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Mortal Passions
Not yet published
Expected 25 May 27A gothic novel for fans of Elif Batuman's The Idiot and Stephen King's Salem's Lot.
Laura Wyck has waited her whole life to be chosen, but in the meantime, she chooses a PhD. Specifically, at the University of ---, a coveted and prestigious institution where she has spent the best part of her life. When Laura and her closest friends are informed about ominous and extensive staff cuts, they come together to ask questions that have no answer. They are left with nothing but empty jargon and rising dread about an unknown future.
But then Laura encounters Eli and everything changes. The stranger in the library, a dream of a butch, Eli is smooth, glittering, terribly seductive . . . and they set Laura's teeth on edge. They've been tasked by the University to oversee the dismantling of everything Laura holds close, draining the institution of its lifeblood.
As Laura is pulled into Eli's magnetic orbit and bodies begin to fall, the threat of death becomes a potent, shadowy force on campus. Swept away by her newfound privileges, Laura indulges in the beauty and grandeur of Eli's world, but her peers suspect that there is something festering and rotten behind Eli's charm. Is Laura in love, or is she being held hostage?
Riotously delicious and utterly consuming, Mortal Passions is a queer vampire romance that is at once an excoriating send-up of capitalism and a desperately sexy campus novel.
Laura Wyck has waited her whole life to be chosen, but in the meantime, she chooses a PhD. Specifically, at the University of ---, a coveted and prestigious institution where she has spent the best part of her life. When Laura and her closest friends are informed about ominous and extensive staff cuts, they come together to ask questions that have no answer. They are left with nothing but empty jargon and rising dread about an unknown future.
But then Laura encounters Eli and everything changes. The stranger in the library, a dream of a butch, Eli is smooth, glittering, terribly seductive . . . and they set Laura's teeth on edge. They've been tasked by the University to oversee the dismantling of everything Laura holds close, draining the institution of its lifeblood.
As Laura is pulled into Eli's magnetic orbit and bodies begin to fall, the threat of death becomes a potent, shadowy force on campus. Swept away by her newfound privileges, Laura indulges in the beauty and grandeur of Eli's world, but her peers suspect that there is something festering and rotten behind Eli's charm. Is Laura in love, or is she being held hostage?
Riotously delicious and utterly consuming, Mortal Passions is a queer vampire romance that is at once an excoriating send-up of capitalism and a desperately sexy campus novel.
320 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 25, 2027
About the author
Avery Curran
5 books153 followersAvery Curran studied History at university, where she first became interested in spiritualism. She finished an MA in Victorian Studies in 2021, and is now midway through a PhD on spiritualism and queerness in the nineteenth century. She was born in New York City and currently lives in London with her girlfriend and their cat.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This book was strange, and I'm still trying to decide if it was strange in a good way or not. For sure, it has the "unlikeable" main characters that stood out from Avery Curran's previous book, plus the gothic tone to the writing. The prose was not a problem, and I did love Laura's two close friends, who were three-dimensional characters in their own right, and I did wish we saw more of them in the latter part of the book. One other thing I particularly liked in this book was the academia aspect to it all. The dark academia vibe was present here just as it was in Spoiled Milk, but in a higher education setting I think it really stuck out. I'm a sucker for critique of and the love-hate relationship with academia, and I found that the be the strongest part.
The one character I struggled to feel something for was, surprisingly, Eli. It's delightful to have a nonbinary love interest in a sapphic novel, and I was super excited for the butchfemme rep in this novel. However, Eli's character fell flat for me and felt thin compared to the others. Perhaps it was intentional for them to be unsettling, but this made me struggle to understand why Laura fell in love with them so easily.
In general, the romance did not grab me. Much of it happened off-page, which may be what contributed to my inability to really feel anything about Laura and Eli's relationship.
In the end, I feel like the book wasn't quite sure what it was about. There's the academic struggle, the strangely perfect romantic relationship, Laura's desire to live the high life (which seemed out of nowhere compared to what we knew of her before), Eli's mystery, and the shocking ending. Not much of it really connected with each other, and at the end I felt more deflated and confused rather than satisfied.
I did love the writing in this, and I'm really interested in reading more dark academia from this author. But I think this one didn't capture the same magic that Spoiled Milk did.
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11/3/26 ARC SECURED!!!!!! Avery Curran AND it's sapphic vampires, delicious
The one character I struggled to feel something for was, surprisingly, Eli. It's delightful to have a nonbinary love interest in a sapphic novel, and I was super excited for the butchfemme rep in this novel. However, Eli's character fell flat for me and felt thin compared to the others. Perhaps it was intentional for them to be unsettling, but this made me struggle to understand why Laura fell in love with them so easily.
In general, the romance did not grab me. Much of it happened off-page, which may be what contributed to my inability to really feel anything about Laura and Eli's relationship.
In the end, I feel like the book wasn't quite sure what it was about. There's the academic struggle, the strangely perfect romantic relationship, Laura's desire to live the high life (which seemed out of nowhere compared to what we knew of her before), Eli's mystery, and the shocking ending. Not much of it really connected with each other, and at the end I felt more deflated and confused rather than satisfied.
I did love the writing in this, and I'm really interested in reading more dark academia from this author. But I think this one didn't capture the same magic that Spoiled Milk did.
--
11/3/26 ARC SECURED!!!!!! Avery Curran AND it's sapphic vampires, delicious
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
a sexy love story, a literary horror with the emphasis on the literary (did not scare me but i don't think it was trying to), a brutal satire on the state of universities in the uk (trigger warning for anyone who has done a phd) and on its protagonist's hypocrisy (how lightly her stated politics are worn when she gains access to the myriad temptations of capital). but what really surprised me was how much the character of eli meant to me. their flashback chapter is one of the best pieces of coming-of-gender/transmasculinity (specifically a relational lesbian transmasculinity, butchness as articulating itself through interacting with femmeness) i've read in years.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews