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Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
by Syrie James
Dracula My Love is a retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula from Mina Harker’s point of view. Mina is an important but underdeveloped character in the original novel. She’s integral to the plot, but we don’t know much about her. Dracula My Love fills in those holes and presents the reader with a fleshed-out Mina and a very different version of Dracula. The book is a departure from the original, as it concentrates mostly on the romance angle. Most of the vampire-hunting parts of the story occur off the page and Mina hears about incidents after the fact. This change in emphasis may bother fans of the original, but if you enjoy the more romantic aspects of vampire stories, you will like this book.
When we first meet Mina, she’s at a seaside resort town with her dear friend Lucy Westenra. Mina is happily engaged to her childhood friend Jonathan Harker, although she’s worried about him because he’s on a business trip to Transylvania and has been out of touch for weeks. Mina meets a handsome European stranger named Maximilian Wagner. She’s quickly captivated by him, much to her dismay and guilt. She fights her attraction, but he’s hard to resist, at least until she receives word that Jonathan is gravely ill in a hospital in Budapest.
Mina travels to Jonathan’s side, and we gradually learn that he’s undergone a horrible ordeal at the hands of an evil count named Dracula. Jonathan and Mina wed and return to England, where she soon learns that Lucy has died under strange circumstances. Lucy’s death brings them into contact with a man named Abraham van Helsing, and the three men who loved Lucy, Arthur Godalming, Quincy Morris, and John Seward. They all band together to fight the monster they call Dracula. Mina encounters the mysterious Maximilian Wagner again, and soon learns that he and Dracula are one and the same.
While the men are plotting against Dracula, Mina is secretly meeting with him, her feelings growing deeper every day. Mina is torn between duty to her husband and her passionate feelings for Dracula. This is where the book is most successful. Although she knows she’s doing something very wrong, Mina is a sympathetic character. She loves her husband, but she’s known him her whole life, and she can’t help but be drawn to the sexy, mysterious vampire. The Dracula that James portrays is much more in the vein of modern swoonariffic vampires like Edward or Angel. He’s a very different creature than Bram Stoker’s original vision. He may be evil, but he's also romantic and misunderstood. He appears to have fallen in love with Mina, and he has a plausible explanation for every bad thing she's been told about him. Mina is somewhat blinded by lust, and Dracula remains an ambiguous figure. Is he completely evil or just misunderstood? The question remains open, and I liked the ambiguity.
Dracula My Love is extremely readable. Even though I knew what was coming, I couldn't put it down. James strikes a good balance with the language. She keeps it Mina's voice from sounding too modern, but manages to avoid making the language too period, which can feel overdone. It’s a very entertaining read.
I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.
When we first meet Mina, she’s at a seaside resort town with her dear friend Lucy Westenra. Mina is happily engaged to her childhood friend Jonathan Harker, although she’s worried about him because he’s on a business trip to Transylvania and has been out of touch for weeks. Mina meets a handsome European stranger named Maximilian Wagner. She’s quickly captivated by him, much to her dismay and guilt. She fights her attraction, but he’s hard to resist, at least until she receives word that Jonathan is gravely ill in a hospital in Budapest.
Mina travels to Jonathan’s side, and we gradually learn that he’s undergone a horrible ordeal at the hands of an evil count named Dracula. Jonathan and Mina wed and return to England, where she soon learns that Lucy has died under strange circumstances. Lucy’s death brings them into contact with a man named Abraham van Helsing, and the three men who loved Lucy, Arthur Godalming, Quincy Morris, and John Seward. They all band together to fight the monster they call Dracula. Mina encounters the mysterious Maximilian Wagner again, and soon learns that he and Dracula are one and the same.
While the men are plotting against Dracula, Mina is secretly meeting with him, her feelings growing deeper every day. Mina is torn between duty to her husband and her passionate feelings for Dracula. This is where the book is most successful. Although she knows she’s doing something very wrong, Mina is a sympathetic character. She loves her husband, but she’s known him her whole life, and she can’t help but be drawn to the sexy, mysterious vampire. The Dracula that James portrays is much more in the vein of modern swoonariffic vampires like Edward or Angel. He’s a very different creature than Bram Stoker’s original vision. He may be evil, but he's also romantic and misunderstood. He appears to have fallen in love with Mina, and he has a plausible explanation for every bad thing she's been told about him. Mina is somewhat blinded by lust, and Dracula remains an ambiguous figure. Is he completely evil or just misunderstood? The question remains open, and I liked the ambiguity.
Dracula My Love is extremely readable. Even though I knew what was coming, I couldn't put it down. James strikes a good balance with the language. She keeps it Mina's voice from sounding too modern, but manages to avoid making the language too period, which can feel overdone. It’s a very entertaining read.
I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads.