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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
What can I say? I love vampires, all things vampires and I deeply appreciated Marlow's take on the three vampire females in Dracula's life. I love the noir feeling that the writing gives me, and it is easy to put yourself in the characters shoes as Faith Marlow puts you in the path of sensual predators. I will not give away any of the story, I suggest you read it for yourself. But I absolutely loved Valeria and Ms. Marlow's take on how she came to be. I will be reading the other in the series!
Really clever
I loved this story. It was recommended by a friend, and I'm so glad I downloaded it. This shows a very different side of the Brides of Dracula and their long and interesting lives. Written as diary entries, it is both heartfelt and endearing. A wonderful tale of love, loathing, betrayal, and triumph. Just lovely.
I loved this story. It was recommended by a friend, and I'm so glad I downloaded it. This shows a very different side of the Brides of Dracula and their long and interesting lives. Written as diary entries, it is both heartfelt and endearing. A wonderful tale of love, loathing, betrayal, and triumph. Just lovely.
Being Mrs. Dracula is a book that seems to defy all genre classification. Twenty pages in and you might think you are reading a stylized paranormal romance. But give it twenty more pages and it starts to feel like a vicious revenge story. Twenty more pages and you will swear you are reading a dramatized history of a jilted princess. The book is a roller coaster ride through the world of genre and emotions. Faith Marlow does a wonderful job of defining the three distinct personas of the wives of Vlad and making you root for each of them for opposing reasons. I loved Valeria because she was brutal and angry. I loved Ilona for her gentle compassion. I loved Fleur because, let's face it, everyone loves a bad girl. Somehow they all meld together into a story that will have you lusting for blood on one page and crying for their loneliness on the next.
I would be remiss to not mention the overwhelming deja vu that permeates this book. The story could stand alone or it could be read as an undeniable commentary on literary characters we thought we knew, but were wrong. The first instinct upon finishing this book is to reanalyze all of the classic secondary characters and wonder if maybe you had overlooked them too quickly. This book does for horror what Wicked did for Children’s fantasy, except without the heavy handed moral lessons.
I once read a piece of writing advice, and for the life of me I can not remember who said it. But the advice was to write every character in your story as if they were the lead character. Even secondary, minor characters have home-lives, wants, aspirations, heartbreaks, and secrets. And just like in the real world, they all think the story is about them. Bram Stoker was a great writer, and I can only assume, that consciously or un-consciously, he did this for his characters. He knew that each of Dracula’s wives had a story, and an interesting one at that. But that was not the story he was telling. Faith Marlow came along to remind us, and to bring us that forgotten story. It is well worth your time and money to buy this story and read it. It will stick with you for a long time after.
I would be remiss to not mention the overwhelming deja vu that permeates this book. The story could stand alone or it could be read as an undeniable commentary on literary characters we thought we knew, but were wrong. The first instinct upon finishing this book is to reanalyze all of the classic secondary characters and wonder if maybe you had overlooked them too quickly. This book does for horror what Wicked did for Children’s fantasy, except without the heavy handed moral lessons.
I once read a piece of writing advice, and for the life of me I can not remember who said it. But the advice was to write every character in your story as if they were the lead character. Even secondary, minor characters have home-lives, wants, aspirations, heartbreaks, and secrets. And just like in the real world, they all think the story is about them. Bram Stoker was a great writer, and I can only assume, that consciously or un-consciously, he did this for his characters. He knew that each of Dracula’s wives had a story, and an interesting one at that. But that was not the story he was telling. Faith Marlow came along to remind us, and to bring us that forgotten story. It is well worth your time and money to buy this story and read it. It will stick with you for a long time after.
It has been years, possibly a couple of decades since I read Dracula. At the time I picked it up, I just wasn’t mature enough to appreciate some of the classics like Dracula. Now that I am older and have read more classic lit, I think I need to pick Dracula back up. I never would have thought to give it another go had it not been for this amazing book, Being Mrs. Dracula.
The look that Faith gave us through the eyes of the wives of Vlad was so interesting. I never would have thought to sympathize with them before now. If truth be told, I still don’t sympathize with Fleur. I wish Valeria would have chopped off her head more than once. The other wives though, Valeria and Ilona, I completely understood their connection, how they bonded through their trials, through their sorrow, and through their love of the same frustrating man.
