Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Night’s Edge | 2023 | Liz Kerin | Buy |
| 2 | First Light | 2024 | Liz Kerin | Buy |
Night’s Edge introduces Mia, a young woman who has spent her life caring for her vampire mother, stealing blood from hospitals and keeping her parent hidden from the world. The relationship is suffocating and abusive, with Mia sacrificing her own future to maintain the lie and feed her mother’s needs. The first book examines the twisted dynamics of this caretaker role, where love and duty trap Mia in a cycle she cannot escape without losing her mother entirely.
The series uses vampirism as a metaphor for addiction and the demands addicts place on their families, while also delivering genuine horror through the supernatural elements. Mia must navigate the moral implications of stealing blood, the constant fear of discovery, and her mother’s manipulative behavior. The vampire condition creates practical horror—the logistics of hiding a monster, the ethics of sustaining her existence—alongside emotional horror about identity and autonomy.
The second book expands the world and examines the consequences of Mia’s choices, exploring whether escape from her mother is possible and what it costs. Kerin avoids romanticizing the vampire figure, instead treating it as a burden and source of horror for both monster and caretaker.