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plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
These books will never not be entertaining. Audrey Rose and Thomas might actually be the most iconic duo ever. Their slow-burn friends to lovers arc is agonizing but absolutely delicious, and the fact that they’re so horny along the way is hilarious; it makes a great thing even better.
On that note—props to Kerri for some top-tier parallels. This one’s my favorite:
“What would it feel like to have my hair gently knotted in his fist, my back pressed against a wall, him tangled around me like vines wrapped around brick?” // “He didn’t hesitate to bring his mouth to mine. We stumbled against the wall, the entire length of him encompassing me in his warmth. His hands slid up my frame, knotting themselves in my hair as he deepened our kiss.”
It’s clever!! It’s brilliant!! It’s spectacular!!
And you know what else brilliant and spectacular?? THIS:
“‘You’ve got a dress with orchid blossoms embroidered on it. Ribbons in the deepest purple. You favor the color, but not nearly as much as I find myself favoring you. As to the stars? Those are what I prefer. For there are no limits to the stars; their numbers are infinite. Which is precisely why I measure my love for you by them. An amount too boundless to count.’”
Thomas Cresswell INVENTED romance and no one can tell me otherwise!! He might be an idiot sometimes, but he’s the smoothest idiot to ever walk this earth, I swear!! And the way he unequivocally adores Audrey Rose is just >>>> 🥹🥹🥹
Now it’s time for me to procrastinate starting the third book for as long as humanly possible because I don’t want to deal with Meph’s obnoxious face. :’)))
[first read, January 2022]
This series has me by the throat and I’m not even mad about it. I’ve only read the first two books, too; I can’t imagine how obsessed I’ll be when I’m finished.
Because that’s exactly what I am: obsessed. Hunting Prince Dracula is, somehow, even more amazing than Stalking Jack the Ripper. Even though both the plot and the romance had me incredibly stressed—especially the romance—I loved every page. In fact, I think most of them are highlighted, most even multiple times. I don’t think I’ve ever annotated a book as heavily as I did this one, or laughed as much while reading. Between Thomas’s witty jokes and flirty comments and the banter from him and Audrey Rose, I spent a large portion of the story audibly cackling or making other indescribable (and honestly unflattering) sounds.
Speaking of our two leads, I absolutely adore them, more than I can say. My love for them knows no bounds. I love Audrey Rose and Thomas like Thomas loves Audrey Rose, and I’m not ashamed. Add “Cressworth trash” to my list of personality traits. The angst!! The pining!! The almost-but-not-quite kisses!! The actual kisses!! I sped through the last third of the book between 2 and 3 a.m., and let me say this: the number of times I had to bite my lip to keep from squealing and/or shrieking and waking up my family was ABSURD. When it comes to my favorite ships, I have zero chill, and this is now one of my favorite ships, so… 💖💖💖
Also, Daciana and Ileana? MY SAPPHIC QUEENS. I didn’t expect to love either of them quite as much as I do, but I’m nearly as obsessed with them as I am with Audrey Rose and Thomas. And now that I’ve met Daciana, I can say that both Cresswell siblings are completely iconic, both as individuals and a duo. I want him to be my friend, and I’m crushing unbelievably hard on her. 👀
Oh, right, I should probably mention the actual plot and whatnot. I really enjoyed the Romanian setting, as that’s not a place I’ve ever read about, and the story was very well-written. Even though both this book and its predecessor feature a string of murders where the victims have been, in some way, violated, the story in this one never felt redundant. On the contrary, it was equally nerve-wracking and very suspenseful. The castle’s shadowy halls and creepy passages made the whole thing very atmospheric, too.
Whereas normally I don’t have the brain cells to put together the puzzle pieces in a mystery novel before the characters do, I did, surprisingly, manage to guess who the killer was. It was actually due to a random theory that slowly started to make an unexpected amount of sense, and then ended up being correct. Yet nothing felt predictable, as there were so many other details both large and small that I never saw coming. I’m still not over that room of spiders (*shudders*) or certain characters’ secret involvement. When I say my eyes widened and my jaw dropped, I’m not even slightly joking.
After the stress of everything else, the final chapters were so unbelievably perfect!!! I won’t spoil, but know that even as I write this review two hours after finishing the book, I’m still grinning like a fool.
I’m pretty sure I could go on about this book for a while yet, but I’m tired of typing so I’ll stop here. I’ve made my thoughts clear anyway. ;))
Representation
- Indian-British protagonist
- sapphic side couple
Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
Medical content: in-depth autopsies and discussion of and tampering with corpses. Mental illness: protagonist deals with PTSD. Not tagged but also significant: spiders. To clarify, there’s a scene where the protagonist and love interest are trapped in a room full of both benign and poisonous spiders, and at one point, there are spiders crawling on them.signebrum's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book took me much by surprise by being better than the first one, and honestly, I’m looking forward to reading the final two installments.
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Vomit and Kidnapping
Trigger warnings comes from the book being a whodunnit in the Victorian times with a female protagonist.semelos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, and Violence
misslescano's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Gore and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny, Death, and Murder
starryorbit12's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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.
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Death of parent and Kidnapping
hazel_t23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Gore and Body horror
Moderate: Death, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny
Minor: Lesbophobia
sleepis4theweak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Murder