Vampires, Hearts, & Other Dead Things

Victoria's father is dying of cancer, and she cannot accept it. She has spent her life sharing vampire stories with him, and she decides the stories are the answer: if she can find a vampire and be turned, she can save him. Armed with research, speculation, and desperation, and with her estranged best friend Henry in tow, she goes to New Orleans looking for a miracle.

There she meets Nicholas, who may be exactly what she is looking for, but who will not turn her until she proves she loves being alive enough to want it forever. He sets her challenges: eat beignets until she is sick of sugar, sing with a jazz band, say yes to the city. Living fully while her father is dying feels like a betrayal, and Victoria has to learn to hold joy and grief in the same hand.

Margie Fuston's young adult debut is a New Orleans-soaked story about bargaining with death, and about what it costs to keep living anyway.