In Till Death, Howard dreams of escaping to college until he meets George, a vampire whose 1960s charm feels too good to be true. For George, forever trapped in a 19-year-old’s body, the loss of his lifelong partner pushes him toward an unexpected bond with Howard. As love blossoms, they must confront a world bent on silencing them and prove their resilience—no matter the cost.
You know, one of the very first books I reviewed for The Nerd Daily had me finish the book, sit in silence staring at a wall and just go “what the hell did I just read?”—funnily enough, the same thing happened with Till Death.
If you enjoyed Wattpad stories of the late 2000s/early 2010s and feel like basking in nostalgia, then, boy, do I got the book for you!
The best way I can describe this story is a genderbent version of that one Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode where Buffy loses her virginity to Angel and then Angel promptly turns into an emotionless, murder-y vampire that has no scruples or morals anymore.
Sound good? Then this book is for you!
We follow George and Howard whose paths cross when George puts the love of his life into a home for the elderly—the home where Howard volunteers at. George and his partner James’s relationship was certainly interesting and the intimacy between them that was cultivated over the years of James having lived his own life and finding his way back to George who didn’t age at all was heartwarming. We get glimpses at their past while also seeing how dementia can take so much from you but also the people around you.
Howard, meanwhile, is struggling to find a place in this world as he is ridiculed at school and dealing with the constant threat of violence simply for being queer.
Kellan McDaniel pairs this setup with a lot of retrospective on how much and yet so little has changed when it comes to people being incredibly stupid and homophobic and somehow that behaviour still being acceptable in the world. There are a lot of moments where George reminisces about memories from the past or where Howard talks about the importance of progress that felt a bit too info-dumpy and less about emotional investment, but there were also wholesome moments that highlight the importance of queer community and finding a home with the people who love you unconditionally. You could definitely tell a lot of research went into portraying these moments accurately which I really appreciated.
What I will say is, however, that I for the life of me could not tell the different POVs apart. Sure, context clues like George reminiscing about his memories or Howard talking about his grandmother taking him in let me know whose head I was in but the voices were mostly interchangeable (until the third act, which we’ll come to in a second).
Still, their romance has a lot of sweet moments as they are both searching for intimacy and partnership and find this in each other almost immediately. Then things took a…turn.
Now, not to spoil too much but let’s just say that if you live for the dramatic, over-the-top “avenge everyone who’s ever wronged you and run off into the blood-soaked sunset” then you are going to gobble this story up like nobody’s business. It’s definitely an interesting choice to be made for the storyline this follows and while I personally just decided to go with it and accept this for the story it is, I also get why a lot of reviewers DNFed this the moment things started to go sideways. Really, the last third of the book will most likely be what makes or breaks this story for you.
Overall, if you’re in need of a good palate cleanser between heavy reads or just want to have a fun time without having to think too much about consequences and the likes, then sink your teeth into and feast on the unique storytelling of Till Death.
Till Death is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of March 18th 2025.
Will you be picking up Till Death? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Two gay men—one young, one ageless—sink their teeth into reclaiming their lives and identities from those who would silence them in this insatiable romantic horror novel from Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated author Kellan McDaniel.
Howard is biding his time until he can finally leave for college, where he has been promised it gets better. The last thing he expected was to meet a boy. But George reminds Howard of the movie stars from the 1960s he’s obsessed with. Plus, George is endearingly formal and well-read, and his grandpa fashion is super authentic.
After over twenty years together, George is about to lose his life partner. He met James when they were teenagers then lost track of him until they reconnected in their early sixties. Now, James is going somewhere beyond George’s reach—because George is a vampire, forever trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old.
As the two grow closer, George begins to see a future beyond losing his first love, and Howard stops imagining himself always being alone…even if companionship comes at the cost of his mortality. When the discrimination the men have suffered their whole lives rears its ugly head to take away their happy ending, they finally strike back at the world that’s done its best to subdue them their entire lives.
