But you already knew that part, didn’t you?”Ī queer polyamorous retelling of Dracula?!? SIGN ME UP. This book was so well done and I loved it. It felt like it had the classiness of Dracula by Bram Stoker, but with a more explicit and updated feel. This was written really well in a lyrical and poetic way. It had a mixture of both female/female relationships, male/female relationships and a male/male relationship was hinted at. There is some female/female relations in here, but that was only part of the book.

It shows the cycles of each of his companions over the course of their relationship. This book is different in that it highlights abusive relationships, but it does not glorify them. We see a love the devours and then a love that is mercilessly controlling where boundaries do not exist. This book follows several cycles of abuse as Dracula takes on more companions and as they travel through Europe. Constanta does not know how to exist without him. This book highlights the toxicity of their relationship and the codependency. We follow Constanta over hundreds of years as Dracula's bride. I had no practice saying no to you.'Ĭonstanta was found broken and bleeding and was resurrected by Dracula. I craved you like maidens crave the grave, the way Death burns for human touch: inconsolably, unrelentingly, aching for annihilation in your kiss. Whether it be leaving (.or slaying Dracula), they chose happiness and freedom. The hardest and bravest thing for anyone to do in that situation really What was best for them. They didn’t just let the abuse go on even longer, and that’s the hardest thing they could have done. I think what makes it so beautiful at the end is the bravery of the characters. The whole book to me was just heartbreaking and absolutely beautiful at the same time. Hopeful, of course, but just emotionally drained and sad. Where I was even making excuses for Dracula’s behavior during the book, and I was SAD at the end (Ew, right?). He’s doing this all because he loves them.” But that’s it isn’t it? Maybe it’s because I can relate to the abuse from past experiences, but the author was able to transport your mind into this relationship the characters had in such a perfect way. While reading I thought, “He still loves them, he just shows it in terrible ways at times. But, when those little loving and happy moments he shared with Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexi came, he sucked you right back in on his side. I was so angry with him and with Constanta/Magdalena for not standing up for themselves. The control he had was sick, the manipulation was sick, everything about him was terrible. I loved Dracula all the way until the end, even when I shouldn’t have. The abuse that was in this book was so perfectly written and drawn out. In the beginning you see Dracula as someone who loves Constanta to no end and just wants the “best” for her. I feel absolutely heartbroken yet hopeful.

A dowry of blood paperback used