My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Spice Rating:

Title: She Drinks the Light

Author: Yasmin Angoe

Narrator(s): Ashley J. Hobbs

Format: audiobook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336 Listening Time: Approximately 7 hours 50 min

Publication Date: 3/3/26

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Audio Publisher: Macmillan Young Listeners

Categories: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBT+

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and Macmillan Young Listeners for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

For fans of Sinners and Immortal Dark, a teen girl must uncover her family’s deadly secrets in order to save her best friend and her island in this heart-pounding YA debut.

Addae has spent her whole life on the Golden Isle, a private island off the coast of South Carolina that has been in her family for centuries. Island residents don’t really fraternize with mainlanders, and for good reason. Golden Isle was founded by the Kinfolk, descendants—including Addae and her Nana Ama, the island matriarch—of escaped enslaved Black people.

But the Isle and the Kinfolk have secrets that must be protected from the outside world. Secrets of spirituality, mythology that are deeply rooted in their West African culture, beliefs, and traditions. The Kin are bound to protect the Golden Isle and, in turn, it protects them.

When Addae’s best friend Naria goes missing and one of the Kin turns up drained of blood, Addae’s way of life is threatened. It looks like the work of the Adze, West African supernatural beings that drink human blood in order to survive—also known as vampires.

Believing Naira is alive, Addae travels to the mainland. But as Addae gets closer to finding Naria, she uncovers deep secrets about Nana Ama’s past, and about her own… secrets that could change how she feels about the Golden Isle and her lineage.

Torn between two worlds, Addae will have to decide how far she is willing to go—and who she is willing to cross—to save her best friend, and even herself.

Content Warning: violence, death, slavery history, cursing

** I listened to this as an ALC but I also had the ebook arc, and I’m glad I had the ebook because the audiobook had issues and I don’t know if it’s on my end, but many chapters would cut out or skip. Parts of the audio would go silent and come back again. I did mostly listen to it though because I love how the narrator brought the story to life. But for me, this ALC copy wasn’t the best and it was helpful that I had the ebook. **

+ Addae lives on Golden Isle, off the coast of South Carolina and her family’s West African roots are preserved on this island. Her grandmother, her only guardian used to be a slave so she has come a long way to owning her own island. So there is a lot of anger, resentment and a need to protect themselves and the island from mainlanders. But when Addae’s best-friend Naira goes missing, she has to find help on the mainland where she discovers her cousin was involved with a boy, Luke, who’s family was all about collecting artifacts and maybe wanted something from Golden Isle. I think there is a lot of growth for Addae. She didn’t like that Naira wanted to leave the island because she didn’t see any reason to want to be anywhere else, or that she was dating a white boy. But her search for Naira opens her eyes to a lot of things. Also, her relationship with her grandmother is one of respect, but there is a lot of secrets between them that gets revealed in the end.

+ I don’t know much about West African culture, but I did hear some familiar mythological names like Anansi (I used to read my kids the story about Anansi the spider) and Nyame. I kind of got excited that those names were familiar to me and it made me more interested in the story to see what more I could learn about them. Also I didn’t expect the paranormal elements in the story, the vampires and zombies.

~ The first half off the book is slower than the second half. We meet Addae, and see her life on the island with her grandmother and other families. But Naira goes missing, and she goes missing for awhile. It seems people are quick to say she is gone except Addae. So Addae is basically trying to find Naira on her own until she runs into Luke’s sister, Hailey. Still, there doesn’t seem much urgency in finding Naira and except for some stories of strange sighting or going-ons, there are no leads. I found that part slow. But things pick up in the second half because it’s like the story turns in another direction.

~ The ending feels rushed because so many things are revealed and happening at once. I do wish more hints about vampires were dropped earlier in the book.

Final Thoughts:

I love the West African history and heritage that was represented in this story and it also doesn’t shy away from slavery that was part of South Carolina’s past. I do think pacing was an issue, first half went a little too slow but it switches up and picks up but then the ending feels rushed. I really liked the family and vampire elements of the story. I thought Addae had a lot of character growth throughout the book. Definitely check this one out if you are into vampire stories.

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