A Dowry of Blood

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I STILL CANT GET OVER THE FACT THAT HE TOLD THEM ALL THAT THEY WERE LIKE SIBLINGS AND THEY ALL WENT ALONG WITH IT IT WAS WEIRD HE ALWAYS CALLED CONSTANTA HIS WIFE THEN TOLD HER MAGDALENA WAS HER SISTER WHEN THEYR LITERALLY SLEEPING WITH EACH OTHER AND HOW CONSTANTA THOUGHT OF ALEXI AS HER SON BUT SLEPT WITH HIM MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 😭😭😭 Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author. While I adored all the characters, except maybe Constanta's husband, our main character Constanta outshone the rest here. Her growth throughout the book, from a rescued girl to a strong woman with a heart of gold, made the whole book for me. Constanta tells her story in the form of a letter to her husband, although she never once utters his name. It is her first and last love letter to him because in her own words: I can’t lie I’m disappointed there wasn’t really a plot he turned her into a vampire they had their fun until they grew bored they meet a girl turn her into a vamp they all have fun until they got bored for them to meet a boy they have fun and get bored Do you see the cycle ??? Once they realise he’s controlling they kill him that’s it there was no anticipation no climax even the part where they killed him was just meh 🫤

they lived in various places, but how come they never ever referenced anything from their cultures? Never felt influenced or shaped by their country of origin and upbringing, like a real person would be? US-centrism never rests, and why even try to put yourself in the shoes or your Eastern European characters I suppose. I'm only bothered by it because I'm Polish, anyway. Dracula was a major red flag the way he controlled everything and just knew how to manipulate each one of his lovers based on their personality was impressive like god he’d been doing it for centuries. At the start he even had me thinking that he’s swoon worthy only to be a deranged control freak 😂😂😂💀

But a few flourishes and embellishments couldn’t change the fact that the very fabric of our life together was tangled and suffocating. I had given you a thousand second chances, made a thousand concessions. And this wasn’t just about me anymore. It was about Magdalena, and Alexi” Last but not least I’m soo happy that I read this with my gorgeous baby giuliana as we vented our anger disappointment and love for this book😂 here’s to reading many more books with you 😘❤️ That slap snapped me out of a reverie I had been living in for hundreds of years. It obliterated any grace I had left to give you, any lies I was still telling myself about your good intentions and your savior's heart. And, SPOILERS AHEAD, I honest to God cannot take any vampire book seriously that positions this as its climax:

This book also very much discusses consent and how power dynamics and manipulation also can play a part in an individual saying yes when they may not under other healthier and safer circumstances. And also just… how hard it can be to leave an abusive relationship… especially when he is a powerful immortal vampire. As the story progresses, he takes on two more "brides": a scheming Spanish noble named Magdalena and a penniless artist named Alexi. Both are far more mercurially tempered than Constanta, who basically lives up to her name, and she often feels pale in their light. But neither Alexi or Magdalena are fully happy either, and their willfulness is causing tensions in this not-so-happy household. Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me this e-ARC in exchange of my honest review!The polyamorous relationship was well done, not just in the bedroom, but in their deep connection with each other. Seductive, lyrical and rich with period detail . . . a dark triumph’ Mary McMyne, author of The Book of Gothel

I was weirded out from the start Constanta’s parents had literally been murdered and she goes and sleeps with Dracula like hello … well I guess that’s her way of grieving 😂😂😂 You did not let me keep my name, so I will strip you of yours. In this world, you are what I say you are, and I say you are a ghost, a long night’s fever dream that I have finally woken up from” A thrilling and seductive Gothic rife with spine-tingling tension and dark romance. A Dowry of Blood left me breathless’Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching

I'm almost sure I read some faulty copy because I couldn't have read the same book as everyone else gushing about this book. A dizzying nightmare of a romance that will leave you aching, angry and ultimately hopeful' Hannah Whitten, author of For the Wolf A dark seductive tale. . . intermingling love, pain, fear and anger in mesmerizing prose' Publishers Weekly The most prominent thing about this book is Gibson's gorgeous writing. Gloomingly lyrical and rich, her writing is particularly efficent to portray the obscure setting of the book. I have been thoroughly impressed as the book progressed because how fitting her gorgeous writing is in accord with the book. It’s kind of … you know that bit in Interview with a Vampire where Lestat, Louis and Claudia spend, like, two hundred years being a kind of weird asexual/pansexual queer family murder unit? And it’s secretly the best bit of the book, despite the whole queerness/paedophilia conflation thing, while also being glossed over in a few paragraphs?