta read it, like now!

4 stars / 5 stars

I will happily read anything by this author now.

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