Rounding up a 2.5 to be a bit kinder.

Okay so… This book is a mess. Technically speaking, it’s a joke. The prose is loquacious and eye-roll inducing, the characters are dumb as rocks, and the historicity terrible.

But… it did end up being very enjoyable. It’s pulpy, sexy, and just straight up fun. Its terribleness became part of it all—you just couldn’t look away. I enjoyed the plot too, which made the second half so much better than the first, which was just jaw-droppingly bad. Once we started to flesh out the harem, so to speak, it reminded me of the best parts of the Anne Rice novels. Smart, sexy creator keeps everyone hostage by his abuse. We must escape!

So… what went wrong? First, the author has close to no sense of what life was like in the past and the mental framework of it. Centuries change and yet close to nothing does for our characters. We hit the 20th century and our characters still ride in carriages, wear their hair long, and somehow exist in a world where the second world war never occurred. There’s not one instance of language barriers either, and we’re just expected to believe they can all carry on for 500 years moving constantly just speaking English or whatever, despite the fact all the characters are from all over the continent. All of this creates massive plot holes, but I guess the audience for this doesn’t care?

Basically, for a novel wanting to explore sexuality, abuse, and romantic partnerships with a group of immortal vampires the story needed another 300 pages, minimum. It’s a great premise squandered on hackneyed set-dressing and (I’m guessing) the promise of TikTok engagement. Just a tragedy all around.

Despite all of this, I’d honestly still recommend it to others wanting read a stupid, sexy bisexual vampire story. Like, It was hot: we even get an Anais Nin and Henry Miller cameo, which *chef kiss*. It verged on the comic always but there are seeds for thought, and I do believe we will get a better brooding, sexy vampire story that can deliver on the fronts this novel attempted to. ( )

To be given so much power and have none to save yourself. The grim and raw truth of abuse, manipulation and toxic love. So desperately our intuitions want to scream the truth, but the manipulator is good at what they do.
One victim pushes themselves past the lies and manipulation and makes the decision to break the cycle, not for herself but for the ones she loves. Harrowing decisions may lead to consequences they may or may not be able to live with and vampires live forever….don’t they?

It’s so hard for me to like a modern day vampire novel and this one truly has the elements, I feel, are needed to make such a story. The lust, the hunger, the sinister secrets and the ties that bind. ( )

I really liked the way this was written. It's not something I've ever read before, or I could say I have, and I found it refreshing. I really liked the characters and how 'you' was never named, just given a vague image for the reader to fill in the blanks with. ( )

I received an ARC from the author many months ago, so I’m ashamed to say I’ve just finished reading it now. This is a retelling of the origin story of Dracula’s Brides, told from the POV mostly from the first, Constanta, and a little bit from the bridegroom.

So there really isn’t much of a plot - Constanta is saved by Dracula when she’s on the brink of death, turning her into his first bride. She then travels with him, drawn deeper and deeper into his world of death and seduction, realizing as time goes by, how toxic he is, and makes plans with the second bride and bridegroom to escape his grasp. This is very poly and LGBTQ friendly, the prose is beautiful, the story haunting and atmospheric and oh-so-spicy. The chapters are short, so it’s easy to read. And there is a darkly happy ending for our vampire family.

My only qualm is that there were a few parts in the middle where it dragged, and nothing much was happening. There was a lot of traveling. The climax (pardon my pun here) happened very quickly, over the span of a couple of pages. The POV is in first person throughout, but about 90% of it is written like a letter from Constanta to Dracula, recounting their time together.

Otherwise, I enjoyed reading this twist on the story of Dracula and his brides. ( )

A great read as an exploration of a dark romance, but remember it's a reimagining of Dracula not a retelling! I was a bit disappointed with that but it's what it says on the tin so I should have expected it. Over all a good read. ( )