This book really excels at the characterization and it lovingly takes its time exploring these women and their friendships. They all have real strengths and shortcomings. The vampire is of course interesting too but more as a foil for them than anything else. I'm a big fan of horror and I was on the edge of my seat during a few chapters. I'm also a southern transplant to a big city and this book made me miss my mom. But in a good way.

I wish I could give the narrator 10 stars, she helped bring this well written book to life. I had thought through out the novel how perfect it was. Dare I say Grady Hendrix makes Stephen King look feeble? I would feel true concern for these southern women with their gentile ways. The characters were very well developed. I had a particular liking to Mrs. Green, what a strong and intelligent women. I am very glad I chose this novel, I have not a single problem with any part of the story or any actions of the characters. It kept me wanting to hurry toward the end to see how it all shakes out.... yet, I didn’t want it to end. That to me is a true measure of a good novel.

First, I must brag on the narrator!! She is without a doubt the BEST one I’ve ever listened to…she goes in between the different characters voices with ease and perfection. Such a gem!! Now for the story itself…it was also a gem!! I loved this book! It felt comfortable and easy to immerse myself and my imagination in…there were sweet moments, angry, stressful, shocking and a roller coaster of emotions. Buckle up and just enjoy this story from beginning to end.

I enjoyed this story immensely. The title does not hint at the quality and depth of the book! Great imagination and skilled storytelling displayed by the author. The narrator was superb as well.

This was a fun book that turned pretty dark and I loved it!

I forced myself to finish listening to this book. I was hoping it would get better but I never could bond to the characters. The narrator was amazing at portraying the voices of the different characters.

I am having a hard time getting thru this book. 1st- the 3 min free part sucked (pun intended), it didn't really give me a fair read of the story. If it did, I probably wouldn't have bought it. 2nd- the main character is a ding bat (again -pun intended). She's an idiot and I don't know how she didn't die in the first 2 hours of this story. If you like mindless stupidity, then this book is for you. If you have any kind of self preservation, then pass on this one.

Wtf is this book? It’s sexist, racist, and pedophilic. The book starts off funny and then takes a dark turn that you aren’t expecting. Thankfully, the narrator was very enjoyable to listen to while she performed the book.

Absolutely detested this book. I frankly cannot understand why so many people liked it. I hated the characters and found the vampire annoying.

I really wanted to like this book, but.... I couldn't stand any of the characters and the story really dragged at times. I saw some reviews saying it was gory, but I'm not sure what parts they're referring to; I thought it was relatively tame as far as horror/vampire stories go.

Uninteresting but not terrible book. The narrator was lovely.

I thought this story it was suspenseful. It wasn’t totally scary, but still a few parts did have me on the edge of my seat. The dynamics of the book club are pretty funny too. A for the narrator!

My first impression of this book was that it was a retelling of ‘Salem's Lot’ with a dash of ‘The Strain’, as collected from serialized installments in ‘Southern Living’ magazine. All of which are actually given a shout-out in this book! At its core, it’s basically a condemnation of Southern upper middle class white people, the men especially. The protagonists of this book are small minded, arrogant, racist, and outrageously self-entitled. Plus viciously protective of their little suburban kingdoms, in the most selfish, passive aggressive and mean spirited ways possible. Welcome to the South! To me, the real hero of the book was Mr. “Boo Daddy” vampire, James Harris. It was somehow gratifying to watch him turn their greed and vanity back on themselves to get away with murder right in their immaculately landscaped back yards. As the book went on, I started to hope he’d clean out the lot of them. Slurp! Slurp! I’m giving the book itself two stars, it’s kind of a jumbled mess, with far too much exposition and backstory leading up the meat of the novel. Which there’s very little of! I found myself fast forwarding through big chunks of it, just to get a section with some forward progress in the narrative. For the audiobook narrator, Bahni Turpin, I give five stars. She does an excellent job, and I love it when a narrator can change the pitch and timbre of their voice to evoke each different character, which she does well.

The story lime was not the best

This was a good read. Interesting and always kept me wondering how they could do anything. A little hard to read at times. Loved the narrator.

I absolutely loved the story. The narrator brought it to life and absolutely kept me pulled and drawn in...

needed a good fact checker early in the book, one character mtioned the aroma of the camellias. the don't have an aroma.

I've never given a negative review but this book drips with all forms of misogyny including rape, pedophillia and gaslighting. All that to build to an unfilling sense of justice and a 25 minute dismemberment scene... don't waste your time or money

At first it was hard for me to get into the story, but it was something about the narrator's ability to bring each character to life that kept my interest. Thankfully this happened because the story ended up being sooooo good! I'm ready for the movie for this one!!!! Great story! Love the characters and the realistic conflicts in the coexisting societies of the time period depicted!

This book was really interesting and different than what I normally read....loved it!!