The book is written part in diary form and part in the form of the author telling us a story. I really liked that. I enjoy books where the journal is part of the story, it’s as if we are getting a peek into their private thoughts, it’s just different from telling a story the traditional way.
We also get just the voice of the wives in this book (as it should be with a title such as Being Mrs. Dracula) vs the voice of Dracula, which we all know that Vlad was The Impaler. He was known for his sadistic torturing and killing. It is surprising that his wives would not turn out to be as sadistic as their husband after the centuries they had spent with him. Ilona retained her meekness and her heart, Valeria had her strength and her compassion for Ilona, and even Fleur showed a bit of loyalty to her sister wives.
The characters were extremely well developed. We knew all of them inside and out, not just the wives, even Vlad at times. There were moments were he was incredibly loving to his wives, it gave me hope that though their relationship was unconventional to see the least, that it might work out somehow .. if only someone would stake Fleur. I did not like her at all, but she was necessary.
We even got to meet Van Helsing with a letter from him that opens the book. We know that he is going to be involved somehow, and we even know to what extent, but we don’t know how it is going to turn out.
Amazing job Faith! I cannot wait to read Part 2, Being Dracula’s Widow. I can only imagine where it will pick up and I am excited to dive into it.
Thank you so much for sending me over a copy!
The look that Faith gave us through the eyes of the wives of Vlad was so interesting. I never would have thought to sympathize with them before now. If truth be told, I still don’t sympathize with Fleur. I wish Valeria would have chopped off her head more than once. The other wives though, Valeria and Ilona, I completely understood their connection, how they bonded through their trials, through their sorrow, and through their love of the same frustrating man.
The book is written part in diary form and part in the form of the author telling us a story. I really liked that. I enjoy books where the journal is part of the story, it’s as if we are getting a peek into their private thoughts, it’s just different from telling a story the traditional way.
We also get just the voice of the wives in this book (as it should be with a title such as Being Mrs. Dracula) vs the voice of Dracula, which we all know that Vlad was The Impaler. He was known for his sadistic torturing and killing. It is surprising that his wives would not turn out to be as sadistic as their husband after the centuries they had spent with him. Ilona retained her meekness and her heart, Valeria had her strength and her compassion for Ilona, and even Fleur showed a bit of loyalty to her sister wives.
The characters were extremely well developed. We knew all of them inside and out, not just the wives, even Vlad at times. There were moments were he was incredibly loving to his wives, it gave me hope that though their relationship was unconventional to see the least, that it might work out somehow .. if only someone would stake Fleur. I did not like her at all, but she was necessary.
We even got to meet Van Helsing with a letter from him that opens the book. We know that he is going to be involved somehow, and we even know to what extent, but we don’t know how it is going to turn out.
Amazing job Faith! I cannot wait to read Part 2, Being Dracula’s Widow. I can only imagine where it will pick up and I am excited to dive into it.
Thank you so much for sending me over a copy!
As I was reading this book I was intrigued at the beginning, bored/lost in the middle with all of the diary entries and the ending really brought it around for me. I think that this story was a little too long for me and it was something that made me get bored. There was too much information in the diary entries that I didn't really care for. I thought it was an okay read but it just wasn't for me. The ending of this book really saved it from getting 1 or 2 stars for me. I liked the style of writing but am not sure if I will another book in the series.
Being Mrs. Dracula was an excellent read and a fantastic look into the lives of the wives of Count Dracula.
This book starts off with a letter from Van Helsing to Jonathan Harker that tells the run-in that he experienced with the wives of the count.
The book is written in a diary format that begins with Valeria being married to the count. Like some of the other readers Valeria remained my favorite wife through-out the whole book. The betrayal that she faced from the Count made me feel so much sympathy for the things that she had to endure while this being her first marriage. Her relationship with the Count is so detailed that you can't help but feel all of the things that she is feeling while her story is being told. Wife 2 is Ilona and she is the complete opposite of Valeria and I was able to see why the Count chose her as his second wife. She had a great heart and while dealing with the issues in their marriage she was the true definition of a stand by your man woman and did this without a fight. As the dynamics of the relationship between Vlad, Val, and Ilona becomes peaceful, strong, and full of content Vlad brings in Wife 3 Fleur, who had a rocky start in the beginning and I can't say that I liked her because I feel the same way about her as the other 2.
This book took me on an emotional journey of love, betrayal, hate, and devotion and not just with the marriage to the count but with the relationships that the women build together and in time I was able to feel the pain and understand on a personal level how the women in his life felt about him.
I would definitely recommend this book to friends.
This book starts off with a letter from Van Helsing to Jonathan Harker that tells the run-in that he experienced with the wives of the count.
The book is written in a diary format that begins with Valeria being married to the count. Like some of the other readers Valeria remained my favorite wife through-out the whole book. The betrayal that she faced from the Count made me feel so much sympathy for the things that she had to endure while this being her first marriage. Her relationship with the Count is so detailed that you can't help but feel all of the things that she is feeling while her story is being told. Wife 2 is Ilona and she is the complete opposite of Valeria and I was able to see why the Count chose her as his second wife. She had a great heart and while dealing with the issues in their marriage she was the true definition of a stand by your man woman and did this without a fight. As the dynamics of the relationship between Vlad, Val, and Ilona becomes peaceful, strong, and full of content Vlad brings in Wife 3 Fleur, who had a rocky start in the beginning and I can't say that I liked her because I feel the same way about her as the other 2.
This book took me on an emotional journey of love, betrayal, hate, and devotion and not just with the marriage to the count but with the relationships that the women build together and in time I was able to feel the pain and understand on a personal level how the women in his life felt about him.
I would definitely recommend this book to friends.
Wow! What a read! This is Dracula told from a completely different angle--- the POV of his wives (yes, that's right, more than one).
Written as a diary, beginning with the first wife Valeria, we are introduced to a woman who is full of hope for a happy marriage. She is very much in love with her new husband but he is soon called off to war and comes back a changed man. As the war continues and more wives are added to the story, the POV changes to the different women in Dracula's life. They are each very different women and their love for each other is sometimes strained and sometimes very strong. I love how the story is told by the different women as they write in their journals. Its full of their sadness and anger and also for their love for each other.
Along with the relationships with each other we also see how they are perceived by humans. Humans tend to fear what they don't understand and the vampire family was often persecuted out of fear having to move from country to country to survive.
If you enjoy a good vampire read this is an awesome story to pick up. A great read that I look forward to continuing in the next installment.
Written as a diary, beginning with the first wife Valeria, we are introduced to a woman who is full of hope for a happy marriage. She is very much in love with her new husband but he is soon called off to war and comes back a changed man. As the war continues and more wives are added to the story, the POV changes to the different women in Dracula's life. They are each very different women and their love for each other is sometimes strained and sometimes very strong. I love how the story is told by the different women as they write in their journals. Its full of their sadness and anger and also for their love for each other.
Along with the relationships with each other we also see how they are perceived by humans. Humans tend to fear what they don't understand and the vampire family was often persecuted out of fear having to move from country to country to survive.
If you enjoy a good vampire read this is an awesome story to pick up. A great read that I look forward to continuing in the next installment.
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
UPFRONT: I got this book free from the author in return for an honest review.
HONEST REVIEW: This book rocks. I haven't read Dracula in a loooong time and was hoping that not having the story fresh in my mind wouldn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. Nope, not at all.
What a cool concept. The author manages a 'classic literature' writing style without the 'classic literature' boring. The diary-entry style was super interesting, alternating between the three wives.
I laughed out loud, I cried, I was shaking with fear and anger. That's a great book. There were bits in the middle that I thought dragged on a bit but the ending was fantastic - it really made up for any flaws in the middle!
The copy I got from Smashwords had formatting problems on my Kindle. Parts of sentences were lost between pages. Luckily, I didn't lose much and could kind of figure out what was missing through context.
I highly recommend this book. It was a fun read; an original twist on a familiar story.
HONEST REVIEW: This book rocks. I haven't read Dracula in a loooong time and was hoping that not having the story fresh in my mind wouldn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. Nope, not at all.
What a cool concept. The author manages a 'classic literature' writing style without the 'classic literature' boring. The diary-entry style was super interesting, alternating between the three wives.
I laughed out loud, I cried, I was shaking with fear and anger. That's a great book. There were bits in the middle that I thought dragged on a bit but the ending was fantastic - it really made up for any flaws in the middle!
The copy I got from Smashwords had formatting problems on my Kindle. Parts of sentences were lost between pages. Luckily, I didn't lose much and could kind of figure out what was missing through context.
I highly recommend this book. It was a fun read; an original twist on a familiar story.