Reviews with content warning for Violence - Hunting Prince Dracula

This sequel to Stalking Jack the Ripper continues the first book’s major strengths. The romance is equally playful and thoughtful. And the mystery is creepy and grotesque. Lots of atmosphere found at Dracula’s castle.

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starryorbit12's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A lot more historical liberties were taken with this book, and there isn't a real life case to center around which makes it a slight departure from the first novel. However, the environment still feels rooted in the time period and the gothic elements added with the Romanian setting were great. The surprise historical lesbian couple were great, and Audrey Rose moves away from "not like other girls" brand of feminism the first book had more. I think the addition of more female characters that have devoted page time who are meant to be fleshed out helped. It hard to describe book as feminist and then have your female lead never interact with other women. This felt more on the marl of what I think the author was tryin to go for in Ripper. I also enjoyed that the author let her characters experience trauma of the events they went through and carry in a way real people would. I also feel that the side characters felt a lot less there and lot more like they had an impact on the stories. I enjoyed the letters to her Cousin Liza and her father. It added to the time period. Plus, my copy had exclusive letter between Thomas and his sister set during the first book. Those truly fleshed out there relationship and made me love Daciana more. There exchange was really cute as well. I think that misogyny that Audrey face as the only female student and the pressure be better to be seen as equal was well presented. You can feel her frustration while her classmates don't even realize there privilege or adverse effects of the some of the things they say to her. Plus, there are varying reactions to her presence which feels more realistic.

Conversely, the mystery held the same probably as the first in which I guess the murderer shortly after they are introduced. It's the problem of having a limited cast of characters and limiting actual interaction or development to only a few of that already limited cast. The murderer is never somebody that the main characters have never met or only briefly interacted with because then it feels out of nowhere. Realistically, there only a few characters with enough page time for it to be. It doesn't take much deducing from there.

The big give away for me was the fact that Audrey states that she thinks Anastasia's suggestion of not telling the headmaster was bad idea. Anastasia's had a strange insistence, and her reasons for not telling him we're pretty shallow compared to the benefit of potentially stopping a murder. Audrey Rose agrees despite feeling dreaded the idea for some reason. There's also the fact that she knew exactly what the book in the village girls house was, and no one could figure out that girl's connection to anything. The emphasis on how unrecognizable Anastasia's "body" was, and the fact that she didn't have an established connection to either of the motives murder. The fact that she takes the book, says nothing, and then just "leaves" for hungry based off of a vague connection found without talking to anybody.

It's like the romantic conflict in this one. The conflict basically just boiled down to having Thomas act against the things that made a likable and memorable love interest. The thing about the relationship in the first book that was so great, especially for historical normal, was how much Thomas respected Audrey. He saw her as intelligent and capable, and he never coddled her like the other men in her life tried too. Even when they are about to do something dangerous, he taught her how to protect herself rather than trying to convince her or force her not to go through with her plan. This book he constantly tries to dicate her life, and he constantly goes around behind her back to do so. Is that Audrey is so clear that the one thing she wants from him is expect for her independence he keeps acknowledging that while simultaneously going behind her back, and it leads to her being humiliated in front of her classmates that already think her lesser because of sexism. He stops about halfway through the book, but the apology feels more like an excuse because the crux of it is him claiming not to have thought of the consequences in his bad attempts at emotional support. However, Audrey was very clear about what she did not want him to do. It's disheartening because the respect and admiration for Audrey was what distinguished Thomas from the countless other dark haired, sarcastic male love interests with a tragic backstory. The relationship recovers some of its charm near the end, but be prepared to want to kick Thomas for at least half the book.

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alexiab's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I found this book less predictable than the first book, which I suppose is a point in its favour, and it was about as enjoyable as the first book but DANG we got some hella slow burn happening. How many times can Thomas literally say he’s in love with Audrey Rose TO HER FACE before she believes him 😂😂

I think Kerri Maniscalco is really great with setting up a cool aesthetic, and keeping a story intriguing enough to follow along, but I don’t think the mystery aspect of these books is as killer as it could be. It’s less “we’re solving murder mysteries because we work in forensics and it’s what we do” and more “we keep getting personally pulled into these horrific situations because of who we and our families are”. I liked how deeply the plot of book 1 affected Audrey Rose going into this book - cuz like how could it NOT that was very traumatic - but I would have liked to see her discuss it more, and grow from the trauma rather than just kinda pushing through until it didn’t matter anymore.

But hey, there’s a sharp and witty leading lady, a sassy charming brunette boy who simps for said lady 24/7, and a couple badass lesbian warriors, so overalls I can’t complain.

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lisaaloha3's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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