I enjoyed this audiobook. It was an easy listen and kept me engaged with the plot.

Loved it. Characters were believable. Loved the way they talked. Southern style.

I don’t know what I was expecting from this book but I was a bit disappointed. Maybe because I was a child and teenager in the 80’s and wanted a little more.

The narrator has a really good range of voices for all the characters, love the Southern accent.Compelling story of normal women who get thrown at the deep end of a modern horror story.Not your usual heroes with cape, but from misogyny they rise above everything

Such a fun read, but with enough depth to really engage you. Narrator was amazing!

I feel like the real monsters were actually the husbands.

Narrator is excellent and the story rather gripping. Enjoyed this book.

Great book. And wonderful narrator

I got a little bored with the book towards the middle, however it became more interesting towards the end. Just an okay read.

Got this book on a whim, and I’m so glad i did. Good pacing, amazing narration, and the ability to pull you in. Really enjoyed it.

I love this narrator! The story just evolves so naturally. It's a great tale with unique ideas and solutions lol. Absolutely worth a listen.

Narrator was really good. Found the book a little long winded. This was a pity as the characters were great. Struggled to finish the book.

This book is so far out of my preferred genres that I almost didn’t read it but I’m glad I did. It was a good story! It was captivating and the southern stereotypical characters were so familiar and the misogynistic males offered just enough frustration to keep me riveted to make sure the women won in the end. They did, of course. Not nearly as much as I needed them to but they won while staying inline with the characters as written. Fun story with more surprising moments than expected.

the narrator was fantastic! the book was steady and methodic I would be interested in a sequel!

This book was nothing like I expected it to be, the narrator was brilliant at bringing it to life with all the different characters, I was listening to it at every given opportunity wanting to know what happened next and will be checking out this author again

Loved it!! The story had me laughing & gasping at the same time and the narrator brought the story to life and did such an excellent job!!!

I've been reading horror novels for more than 50 years. This book frightened me more than anything else I've ever read.

fun read, a little slow at times

The narrator was perfection! And the book was so good. I loved it and will listen again to it one day. It is not what you think at all.

I’ve been a True Blood girlie since teenagehood and this story filled that little southern-vampire hole in my heart right up! From the culture of the book club and the variety in the ladies’ personalities you grow to love, down to the creepy horror scenes making my jaw drop and my skin crawl. And it had just as much to do with the amazing narrator bringing all of it to life so beautifully! She’s perfect. I’ll definitely be listening to more of her narrations.

Audio narrator just amazing!

I found the characters to be too stereotypical and irritating

The narrator did an excellent job depicting the different characters and their emotions.

Slow with a brain dead main character and almost no horror DNF

This was by far one of the best listens I’ve experienced so far. The narrator was amazing and the storyline kept me wanting more.

Enjoyed the narration. However I feel the the author should but a thesaurus and find a different word to use instead of "said". It must have been used after 95% of the dialogue

The story is immersive, dark, slow-paced, at some places funny, at some places gory. It is a book about motherhood, marriage, women's friendship... and vampires of the most disgusting kind I've read about. The narrator was truly awesome in coveying characters's personalities and general atmosphere of a small southern town. Her voice never got to be boring and emotionless.

Loved this book I was addicted right away. Going to listen to the other books from the author. Loved it!!

This book pissed me off! But it is a good story don’t get me wrong.

Easily stands among the best of Stephen King's horror novels. An innovative take on the Vampire, and a heartfelt love-letter to motherhood.

This book was more than a vampire tale it’s also a tale of how women were not valued by men and how they were belittled.

Really enjoyed this book. The style of building the characters reminded me of The Help. The vampire part added an odd twist but it worked. As for the narrator, just brilliant. I will be following this author and narrator now.

The narrator was fantastic, that’s the only good thing I can say about this book. There’s a serious “ick” factor with this book. Should have a trigger warning for sexual assault against children. I hated the characters, and the gaslighting from start to finish. I truly love horror books and this is the worst piece of trash I have ever read.

This started slowly but was worth the wait! Wow. The narrator was perfect for this story.

It's been a long time since a book was able to stir my emotions like this. Thinking of the amount of power the world tried to exert over, and onto, my mother as she raised three children on her own... I completely fall in love with our main protagonist Patricia. my only main problem is with storyline, I'm greedy so I would have appreciated more background on the characters. I recommend you give it a listen anyway!

The story kept my attention going really enjoyed this read

What a wild friggin ride!!!!

Wow, this was beyond my expectations. Much more gory and suspenseful than I suspected. The characters evoked emotion and the narrator did a nice job.

Not my usual genre ; had no idea what to expect. Loved it! Funny, scary and ultimately a moving, rousing homage to the “humdrum” 1990s undervalued housewife and mother. Scored on all levels, although readers of action-horror will need patience to wait until the characters completely unfold. And then it all comes together beautifully. Great for non-horror readers too, but be prepared for a few blood curdling scenes and real tragedy.So much blood. Can’t recall much if any profanity. These are nice Southern women LOL. Also really appreciated the social commentary of affluent white neighborhoods vs endangered Black neighborhoods and how deftly that becomes an important part of the story.

I don’t usually go for vampire/horror novels, but this one was funny enough to keep my interest!

Really enjoyed the book and the narrator made it all come to life!

This was a fun ride! It’s very very funny. The characters are fun and interesting. The story takes some twists and turns. I’d say I thoroughly enjoyed it!

What an absolutely fantastic story. The author really brings the characters and setting to life in this book. A "realistic" take on a vampire praying on a community in the 90's. I was surprised to find myself much more interested in the main character and her bookclub than the vampire himself. The narrator did a beautiful job, cannot praise her enough for bringing this book to life. 10/10.

The story was really gripping but I couldn't help feeling so MAD! To reduce housewives and their work to worthless and meaningless just pissed me off. The narrator did an excellent job to make it more interesting. I devoured this book in just one day!

Fantastically ridiculous! I loved it! The women were charming in their own ways. Loved the narrator, also.

I really liked it, a lot. I was getting a little tired of the main character, Patricia, but she redeemed herself. After living in Charleston, I could picture and see the characters, where their homes were and the "divide" that still exists in South Carolina. The characters were believable. Good suspense and well worth the listen. I would absolutely listen to another book by this author. I sat in my driveway on a few occassions to find out what happens next. Great book.

Really fun and surprisly relatable story. Though dark at times and did not shy away from some very real social issues the story was captivating and overall uplifting.

Great book with unexpected twists! I enjoyed the narrator, and the story was fun and truly original!

An outward beach read that gets surprisingly complex and grim - in some ways I think it goes too far using very real trauma as plot devices. But it's also a very compelling read, with a strong central theme and tremendous narration.

What a load of rubbish! I don't think I'll look for her books again

Story was a bit drawn out but the narrator was fantastic!

The climax of the story had me punching the air.

Good listen …

I didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this! Quite a good read, I did enjoy it, the narrator was great too

I think if I would’ve read this in book format, I would’ve DNF’d it. It’s over 13 hours long and the entire first half is very anticlimactic. Actually, until the last 3 hours, vampires aren’t even real. The narrator is absolutely phenomenal.

This book is amazing. It’s so frustrating at times, but thoroughly entertaining. Also a lot more gory and graphic than I thought it’d be. The ending is phenomenal. The narrator is the best!

I really enjoyed this book, although sometimes it was annoying. All the husbands needed to get smacked. The narrator was very good at changing her voice for different characters, yet still had a monotone thing going on. I had mixed feelings about her narrating.

the narrator was great. I loved this book! It was so not what I was expecting. It was gritty and kind of gross and fun! A book club turned murder club! I dig it!

This narrator brought this story ALIVE!!! The story was good but the narrator was fantastic. Definitely makes it welllll worth the listen. Plus you know. The house wives fighting a vampire does pay off

started off a little slow, but really got good!! parts of the story made my skin crawl! can't get much better than that. the narrator was engaging and really brought the characters to life! Lots of fun, would definitely recommend.

This is a fun little story, not usually my kind of book but wow I had a fun time! I love the situating of it in the eighties and in the South it was really enjoyable and a new take on the vampire story.

this was my "free" book this month, and boy was I glad I picked it!!! it was fantastic! a great story read wonderfully. Great fun.

I absolutely loved this book. It was different than something I would normally “read” and not at the same time. The narrator truly brought this book to life. Having been to the Charleston area several times and being from the south I could relate as well as visualize certain aspects of the book. I want there to be sequels so we know what other mischief these ladies get into.

I loved this book! Wish they'd make it into a movie!

I finished this in 2 days. The narrator really pulled this well-thought-out book together. I thoroughly enjoyed this classic monster tale in a modern time setting!

I think it's just not my kind of read. I found the story dreadfully boring. the narrator needs more life as well. wish I could get my credit back lol

I seem to love books set in the South. The narrator did a fabulous job on this one.

This was my second book by this author, following "My Best Friend's Exorcism". In my opinion, he nailed it again - the era (early 90s), the Southern mentality at the time, the misogyny and racism and sexism, the gasp out loud horror, the teenage angst and bored housewife. All skillfully narrated, too. Please remember, it's a work of fiction depicting (very accurately) a time, mindset, culture that is to some offensive. But it's like reading a book about WWII Germany and claiming to be offended because there's Nazis and war and murder. Yep. The book deals with some sensitive topics for sure. Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz will be delighted.

Different look into vampire myth and women in the south. I liked it and characters were well developed. Not much to make males feel good about our place in the family.